All Recooty Articles, HR Tutorials and TipsHow to Build an Effective Talent Pool? | 6 Proven Strategies
All Recooty Articles, HR Tutorials and Tips 
A talent pool is always an essential thing to maintain in this fierce talent market where the fight for winning top talent is at its peak. Additionally, it is hard to find quality candidates when the need arises. This poses a constant risk of candidates slipping from your hands.
Your talent pool helps you deal with all of this and lets you make your future talent ready. Let’s explore what a talent pool is, its benefits, and how to build one for your hiring needs.
Let’s dive in!
What is a talent pool?
A talent pool is simply a place (which can be digital i.e., database) where you store candidate profiles or resumes who see themselves working at your company.
It consists of candidates of various kinds including:
- The past applicants who didn’t make it
- Applicants with a specific set of skills
- Ones who were talented but the role wasn’t present
- People who aren’t actively looking for a job (passive candidates)
You can find such databases in Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). Building and updating candidate databases is pretty convenient with such platforms.
Talent Pool Vs Talent Pipeline
It is crucial to note that the talent pool is pretty different from the talent pipeline. Talent pipeline refers to a group consisting of candidates who have been screened and can be immediately hired for specific roles. It is used usually for internal hiring or succession planning.
But why build a talent pool in the first place?
Building a talent pool will result in several benefits for your recruiting efforts, giving you a great starting point to bring your next best candidates in. On the other hand, if one of your employees leaves, you will have candidates ready in your pipeline.
Let’s now explore its true benefits:
1. You’re ready with candidates at hand
With a carefully built talent pool, you will have qualified candidates ready. When you’re hiring for a specialized role, you might get applications from several qualified people. You can save such candidates in your talent pool which you can use to fill future roles.
Additionally, if you hire people for similar roles frequently, saving those who weren’t selected previously comes in pretty handy when the need arises.
These practices save you from starting the search from scratch.
2. You can reduce time-to-hire significantly
Maintaining a talent pool is a proactive approach to achieving your hiring goals. As the talent pool already contains screened, prevetted, and vetted candidates whom you can reach out to if required.
This saves you from having to start hiring from the sourcing stage for the newly opened roles. Furthermore, it helps you in forming a long-term hiring strategy, where you can first predict the future roles and collect the potential talent for the same.
3. You have a chance to convert passive talent into active ones
It’s quite hard to convince passive candidates to apply. And you’re not alone, most companies face it. The reason? These candidates are satisfied with their current job.
With a talent pool, nurturing candidates becomes easier. As you have their contact details like LinkedIn ID or email, allowing you to engage them with relevant content. This could be a newsletter that’s helpful for their careers or shows why they should consider your company. You can plan for both types of content as well.
Consistently sending them such content will encourage them to apply.
How to build a talent pool?
Though it takes some effort to create a talent pool, however, if done right, it can be your great asset in the long run. Now let’s see how can we build a talent pool through the proven strategies listed below.
6 Proven Strategies to Build an Excellent Talent Pool:
1. Add the candidates you’ve sourced
It’s the easiest way to start establishing your talent pool. In this step, you just add the sourced candidates to the talent pool or talent database. These candidates can be from different channels including job boards, social media, events, referrals, or more.
These include people who have shown interest in working in your organization. For instance, If a candidate contacts you on LinkedIn about relevant roles, and none are available, you can ask for their resume and add it to your talent pool.
Applicant Tracking Systems generally come with a talent pool, it can be a great tool to create and maintain a talent pool. If you have an ATS, you can directly source candidates through its partner job boards and store them in its talent pool
2. Create a separate landing page
Creating a dedicated landing page on your company website is also a great way to build a talent pool. This page should showcase your culture, mission, and vision, list open positions, and offer candidates the option to join your talent pool.
It can be in the form of a simple form where candidates provide details like their email and social media profiles, with an option to upload their resume. Using this option, candidates can leave their details if they can’t find the open role that is relevant to them.
Your developers can easily set this up.
3. Re-engage with candidates who didn’t make it
Do you reengage your past candidates who were unsuccessful? If not, you should, as it’s among the most effective ways to grow your talent pool. Given that you have provided a great candidate experience.
It’s possible that due to circumstances, timing, and mismatch between what was required and what candidates had, you couldn’t select them.
But it can be possible that they develop the required skills or you have a job matching to their profile well in the future. To stay updated on such information about your candidates and inviting them to join your talent pool, re-engaging with candidates can help.
To provide a great candidate experience to unsuccessful candidates, you can:
- Try to answer their questions as quickly as possible
- Send a personalized rejection email with a thank you note to acknowledge their effort
- Always leave timely feedback on why they didn’t make it and ways to improve
- And obviously, invite them to join your talent pool to keep them in mind for future roles
4. Engage students and soon-to-be graduates
A talent pool is meant for future hiring needs. This makes the talent of tomorrow eligible to join your team in the future. The students and graduates-to-be always look for work opportunities to start exploring their interests or to earn money as they’re usually about to complete their studies.
They might not have experience but they have new ideas and fresh perspectives to offer. So in exchange for what they have, you can start engaging and nurturing them for your future opportunities.
To achieve this, you can attend or organize job fairs, workshops, or webinars at universities or colleges. You can also partner with academic institutions or associations to offer internships, mentoring programs, and scholarships.
Moreover, using platforms like social media, blogs, or podcasts to share career advice or other kinds of helpful content for candidates can be effective. Plus these are a great place to showcase what it’s like to work in your company, contributing to making a strong employer brand.
5. Consider internal talent and past employees
Why only go for external candidates when you can always consider your internal talent or former employees too? But why consider them in the first place? It’s because they already have acquaintance with working in your company, its vision & mission, and the overall goals. Plus they might already have the skills, knowledge, and pace you’re looking for.
By conducting regular performance reviews, career conversations, and talent assessments, you can spot the right candidates for your current openings or future ones. Additionally, you can also make your existing employees grow by giving them the required training, development, and mobility opportunities.
And if we talk about your previous employees, you can maintain good relations with them and invite them to join your alumni network. There you can consistently share relevant updates, news, and opportunities for them. Plus right from the moment they decide to leave, you can start preparing them for their return when the right opportunity arises through exit interviews.
6. Build online communities
You can build separate community channels for different types of candidates such as students, graduates, and current and former employees.
Making separate segments for different groups and sending relevant content is a great practice. This segmentation is crucial as different groups seek information or content based on their interest.
Different tools are available to classify each member of your talent pool and ensure they receive the appropriate information to keep them interested.
For example, providing passive prospects with more general, industry-related content, and delivering more employee-generated content for your current staff.
How do you update and maintain a talent pool?
Maintaining a talent pool is as important as building one. While creating a talent pool ensures you have a list of potential candidates for future roles, keeping it up-to-date and organized is what makes it valuable in the long run.
A well-maintained talent pool allows you to quickly tap into qualified candidates when a position opens up, saving time and effort. Here’s how you can do it:
- Segment your talent pool: Not all candidates fit every role. Segment your talent pool based on skills, experience, and industry. This makes it easier to find the right candidate when a relevant position opens up.
- Regularly update your database: You can keep your talent pool fresh by updating candidate profiles. People change jobs, acquire new skills, or shift their career paths. Plus, you may have some duplicate or outdated resumes. So, it’s important to review and update your database frequently to stay on top of these changes.
- Engage with your candidates: Keep communication open with potential hires. Share relevant job updates, industry news, or career advice. This keeps your talent pool engaged and ensures they remember your company when the right opportunity arises.
- Prioritize high-potential candidates: Some candidates stand out for their unique skills or achievements. Keep track of high-potential individuals who could be great fits for key roles in the future. This is to make sure they don’t get lost in the crowd.
- Leverage tech tools for better management: Use modern hiring tools like AI-powered Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to organize and maintain your talent pool efficiently. This will help you track interactions, set reminders for follow-ups, and keep everything in one place.
Frequently asked questions
Building a strong talent pool starts with sourcing high-quality candidates through diverse channels including job boards, social media, and employee referrals. You need to focus on skills, experience, and future potential when sourcing candidates.
Once you have your pool, you need to regularly update candidate profiles, engage with them, and segment based on relevant criteria to ensure quick access when opportunities arise.
To expand your talent pool, consider broadening your recruitment efforts to include more diverse sources, such as social media platforms and industry-specific communities. This helps you reach a wider range of candidates. In addition, you can offer internships, apprenticeships, or training programs to attract emerging talent.
Building a diverse talent pool starts with reaching out through varied channels such as community groups and specialized platforms that serve underrepresented populations. This approach helps you connect with a wide range of candidates.
Also, review your hiring practices to ensure they are inclusive, and clearly communicate your commitment to diversity in job postings and company materials.
Top companies have built their amazing talent pool in many creative ways. Here are a few examples:
Spotify: They have made a dedicated page namely “Join the Band” for students to join their talent pool who are interested in working at Spotify.
Trivago: Trivago went for a different approach by attracting people based on what they would like to do instead of offering to join based on past experience.
PwC: PwC has different talent pools for candidates to join based on their experience. They have two – one for entry-level or freshers and another for experienced individuals.
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