Orion Insights for Employers, Managers, and HR and TA Leadership

For small employers, hiring and retaining talent has always been a top priority. It is also one of the biggest challenges they face. The Federal Reserve’s 2025 Report on Employer Firms cites “Hiring or retaining qualified staff” as the #1 Operational Challenge for growing small companies, and the #2 Challenge for firms that not growing (right behind reaching customers and growing sales).

With nearly 30 percent of the railroad workforce over the age of 50, the U.S. transportation sector faces a looming talent crisis. Aging workforces, widening skills gaps, and the risk of lost expertise are creating real challenges for rail and mobility providers. To address these issues, Siemens Mobility is accelerating its transition to a skills-based hiring model in partnership with Orion Talent.

Most employers understand the advantage a strong pipeline can create in today’s unpredictable hiring landscape . But when it comes to who fills that pipeline, many think almost exclusively about familiar sources such as industry peers, competitors employing similar talent, local networks, or traditional job boards. These channels might feel comfortable, but they rarely deliver the kind of reliability and performance needed to strengthen a business over time.

The past few years have brought dramatic shifts in the labor market, from the Great Resignation to what many are now calling the Great Stay. After several years of high mobility, workers have settled in. Voluntary turnover has declined, and employees are staying in their current roles longer than expected.

When hiring demand cools, most companies pause Talent Acquisition improvements, but waiting comes at a cost. Vacant roles still drain productivity, legacy contracts continue to waste spend, and scattered vendors still create risk. Procurement professionals already know how to navigate volatility. You reduce risk, optimize vendor relationships, and extract value from contracts every day. Those same skills can help your organization build smarter, more cost-effective recruiting infrastructure now, when it matters most.

Across the Maritime Industrial Base (MIB), suppliers are facing the same challenge: how to find skilled talent fast enough to meet production demands. Through the Navy-funded MIB Supplier Recruiting Program, Orion Talent is helping suppliers solve this challenge with a skills-first approach to hiring, connecting them with pre-screened, qualified candidates ready to work.

The RPO Advantage: What Every TA Leader Needs to Know Over the past four posts, we’ve talked about the challenges of today’s hiring environment for Talent Acquisition leaders. You have seen the pressure build as roles stay open, candidates drop out, and costs climb. You have seen why the traditional model fails to break this cycle, and how a proactive approach can create a better way forward. You have also seen why selecting the right partner makes all the difference. Now it is time to introduce the solution that brings it all together: Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO).

You have carried the weight of a broken recruiting model long enough. Even when you try new approaches, the demands do not let up. That is why the partner you choose matters. The right one helps take the weight off your shoulders, while the wrong one leaves you stuck in the same cycle.

Recruitment is entering a new era. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer a futuristic buzzword, it’s reshaping the hiring landscape today by automating routine tasks, amplifying data-driven decisions, and empowering recruiters to become “super recruiters.”

You know the feeling all too well. More roles open, more candidates drop out, more hiring managers waiting for answers . You’ve pulled every lever in the traditional recruiting playbook , and the cycle still repeats.

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