Allen Chilson believes that having a strong contingent workforce program in place is even more critical post-Covid as organizations must react quickly to a changing workforce.

“I think we need to have as many options to support our businesses as possible because the world of work has changed permanently — not just the office-based situation, but people are reprioritizing how they want to work, the kind of hours they want to work, whether they want to commute or not,” he says.

In August, Chilson stepped into a new role as global talent acquisition vendor management leader at global conglomerate Danaher Corp. He previously spent about four years as talent acquisition leader for strategic partnerships at chemical producer BASF; he managed its MSP program with KellyOCG, which became a feeder-pool for full-time employment, as well as its RPO program with Randstad. The MSP program has $70 million to $80 million a year in spend and usually averages 1,500 workers in the program.

One of Chilson’s last projects at BASF involved a cost-reduction measure to move work from its US RPO team into a global service hub the company created in Uruguay — all during a pandemic with training conducted virtually.

Meanwhile, Danaher utilizes multiple vendors for recruiting and staffing – RPOs, MSPs, master vendors, contingent and retained search firms – and Chilson’s core role will be to build a portfolio of scalable programs to fit the needs of the Fortune 200 firm’s 20-plus operating companies. He is already working on Danaher’s Cepheid brand, a diagnostic product manufacturer undergoing extreme growth amid Covid.