“Talent pool” is common recruitment terminology these days but what does it actually mean and how critical is it to your hiring process?
Broadly speaking, the term talent pool refers to the pipeline of “warm” candidates who have already expressed an interest in your business to whom you can reach out once the need arises. Proactively building this pool ahead of time can take the sweat out of real-time recruitment not to mention reducing the time and cost to hire.
Savvy Talent Managers are also tapping in to other sources to supplement their talent pool. It’s a great idea to keep lines of communication open with candidates who didn’t quite make it to offer stage for previous hires. Perhaps they had a shortfall in experience which they can demonstrate a few months down the line or that they weren’t quite right for that role but are spot on for the next. Just remember to let them know that you’d like to keep their details for future opportunities and check that you have their permission to do so. Demonstrating your long term thinking to candidates speaks volumes about your vision as a hiring manager and is great for the profile of your business.
For optimum results from your talent pool you do need to invest some time maintaining it. As a candidate there’s nothing worse than being courted with the promise of future contact from an employer only to feel that you’ve disappeared into a void with no further follow-through.
At the point that you lose an existing employee, having a talent pool puts you in a position of strength and will allow for a much more nimble hiring process. If you’re losing sleep about your next key hire maybe it’s time to get ahead of the game and start building your talent pool.