What is a talent pool?

Finding new candidates when a new position opens up is a tedious task. However, if you have got some great candidates already on your list, then you need not go on searching for new candidates each time there is an opening. This is the exact purpose of a talent pool. So, if you are wondering what is a talent pool and how it can help recruiters hire the top talent in a limited time while also ensuring quality then here is a guide on the same.

To understand more about a talent pool, it is important to know the talent pool meaning. A talent pool can be defined as a database of candidate profiles interested in working with your organization. This database can be a group of people who have either applied before or those who weren’t the right fit for the position at the time of application or even people with a more general profile. These profiles could also be former employees or passive candidates.

A talent pool helps reduce your work of searching for a candidate which makes it efficient, easier, and a lot cheaper. This also ensures that you can get access to high-quality candidates within a limited time period.  A proper talent pool will also consist of data, such as skills, potential roles they could fill, how well they match with the organization’s culture, and so on.

Now a lot of recruiters might think about why to use a talent pool and what are some of the benefits they would get while using this talent pool. Well, here are some of the benefits that an effective talent-pooling strategy will provide:

When recruiters use a global talent pool it does not only become easier to source candidates from anywhere but will also help reduce hiring costs incurred by third-party recruitment services.

Approaching a couple of known candidates with whom you have interacted in the past will help not only establish a faster connection but will also reduce the time required to hire a candidate for an open position.

It is observed that when candidates acquire a good candidate experience, they share the same with their peers which hence enhances your organization’s reputation while also helping you reach out to a wider talent pool.

As the candidates were already in touch with your company, it is easier to onboard the candidates which makes the process faster.

Especially with talent scarcity on the rise, it is important to make use of a talent pool that provides a competitive advantage of being able to secure top talents within the industry. All of these benefits will also accompany them when recruiters opt for the talent pool.

Talent pool development can be done using inbound or outbound recruiting strategies. Tools can be used for building the right candidate database. These allow for a better quality of candidates while also ensuring you find the right match. Some of the ways to build a global talent pool can be provided as follows:

 Sourcing tools are also a great way of building talent pools and are also one of the most commonly used methods by recruiters to build a high-quality candidate database. These tools allow recruiters to search for candidates based on their desired skills and by using specific keywords which provide the best matches. One such feature would be using Boolean search to get specific candidates that you are searching for.

Referrals are also a great way to build talent pools. The referred candidates are also known to be one of the best candidates as they will stay for a longer period and hence retaining them will be much easier. Often times there are candidates who fit your job opening criteria but are not selected as the number requirement might have been fulfilled for the given opening. However, keeping in touch with them will prove helpful in the long run when you need a candidate matching the job criteria.

Inbound recruiting is also a great way to hire candidates which is done by utilizing recruitment marketing methods. Here a lot of candidates get attracted to your company due to the content that you are posting. For example, if you’ve got a social media account that provides data on interesting projects that you are working on, candidates might apply to your company hoping to be a part of this project. This will hence help build a large range of talent pool. Inbound recruiting apart from helping gain candidates also help the employer to establish an online presence and a brand of their own.

Talent pool management software is a great way to manage your talent pool and decide which candidates are of top priority and which candidates can be pushed down on the list.

Keeping a database of those candidates who have been rejected due to multiple reasons can help when you need to check for a new candidate within a short time period. While these candidates might be the wrong person for the position at a given time, however, they might strengthen their profile which might help the position in the future. It is hence true that a talent pool is quite beneficial which helps recruiters find the right candidate and that too at a faster rate.