diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index c7760a491..887cc2e68 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -9,11 +9,11 @@
   <parent>
     <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson</groupId>
     <artifactId>jackson-base</artifactId>
-    <version>2.16.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+    <version>2.16.0-rc1-SNAPSHOT</version>
   </parent>
   <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.dataformat</groupId>
   <artifactId>jackson-dataformat-xml</artifactId>
-  <version>2.16.0-SNAPSHOT</version>
+  <version>2.16.0-rc1-SNAPSHOT</version>
   <name>Jackson-dataformat-XML</name>
   <packaging>jar</packaging>
   <description>Data format extension for Jackson to offer