Build a talent pool and stay ahead
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A talent-first mindset is critical for success in a rapidly changing business environment. Business leaders must focus on shaping a workforce that has the skills to deliver business goals now and in the future. Talent can drive a business to success but lack of it can break a business. Building vibrant talent pools is an astute way to safeguard against a dearth of talent in the future.
What is a talent pool?
A talent pool is a community of qualified reserve talent that could fill future roles in an organisation. Building a talent pool is a proactive recruitment strategy. It involves building a database of candidates interested in working for the organisation. Any team that is poised for growth or needs to plan for a future would do well to build a talent pool as part of its recruitment strategies.
Advantages of building a talent pool
The right opportunity and the right talent are not always aligned perfectly.
- By building a global talent pool, an organisation could be ready for all future resource requirements. It just needs to be well managed.
- Time-to-hire and cost-to-hire can be reduced. With a readily available talent pool, there is no need for a recruitment drive every time a need arises.
- An organisation can always stay ahead of its headcount requirements.
- A talent pool boosts the brand of the organisation since candidates in the talent pool would appreciate the opportunity to have a first chance at open positions.
- The good faith shown by the organisation will be rewarded in the form of lower attrition rates.
How to build a talent pool
Save passive talent:
When a recruiter actively looks on online job boards for candidates, he will come across many strong profiles that may not match the current requirements but will be needed later. Ignoring such candidates will be a mistake. Instead, their profiles should be added to the talent pool for future consideration. This will ensure that the organisation has a ready list of the best talent, not just the best available talent.Go where the talent is:
Events such as conferences, hackathons, workshops and seminars are all talent sources. Other sources are colleges, universities and employee referral schemes. In fact, organisations could host some of these events and gather candidate information. Suitable candidates could then be contacted at a later date and their interest levels gauged. College and university campuses are undoubtedly where new talent thrives. Organisations should plan to have a continuous association with relevant institutes and nurture the best talent for future opportunities. At the same time, organisations must be alert enough to spot talent outside of campuses too. Finding and nurturing the right talent is an exhaustive job and must be done right.Use career and social media pages:
An organisation’s website and social media page may be used to build the brand and attract talent. Candidates who land on these pages could be requested to fill out a form with relevant information. These pages could let the candidates know the advantages of joining the talent pool. Some perks could be early information about job openings, event news and invites, newsletters and product updates.Diversify:
Organisations must be willing to diversify from typical candidate profiles and look at veterans, candidates with disabilities or from different geographies, persons from the LGBTQ+ community and women and men returning to the workforce after a break. Such candidates may have skills that are beyond the traditional skills and organisations must be willing to go the extra mile to understand this and use it to their best advantage. Often, employees from different backgrounds are likely to stay with an organisation longer.Rehire ex-employees:
It is best to stay connected with former employees, especially the stellar ones who left but could be willing to return for the right incentives. Exit interviews are opportunities to understand what would make an employee return at a later date. Employees leave for various reasons; not all of them may be triggered by financial or job dissatisfaction. So it is best to leave the doors open for them if their abilities are top-notch. Another advantage of such a group is that the members are already familiar with the organisation and onboarding would be a breeze.Tap the ‘runners up’:
The ‘runners-up’ group includes people who are high on skills but do not get picked for a role during a recruitment drive. Such a group would already be conversant with the organisation’s vision and be eager to be considered again. Further, the organisation would already have a considerable amount of information about the group.Establish attractive referral programmes:
Referred talent is a valuable source since employees who refer are aware of the skills required and would refer only those candidates with the appropriate skills and experience. They would also be aware if the referred candidates would fit into the culture of the organisation. Even if a referred candidate is not hired immediately, such a candidate could be added to the talent pool. Organisations must establish referral programmes that make it attractive for employees to refer qualified candidates. In fact, research shows that referred candidates are four times more likely to be recruited than those from other sources.Skills-first strategy:
When building a talent pool, it is best to stress on skills instead of being rigid about the perfect qualifications and experiences. A skills-based approach allows organisations to increase and diversify the talent pool. Focusing on skills levels the playing field and also makes organisations aware of their inhouse talent.Organisations should scan the current employees to filter out people with the right skills but working in the wrong area. Such people can be added to the talent pool. Many a time, neither the organisation nor the employee realises that skill sets are transferable.
Skill gaps within the organisation need to be identified and existing employees must be given the opportunity to upskill so that they can be ready for future roles. An internal talent pool can be nurtured within the organisation instead of having to look outside. Such a step would build employee integrity too. Constructive support of this kind makes dedicated and strong employees feel secure and loyal towards the organisation. An opportunity to learn and build a different career path within the same organisation is an attractive perk. Many organisations are already doing this and are investing millions in the idea.
The pandemic has forced unprecedented changes in business priorities. The need to change skills has been high and many organisations have responded by quickly upskilling existing employees. They successfully nurtured their internal talent pool.
Research shows that in the US, 48 per cent organisations are having difficulties in filling roles. This is not a new situation. Pre-Covid data shows that in the US, although there were 7 million open positions, there were 5.8 million unemployed people. Similarly there were over 700,000 job vacancies in the United Kingdom before February 2020, while there were 1.4 million unemployed! This disconnect has a lot to do with skills not matching traditional job roles.
Stay engaged:
It is important to stay connected with candidates in the talent pool. Engagement could mean periodical emails with helpful information about the organisation’s plans, employment opportunities, skills in demand and invitations to participate in events.Engagement content must depend on the group addressed. A fresh college graduate would require information that’s very different from someone who has been in the workforce for a considerable amount of time. Candidates with different skill sets would expect different kinds of information too. In other words, talent pool management must have a well-thought-out strategy for success.
An important part of building a talent pool is using the right software. A growing talent pool cannot be maintained on spreadsheets and email alone. Organisations must be ready to invest in appropriate recruiting automation software and talent CRMs so that the talent management process is smooth and structured.
