Talent Acquisition: 3 Steps to Build a Talent Pipeline

There are noticeable shifts in how candidates interact with companies and apply for jobs. Likewise, companies are now more proactive with talent acquisition methods.

Building a proactive approach to talent acquisition and an effective talent pipeline – is also on the to-do list of every recruiter and hiring manager.

While this will make it easy to fill job positions when required, the steps of building a talent pipeline are far from simple. But do not be dismayed! Today we will discuss how to create an effective talent pipeline using an advanced ATS like EVA-REC. Before we get to that, let’s find out what a talent pipeline means and the benefits it holds for you as a recruiter or hiring manager.

What is a talent pipeline?

A talent pipeline is a collection of passive candidates that have previously engaged in previous job openings in your company. These candidates could be a great fit for future roles that might open up within your company. A talent pipeline is what many recruiters and hiring managers who use this strategy will refer to as a “relationship-centered” method of recruiting talents. It is seen in this perspective because instead of searching for candidates that may seem to fit an immediate need – a talent pipeline makes it easier by keeping an existing relationship with passive talents. A recruiting method like a talent pipeline requires that a company shift from a reactive to a proactive approach to hiring. Developing a talent pipeline for future talent acquisition means that you no longer think about just filling open roles, but you are considering who the company will want to recruit in the future. Investing in a talent pipeline is a strategy that takes time to develop but comes with its fair share of long-term benefits.

Why do you need a talent pipeline?

Every company benefits from an active talent pipeline of relevant candidates. When a talent pipeline is in place, it saves hiring managers or recruiters the stress of having to search for new candidates from scratch and it reduces time-to-hire significantly. Companies that take a proactive approach to recruiting top talent can achieve exceptional benefits. Here is a couple of them:

More qualified candidates

Talent acquisition specialists looking to recruit the best candidates can be somewhat of a tussle sometimes. However, building an effective talent pipeline ahead of time, helps recruiters dip into a talent pool that is already brimming with qualified candidates – instead of rushing to find candidates for immediate needs. With a talent pipeline, recruiters have a clear idea in advance of the number and type of candidates that they need to recruit when a new hiring target is set. Plus, while nurturing candidates in a talent pipeline, recruiters can get valued information on the candidate's progress in terms of skills acquisition.

A competition edge

Organizations are actively competing for the best talents available. In fact, in today’s candidate-driven market, it’s not exactly easy to get top talent. With that being said, keep in mind that passive candidates are not active job seekers looking for job postings. Which most likely means that they may not engage with your new job postings. When passive talents are effectively nurtured through a talent pipeline, you stay ahead of the competition by luring in the best talent faster. Talent pipelines let you identify and build relationships with candidates without pushing a job opening. By creating a solid relationship with candidates in your talent pipeline, you can quickly introduce the idea of new roles that could be a good fit for them and improve your chances of getting a response.

Better candidate experience

Building great communication lines with candidates is the pillar of a superb candidate experience. Creating a talent pipeline is a relationship-centered process or strategy of talent acquisition. This means that developing an engaging relationship with candidates (instead of just driving them to apply for job postings) will help you ramp up the candidate experience monumentally. Remember, the candidates tend to remember both good and bad experiences when it comes to the recruitment process. But to continuously improve your employer branding, you need to make sure you’re creating a positive candidate experience that is memorable and helps you secure passive candidates without the hassle.

How to build a talent pipeline

Now that you are familiar with what a talent pipeline is and its benefits for easy talent acquisition, it is time to take these steps to build a successful talent pipeline.

Evaluate candidate persona

The foundation of building a talent pipeline is to identify your targets. You have to set a clear picture of who you are going after. The point of developing a talent pipeline is to help your company engage with the right talent, and not just all candidates. The evaluation of candidate persona helps you align your time, the number of candidates, and the budget needed to focus on the right targeted candidates. The information you should be looking out for in a candidate's persona includes the demographic, work background, experience, goals, motivations, and interests. You may get these details by creating a survey. Or, you can opt to collect such data from existing candidates, successful employees, and executives.

Fill your pipeline

Once you have built the foundation of the type of talent you’re looking for, you can now move to fill your pipeline with relevant candidates that meet your requirements. Bear in mind that filling your pipeline is a recurring activity. This is where advanced applicant tracking systems come into play by helping you in identifying, tracking, and staying connected with top candidates. When finding passive talents, you can focus on re-engaging candidates that have shown significant interest in your company in the past. So you can create more awareness by advertising your jobs to drive applications or by sourcing candidates on the right job boards.

Engage your pipeline

For your talent pipeline to be powerful, you need to invest in the nurturing of top talent to build stronger connections and relationships with them. Nurturing candidates is a long-term investment and the key to a successful talent pipeline. The previously acquired persona about candidates can help you understand how to engage candidates without overloading them with messages. For example, you have to segment candidates based on their interests and the status of their relationship with your company i.e candidate awareness journey. A talent pipeline is a long-term process and to have a successful pipeline, you have to make sure you are not only engaging candidates but also helping them to move through the process in a timely fashion.

Conclusion

Talent pipelines are an important resource pool for talent acquisition. Nurturing relationships with candidates will set you up for a seamless recruiting process in the future. A successful talent pipeline is as important as the tools and technologies used to develop it. Luckily, an ATS like EVA-REC provides you with all the resources, tools, and features you need to recruit passive and active candidates with ease. EVA-REC is an advanced ATS that automates and improves the hiring process with AI technology. It arms leading enterprises with world-class features that help them create a rich and immersive hiring experience for recruiters and candidates alike. With EVA-REC, companies can drive merit-based, objective, and fair hiring practices that minimize bias, without dehumanizing the hiring process. Request a free demo today and see how our advanced ATS can help you streamline your hiring like never before.

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