PwC’s Talent Exchange — the firm’s direct sourcing platform for contract labor — delivered nearly 3.2 million hours in fiscal 2022, accounting for more than 80% of PwC Consulting Solutions’ third-party labor hours. As managing director of third-party labor and Talent Exchange operations, Patrick Schooley has been involved every step of the way.

PwC originally had a traditional third-party labor program that relied on staffing vendors, booking around 800,000 hours a year. Talent Exchange was developed and launched in 2016 under Schooley’s aegis. He takes pride in the success of this platform — the fiscal 2022 numbers are expected to grow in 2023.

Talent Exchange capitalizes on the shifting labor market as more and more professional services workers opt to become part of the gig economy. “There was a war for talent going on, and we wanted to make sure we were at the tip of the spear in taking advantage of the shifting workforce,” Schooley says. “It has enabled us to pursue more work than we might have previously at 30% to 35% lower costs.”

Schooley and his team are currently developing plans to use Talent Exchange to enhance diversity hiring. He credits the success of the platform to strong executive sponsorship, strategic planning and a superb recruiting team.

“The thing I’m most proud about is how we have evolved the way we leverage third-party labor into a strategic piece to our delivery model,” he says.