Before diving into talent pooling, it’s crucial to lay a solid foundation for success. These five essential steps will help you navigate the initial stages of talent pooling and ensure that you are well-prepared to build a thriving talent pool. From gaining internal alignment to mapping your talent needs and selecting the right technology, use this guide to embark on your talent pooling journey with confidence.
1. Get your team on board
Talent pooling can decrease time to hire while improving the quality of candidates, but it is a long-term project that requires time, consistency, and investment. Before you start, ensure you have full buy-in from management and your team.
2. Map your needs
Previous patterns of recruitment and workforce planning are great tools to identify which roles would benefit from talent pooling. Other factors you may want to consider regularly recruited roles and any anticipated future hiring needs, like specific projects or introducing new teams, for example. Establish the criteria for which candidates should be added to the talent pool at this stage too.
3. Get the technology
Ensure you have the right tools in place to build and nurture your talent pool. A good applicant tracking system (ATS) and Candidate Relationship Management (CRM) system will take you a long way. You might also want to consider a predictive, analytical tool to track job seeking behaviours.
Talent pooling is a smart way to stay ahead in the hiring game. By nurturing relationships with potential candidates ahead of time, we streamline our recruitment process and tap into a pool of at the ready, top-notch talent when we need it most. Embracing talent pooling lets us maximize efficiency and brings exceptional talent on board.”
4. Decide on your engagement strategy
Craft an effective engagement strategy for your talent pool. Articulate your employer value proposition (EVP) and tailor your communication plan so that it resonates with each talent pool segment. Generic, bulk emails have low success rates, so personalize your outreach efforts. It is also recommended to seek input from candidates on their preferences for staying informed and assure them of their privacy and data security.
5. Dedicate time and resources to your talent pool
Building and nurturing a talent pool requires dedicated time and resources. However, the investment pays off with reduced time to hire and a high-quality, engaged pool of candidates at interview. Before building your talent pool, strategize who, when, and how often you will spend time on your talent pool.
Discover how talent pooling can help you drive efficiencies in your recruitment process and engage with top talent before hiring needs suddenly arrive. Get in touch with our talent experts today.
