2025–2026 RPO Trends: Stability Meets Innovation

The 2025 RPO Trends Report from the RPO Association captures a moment of transition for the talent acquisition industry. Employers are cautious with spending, hiring needs are shifting, and technology continues to reshape how teams think about recruiting. Yet behind the noise, one thing is clear. Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) is no longer a question of if, but how. 

For many organizations, these trends feel new. For Skywalk Group, they reflect the same principles we’ve built on since 2008. Flexibility, data, and partnership have always guided how we approach recruiting. We’ve seen multiple economic cycles come and go, and the most successful organizations are the ones that stay adaptable without losing their human center. 

Flexibility as a Core Operating Model

The report highlights a rise in project-based RPO and modular engagements, allowing companies to scale up or down without long-term contracts. We’ve operated this way for over 15 years. Clients partner with Skywalk because our structure gives them freedom. We understand that workforce needs shift constantly, and rigid agreements rarely serve anyone well. Our approach is to create partnerships that can expand, contract, or pivot based on what’s happening in the market or within a client’s organization. 

Since 2020, Skywalk has completed more than 6,500 placements across 314 companies in 31 industries and 40 states. We’ve recruited for over 2,000 unique positions and have sourced 76% of those candidates passively. These results come from a model designed for longevity and flexibility. Clients continue to work with us because we deliver consistency, not because of contract terms. 

Data Grounded in Real Experience 

Another key takeaway from the 2025 report is that leading talent acquisition teams are far more likely to use analytics to anticipate challenges and measure outcomes. At Skywalk, data is part of our everyday work, but we pair it with experience and context. We track performance, hiring speed, and pipeline health across programs so we can see trends as they emerge rather than react after the fact. 

To deepen that understanding, we built our own Candidate and Employer Sentiment surveys. The goal was to bring clarity to both sides of the hiring equation. Our July 2025 surveys show that only 45% of employers feel confident in their ability to find qualified talent, even though most rate their internal processes as good or excellent. On the candidate side, more than half report being neutral or dissatisfied with their interview experience. That disconnect is where an RPO partner adds value. 

Skywalk helps bridge the gap between employer intent and candidate reality. Our teams rely on structured data but also stay close to the human experience. Data points guide decisions, but conversation and observation drive improvement. The balance of both creates momentum and builds better outcomes over time. 

Using AI Thoughtfully

Artificial intelligence and automation are top of mind across the industry. The RPO Trends Report names these as the most requested areas of support from RPO providers. Employers want faster, smarter recruiting systems, but many are still testing how to use AI responsibly. Our own research reflects that hesitation. Only 18 percent of employers in our sentiment survey reported actively using AI in their recruiting process, and 37 percent said they distrust AI-driven tools. On the candidate side, just 19 percent trust AI to evaluate applications fairly. 

We see that reality every day. AI can be a powerful tool, but it is not a replacement for human recruiters. Skywalk uses AI where it adds real efficiency. Our automated intake process allows clients to submit a job through a form that feeds directly into our system. From there, we generate a custom Candidate Sourcing Ranking and Strategy Guide that defines the market approach before the first candidate is sourced. That automation saves two to four hours per search and shortens the time from intake to sourcing by roughly 75 percent. 

Those gains help recruiters focus on what still matters most: conversations, assessments, and relationship building. We use AI to enhance human performance, not to remove it. Candidates consistently tell us they still want personal interaction during the hiring process, and we agree. Recruiting is a human business. Technology should make it better, not colder. 

Proof in the Partnership

Our results reflect the consistency of this approach. Skywalk’s current client satisfaction rating is 96 percent, based on our ongoing client feedback surveys. That number carries weight because it comes from organizations that partner with us year after year. It speaks to reliability, communication, and accountability. 

Our recruitment leadership team brings an average of more than 20 years of experience to every engagement. That depth matters. It means clients gain both execution and perspective. We have seen every type of hiring market, and that helps us stay steady when others are uncertain. 

Skywalk’s RPO model combines experience, structure, and practical innovation. It allows us to serve companies that want to modernize their recruiting without losing the human connection that defines strong hiring. 

The Road Ahead: 2026 and Beyond 

Looking ahead, we expect RPO to continue evolving toward hybrid models that mix automation with expertise. Analytics will get smarter, and client expectations will become sharper. The providers that succeed will be those who prove value through measurable outcomes, transparency, and trust. 

For us, that means continuing to refine how we use technology and deepening how we use data. It also means staying close to the candidate and employer experience and learning from it. Stability and innovation are not opposites. They are the combination that defines long-term success. 

Skywalk Group will continue to lead with that balance as we move through 2025 and into 2026. We are proud of our results, but more than that, we are committed to helping our clients build sustainable recruiting systems that will thrive no matter how the market shifts. 

If your organization is rethinking its talent strategy for the year ahead, let’s have a conversation. The future of RPO will belong to firms that combine innovation with authenticity. Skywalk Group has been doing exactly that since 2008.