The labour market has now returned to pre-pandemic levels, with more people than ever currently employed. In fact, Indeed are reporting that the number of job postings in 2022 are now above a pre-pandemic number.
Of course, with greater demand for employees, comes increased competition between employers for the best talent. There are a number of things that employers can do to improve their recruitment strategies, in terms of attracting both active and passive candidates.
However, there is a recruitment channel that many recruitment teams are not utilizing to its full potential: the talent pool.
What is a talent pool?
When we talk about talent pooling, what we’re talking about is maintaining relationships with those who have applied to work at your company in the past but were unsuccessful. The idea is to nurture the relationship with these candidates with the hope of encouraging the best talent to apply for suitable openings in the future. The simple premise behind talent pooling is ‘don’t say goodbye to great candidates, add them to your talent pool’.
How talent pooling can help your recruitment team.
You’ll save time and money
On average, a recruitment timeline from the initial establishment of a need right up until your new hire is onboarded is about 60 days. That’s if you’re lucky and everything is working as it should be. However, hiring can be quicker when you have a talent pool.
Firstly, candidates in a talent pool will be getting the job opening direct to their inbox. That means less time waiting for candidates to find you job posting on one of the various job boards. Secondly, you will already have spoken to many members of the talent pool, meaning an initial screening call may not be necessary before a formal interview.
In terms of costs, posting on multiple job boards can be pricey. The longer you spend searching, the more it’s going to cost you. Reaching out to your talent pool has the potential to reduce time and costs.
More engaged candidates with knowledge of your organization
Applicants coming from a talent pool are likely to be more engaged with your brand. Maybe that’s because they’ve submitted an application in the past, or even done interviews with your team. Either way, the candidates in your talent pool will know more about your organization than those who have had no interaction with you in the past.
Reduce New Hire Turnover
You’ve probably heard the statistic: Up to 20% of employees quit within the 45 days of employment. A candidate choosing to submit an application with prior knowledge of your brand, may reduce the risk of your new hire quitting abruptly a few weeks in. That’s because they’ve had previous experience with your company and are more aware of what kind of company they’re applying to.
How to Effectively Talent Pool
Find a home for your talent pool (ATS)
The first step towards effective talent pooling is to establish where you’re going to store your talent pool. Technically this can be done with an excel sheet and a Gmail account but if you want to be as effective as possible, we recommend you utilize a recruitment CRM. However you decide to store your talent, make sure it’s easily accessible and searchable by your talent team and hiring managers.
Expression of Interest
Even if you’re not currently hiring, we recommend always having an ‘Expression of Interest’ option on your careers page. This way, great candidates who can’t see a current open role within your organization that matches their skill set can still express their interest in your organization and add themselves to your talent pool. (Not interested in a full ATS but still want to add an expression of interest? Check out our Recruit Essentials software)
If you add an expression of interest option to your careers page, consider adding qualifying questions to the application process. Adding qualifying questions will allow you to ensure that those being added to your talent pool meet your minimum requirements, such as being legally entitled to work in your country of operation.
Managing your talent pool is key
It’s important to treat your talent pool as a living talent pool. This means that you need to keep reviewing it and ensuring it’s fit for purpose. If you’re only ever adding people to your talent pool and not removing those that are hired or who are no longer a good fit for your organization, you’re going to end up with a bloated talent pool that’s unusable.
Keep members of your talent pool engaged by communicating with them regularly, sending them relevant business updates and content. This will result in a group that is engaged with your brand, and much more likely to apply should an opportunity arise.
A good way to keep your talent pool organized is to categorize everyone in the talent pool, so that content can be personalized based on the job type they’ve expressed interest in.
A great addition to your talent pool can be current and past employees. Current employees may be interested in internal opportunities. Past employees may be looking for an opportunity to return to the company.
Organizations change and grow, and today’s top priority may be a distant memory by tomorrow. With that change, once ideal candidates may no longer be a good fit. Keep your talent pool healthy so that it continues to be a useful tool within your recruitment process.
Talent pooling is a tricky recruitment skill to get right. It takes time and work to build healthy talent communities that your organization can draw upon. However, the benefits make the time spent hugely worthwhile. Scout Talent’s :Engage module is a great solution for organizations looking for an intuitive tool that will allow them to build and communicate with a talent pool. Get in touch if you’d like to book a demo.
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