Heard On The [HCM] Hill: HRO Today Forum

Traveling to the city of Brotherly Love when you live in New Jersey isn’t exactly a stretch so travel I did last week to the HRO Today Forum in Philadelphia. For those readers who haven’t put Philly on their list yet, please do. Historically rich, it’s also a great place for good food, shopping and scenery.

The conference was held at The Westin, which lends itself nicely to events that are seeking to “own” the property for the duration. Many of us remember the rather bombastic iteration of HRO Today event when it was in New York City’s Hilton Hotel; an overwhelming venue for what needs to be a very meet-and-greet, relationship-centric event. Bigger isn’t always better, especially in a portion of a larger industry that makes big deals, one at a time.

Here’s the most impressive part of this event: there were 23 CHROs in attendance. Not from little companies either; these executives were from MasterCard, Haworth, Pitney Bowes and other powerhouses. Six of them participated in a CHRO panel discussion that delivered meaningful insights into the role, its challenges and its expectations. I enjoyed gaining that kind of unvarnished perspective in less than an hour.

Overall, this is the conference to put on your calendar if you’re involved in HRO and RPO. The industry heavyweights such as Randstad are there, as well as newer category players such as Work Market. On the heels of the conference, Randstad unveiled its new Talent Solutions Group, which is a really smart way to link talent solutions to business objectives.

I would be remiss if I didn’t give a big shout-out to Devon client Talent Board – a non-profit responsible for the annual Candidate Experience Benchmark research. Founding member and chairwoman Elaine Orler was on hand to accept the organization’s win for Strategic HR Thought Leadership at the big HRO Today Awards Gala during the conference. Well done!