Some recruiters face the most common battles: finding and attracting high-quality candidates. Companies are fighting to attract skilled professionals while dealing with issues like high turnover rates and evolving candidate expectations. Traditional hiring methods don’t produce the results they promise. This is where organizations tap into building a talent pool to succeed.
What is a Talent Pool?
A talent pool is a pool of potential employees who might fill both short-term and long-term employment openings. HR managers need to be aware of business goals and how they connect to anticipated hiring over the next years in order to develop a talent pool. A talent pool is built and maintained by recruiters, often with the help of an Applicant Tracking System (ATS.)
10 Strategies for Talent Pooling
Building effective talent pools not only reduces time-to-hire but also ensures that you always have a pipeline of qualified candidates ready to meet your company’s future hiring needs. Here are 10 strategies you can use when building effective talent pools.
1. Employee Referral Programs
Employee referrals are a powerful tool for building a talent pool. Encourage your current employees to refer candidates who they believe would be a good fit for the organization. This not only helps in finding quality candidates but also boosts employee engagement. Check out our guide on employee referrals here to start building your own referral program.
2. Engage Passive Candidates
Passive candidates are those who are not actively looking for a job but may be open to new opportunities. Engaging with passive candidates through social media, networking events, and personalized communication can help you build a diverse and high-quality talent pool. We dive into more details in our guide on passive recruitment.
3. Talent Pool Software
Investing in talent pool software can streamline the process of building and managing your talent pool. These tools can help you organize candidate information, track engagement, and automate communication, making it easier to maintain relationships with potential candidates.
Manatal’s Applicant Tracking System (ATS) feature serves this exact purpose. It allows recruiters to efficiently manage and organize candidate information, ensuring that all potential hires are easily accessible and up-to-date. This feature also supports advanced search capabilities, enabling recruiters to quickly find candidates with specific skills and qualifications.
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4. Develop University Partnerships
Partnering with universities and colleges can provide a steady stream of fresh talent. Participate in career fairs, offer internships, and engage with student organizations to attract young professionals who are eager to start their careers. Check out our guide on on-campus recruiting here.
5. Invest in Employer Branding
A strong employer brand can attract top talent to your organization. Showcase your company culture, values, and employee success stories through your website, social media, and other marketing channels. A positive employer brand can make your organization more appealing to potential candidates. To tap into the potential of employer branding, check out our full guide to building your employer brand on LinkedIn, or watch the podcast episode with Alex Her, Global Employer Branding Manager of Godaddy.
6. Conduct Skills-Based Assessments
Incorporate skills-based assessments into your talent pooling strategy to identify candidates with the right competencies. This approach ensures that you are not only attracting candidates with the necessary qualifications but also those who have the skills to excel in your organization.
7. Regularly Update and Cleanse Your Talent Pool
Maintaining an up-to-date talent pool is crucial for its effectiveness. Regularly review and update candidate information, remove outdated profiles, and re-engage with candidates to ensure your talent pool remains relevant and high-quality.
8. Foster a Culture of Continuous Engagement
Keep your talent pool engaged by regularly sharing company updates, industry news, and relevant content. This continuous engagement helps keep your organization top-of-mind for potential candidates and fosters a sense of connection and loyalty.
9. Build a Dedicated Landing Page
Another way to build your talent pool is to create a dedicated landing page on your website or career site where potential candidates can sign up for your talent pool. This page should explain what your talent pool is, what benefits it offers, and what types of roles you are looking for.
You can also use this page to showcase your employer's brand, culture, and values, and to share testimonials, stories, or videos from your current employees. It’s a good idea to include a form or a button where candidates can submit their resume, email, or social media profile to join your talent pool.
10. Engage Students and Graduates-to-be
If you are looking for fresh talent with new ideas and perspectives, you should consider engaging students and graduates-to-be. These are candidates who are about to finish their studies and enter the job market. They may not have much work experience, but they may have the skills, enthusiasm, and potential that you need.
You can engage these candidates by attending or hosting career fairs, workshops, or webinars at universities or colleges. Partnering with academic institutions or associations to offer internships, scholarships, or mentoring programs is a good strategy. You can also use social media, blogs, or podcasts to share relevant content and advice for students and graduates.
Maintaining a Talent Pool
Creating a talent pool is not enough, you also need to maintain it. This means keeping your candidates engaged, informed, and interested in working for you. Here are some tips to maintain your talent pool:
- Clean up your database: Make sure your database is up-to-date and accurate. Remove any duplicate or outdated profiles. Update any changes in your candidates’ contact details, skill qualifications, or preferences.
- Segment your talent: Segment your talent pool into smaller groups based on certain criteria such as profession, interest, experience, skills, or candidate journey stage. This will help you tailor your communication and content to each segment and offer them the most personalized experience possible. To put this into practice, check out Manatal’s applicant tracking features.
- Communicate regularly: Stay in touch with your candidates regularly. Send them personalized emails or messages with relevant content and information. For example, you can send them industry news, company updates, job alerts, event invitations, or surveys.
- Ask for feedback: Ask for feedback from your candidates on their experience with your organization and your talent pool. Find out what they like and dislike about your communication style, content quality, frequency, and relevance. Use their feedback to improve your talent pool strategy and candidate experience.
- Measure your results: Measure the results of your talent pool strategy by tracking key metrics such as the size of your talent pool, the quality of your candidates, the engagement rate of your communication campaigns, the conversion rate of your hires from your talent pool, and the retention rate of your hires from your talent pool.
Conclusion
Having a talent pool can help you improve your recruitment process and outcomes by giving you access to a ready supply of qualified candidates for your current and future needs. To create a talent pool that works for you, you need to follow some strategies such as adding sourced candidates; building a dedicated landing page; re-engaging unsuccessful candidates; engaging students and graduates-to-be; including internal talent and former employees; updating your database; communicating regularly; providing value; asking for feedback; and measuring your results.
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