Blog/How-to Guides

5 Ways to Build an Effective Talent Pool

April 29, 2024

7 min read
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Wouldn’t life be easier if hiring would have been as easy as pulling a chit out of a jar and finding the perfect candidate? Well, it isn’t and recruiters spend years perfecting their talent pool. Amid constant changes in the skilled workforce planning, recruiters are always competing to discover the best hires. In the present job market, a company has already realised how significant it is to hire and retain proficient workers. Think for a minute that your company needs to fill essential positions but it doesn't have enough qualified people who are fit for the position. This causes a loss of important positions and thus your recruitment process slows down.

This is not about filling positions but about discovering the smart people who value the same as your company if not more. A talent pool, which is curated well, can assist with the hiring process and helps to shape your employer brand too, which eventually makes your company an attractive environment for people to work in. So, let’s learn more about it in the article below.

Importance of Building a Talent Pool

It is crucial to build a skill driven talent pool when seeking qualified candidates today. Talent pools are an excellent source of passive candidates who have the required skills, experience, and cultural fitness for the organization's objectives. Apart from mere profiles, it is an active means by which companies can combat the phenomena of frequent employer brand turnover.
Having a skill pool, a business can be prompt in action and reaction. Businesses must have the skill to rapidly adapt to changing technologies, consumer behaviors and demand, and changes in the global economy. In that talent pool, the businesses can meet their demands regarding the filling of vacancies, growth, and change of the enterprise to the needs of the market. Companies with tightly picked up the talent pool can access it whenever they need to, which gives them the advantage over companies who have to look for qualified people instantly.

Moreover, building a talent pool improves the company brand and helps you hire the best people. In today's networked world, where information is easy to find and image is more important than ever, people actively look for companies that value people management and growth. A strong talent pool shows that a company is serious about hiring good people and helps it become known as a workplace of choice. Companies can hire top people who want to succeed and move up if they build a strong talent pool.

5 Ways to Build an Effective Talent Pool

For a talent pool to work, you need more than just traditional hiring skills. Companies may be able to find a steady stream of motivated, high-performing workers by using new strategies and tools. Here are five great ways to keep ability alive and growing:

  1. Use the Right Recruitment Software

    First things first, check your recruitment software. Assembling a talent pool isn’t an easy job let alone a manual job. You need expert assistance. Instead of scanning thousands of resumes with zero outcome, choose an AI driven hiring software that can pinpoint the best talents for a job by screening hundreds of applicants and ranking them against your job description. It solidifies the candidates relevance with an AI Matching Score.

  2. Use Your Career Page to Create a Community of Professionals

    The career page for your company is more than just a place to post job openings. It's also a way to meet with people who might be interested in working for you and build a community. Top people who want to find work and build a strong professional network may be interested in industry insights, job advice, and feedback from current employees. Moreover, visitors can stay up to date on new job opportunities by subscribing to newsletters or joining talent networks for their skill sets.

  3. Don’t Lose Touch With Unsuccessful Candidates

    Every interaction with a candidate is a chance to make links and get more qualified people in your pool. Send them personalized emails, magazines, or invite them to networking events to stay in touch. Keep rejected applicants in touch and let them know about future opportunities to turn them into brand ambassadors who can recommend qualified candidates or retry themselves.

  4. Use Social Media to Engage With Potential Candidates

    There are many ways to connect with applicants and promote your company brand on social media. Post job openings, company news, employee stories, and trends in your field on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. Answer comments, join talks that are relevant, and give your community useful information. Being involved on social media can help you find idle job applicants and meet with active job seekers, which can help you find more qualified external candidates.

  5. Keep a Track of Internal Talent

    People from outside the company are important, but your company also needs to find and grow its own potential. Keep an eye on employees who are doing a good job and have room to grow and move up. Provide professional growth, guidance, and job progress opportunities to encourage employees to move up and stay with the company. Putting money into employee training and growth makes them more loyal and engaged, and it also makes a steady stream of skilled workers ready for new tasks.

Talent Pool vs Talent Pipeline

To handle and hire talented individuals well, you must know the difference between a talent pool and a talent stream. Both theories find and train potential employees, but their methods and goals are different. So, let’s look at how a talent pool and a talent stream are different:

  • Talent Pool

    A talent pool is made up of idle people who are interested in a company but aren't actively looking for work. These people may have sent in applications, gone to networking events, or connected with business content on social media. A talent pool is a group of people who are being considered for future jobs instead of present ones.

    Talent pools help build ties with potential candidates, keep links alive, and keep a talent network going to reduce costs. They help businesses build a pool of skilled people who can apply for open jobs. Applicants from larger talent pools have a range of skills, experiences, and years of work. The goal is not to hire right away, but to make long term relationships and stay in the minds of passive candidates.

  • Talent Pipeline/Stream

    These are lists of people who have applied for jobs, gone through the hiring process, and are now being considered for those jobs in the talent pool. These people have applied, been interviewed, and are now in the process of being chosen. Applicants are part of the hiring process, and a talent pool judges how well they fit certain jobs.

    Talent streams are designed to meet the immediate hiring needs of companies. To find the best person for open jobs, they use a structured way to evaluate applicants, choose the best ones, and train them. Talent streams for talent management help with short-term hiring, planning for the next generation of leaders, and filling skill gaps in the workforce. Recruiters and hiring managers need to be more active and hands-on because they have to evaluate and talk to applicants all the time.

End Note

Building an effective talent pool can help find skilled workers, shape employer brand, and speed up hiring. To do so, you can start by using AI-driven recruitment software, creating a professional community on your career page, followed by practising to stay in touch with unsuccessful candidates, engaging potential hires on social media, and nurturing internal talent. Moreover, understanding the difference between a talent pool and a talent pipeline is crucial too. So, don’t get tangled in the web of words, Talent pools focus on long-term relationships with passive candidates, while talent pipelines deal with immediate hiring needs. Both are essential for sustained workforce planning.