What is talent pooling?

Justin Somerville-Cotton, Head of Flexhuis, shares his insights on talent pooling, its benefits for recruitment processes, and key considerations for building an effective talent pool.

A proactive approach to talent acquisition, talent pooling involves creating and maintaining a readily accessible database of candidates that can help you reduce your time-to-hire, improve your quality of hire, and enhance your employer brand.

However, talent pooling can also be challenging and time-consuming, especially with a large and diverse workforce, multiple hiring needs, and a competitive talent market.

In this article, we explore the concept of talent pooling, discuss its importance in future-proofing your organisation’s talent needs, and offer insights on how to effectively build and manage talent pools, even with limited internal resources.

Talent pooling is the process of identifying, engaging, and nurturing potential candidates who have the skills, experience, and fit for your organisation. Talent pooling can be beneficial for specific roles, projects, or departments, or for your organisation as a whole.

A talent pool provides an opportunity to tap into engaged and pre-qualified candidates whenever you have a hiring need, instead of starting the search from scratch every time. The key to building effective talent pools is how you build long-term relationships with candidates, who may become your future team members, referrals, or brand advocates.

“If you’re not talent pooling, then you’re reactive and if you’re reactive, you’re only guessing what’s on the market at that particular moment in time.” – Head of Flexhuis UK, Justin Somerville-Cotton

Talent pooling requires a consistent and personalised communication strategy, as well as regular monitoring and updating of your candidate database, usually managed with your applicant tracking system (ATS). Keeping your candidates informed, engaged, and interested in your organisation is also important, providing them with relevant and valuable content such as:

Job alerts and opportunities
Company news and updates
Industry trends and insights
Career advice and tips
Employee stories and testimonials
Feedback and surveys

How to build a talent pool

Building a successful talent pool requires a strategic, proactive approach and a commitment to creating a positive candidate and employment experience.

Define your talent needs: Identify the skills, competencies, and values that are essential for your organisation and its goals. Analyse your current and future workforce requirements and identify any gaps or challenges that you need to address.
Source candidates: Use various channels and methods to attract and engage potential candidates, such as social media, job boards, referrals, events, and outreach campaigns. Showcase your employer brand and value proposition and highlight the benefits of working for your organisation.

“When building a talent pool, it’s important to assess your market and understand your competitive landscape. This knowledge can help you differentiate yourself and improve your approach to recruitment.” – Head of Flexhuis UK, Justin Somerville-Cotton
Segment and nurture candidates: Organise your talent pool into different segments based on their qualifications, skills, interests, availability, and fit for your organisation. Communicate with them regularly and provide relevant and personalised content, such as newsletters, blogs, webinars, or invitations to events to keep them engaged. Keep them updated on your organisation’s news, achievements, and job opportunities, and encourage them to apply when there is a suitable vacancy.
Evaluate and update candidates: Monitor and measure the performance and engagement of your talent pool using metrics such as open rates, click rates, application rates, placement rates and feedback. Use online assessments, interviews, or other tools to evaluate the skills and suitability of your candidates. Update your talent pool regularly and remove any inactive or unqualified candidates.
Maintain relationships: Build trust and loyalty with your talent pool by providing them with a positive and consistent candidate experience. Respond to their queries and concerns promptly and respectfully. Recognise and reward their contributions and achievements. Provide them with feedback and guidance on how to improve their chances of getting hired. Maintain regular contact with them until suitable opportunities arise and they are ready to join your organisation.

Why is talent pooling important?

Talent pooling can bring many benefits to your organisation, such as:

Reducing your time-to-hire, as you already have a pool of qualified and interested candidates to choose from, instead of spending time and resources on sourcing and screening new applicants.

“By talent pooling, you can identify and engage with individuals who align with your organisation’s values and skills. This pre-qualification accelerates the hiring process and ensures better quality candidates.” – Head of Flexhuis UK, Justin Somerville-Cotton
Improving your quality of hire, as you can select the best candidates from your pool, who have already shown their interest, cultural fit, and potential for your organisation.
Enhancing your employer brand, as you can showcase your culture, values, and vision to your candidates, and create a positive and memorable candidate experience.

“Effective talent pooling helps you stay in contact and engage with potential candidates. If you neglect your talent pool, it will lose interest and your organisation’s reputation may suffer.” – Head of Flexhuis UK, Justin Somerville-Cotton
Increasing your talent diversity, as you can reach out to a wider and more diverse range of candidates, and promote your diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Reducing your hiring costs, as you can save on advertising, sourcing, and screening expenses, in addition to your reliance on third-party agencies and leverage your existing talent assets.
Improving your retention and engagement, as you can hire candidates who are more aligned with your organisation’s culture and values, and who have already developed a connection and loyalty to your brand.

Common challenges in talent pooling

Building a successful talent pool is crucial for any organisation, but it comes with its own set of challenges. Organisations often encounter several common obstacles when managing their talent pools, including:

Maintaining regular and personalised communication with candidates in the pool, keeping them engaged and interested in the organisation and its opportunities, can often burden your recruitment team’s workload, diverting attention from the core hiring process.
Managing and updating the data of the candidates in the pool, ensuring that it is accurate, relevant and compliant with data protection regulations.
Measuring and evaluating the effectiveness and impact of the talent pooling strategy, using metrics such as conversion rates, retention rates, cost per hire, and quality of hire, can be challenging without the necessary technology in place.
Aligning the talent pooling strategy with the overall business goals and talent acquisition plan can be challenging without a clear structured organisational vision and mission.

How outsourcing could help build your talent pool

Partnering with an MSP or RPO provider are two ways that, if resources are a challenge, can help you to design, build and maintain your talent pool and ultimately realise the many benefits previously outlined.

“For organisations without a fully equipped recruitment team, outsourcing can help build and manage talent pools effectively. Providers can handle tasks like direct sourcing and community curation, which are essential for maintaining a robust talent pool.” – Head of Flexhuis UK, Justin Somerville-Cotton

Both MSP and RPO can help you build and manage your talent pool, by providing you with the following benefits:

Access to a larger and more diverse talent pool, by leveraging their extensive networks, databases, and partnerships to find and attract the best talent for your organisation.
Expertise and best practices, through providing their knowledge, experience, and methodologies to design and implement effective talent pooling strategies, tailored to your specific needs and goals.
Technology and innovation, providing the latest tools and platforms to optimise your talent pooling process, such as CRM systems, AI, analytics, and automation.

“Utilising technology to automate updates and keep candidates informed is crucial. It ensures your talent pool remains dynamic and that candidates stay engaged with your organisation.” – Head of Flexhuis UK, Justin Somerville-Cotton
Flexibility and scalability, as they adapt to your changing hiring needs and market conditions, providing you with the right amount and type of talent at the right time while allowing your team to focus on priority hires.

“Outsourcing talent pooling provides scalability and ensures that the talent pool is well-curated and managed, freeing up your in-house team to focus on other critical recruitment tasks.” – Head of Flexhuis UK, Justin Somerville-Cotton
Quality and compliance, ensuring that your talent pool meets your quality standards and complies with your policies and regulations.

Talent pooling is a proactive strategy to attract and retain top talent, giving your organisation a competitive edge in today’s skill-short talent market. However, effective talent pooling requires the right resources, expertise, or technology.

Partnering with an MSP or RPO provider offers a smart, cost-effective way to achieve this. They can help you build and manage your talent pool, delivering tailored talent solutions to meet your needs and goals.

Learn more about how RPO and MSP can help you build and manage your talent pool or contact us at hello.uk@flexhuisglobal.com.

July 2, 2024

What is talent pooling?

How to build a talent pool

Why is talent pooling important?

Common challenges in talent pooling

How outsourcing could help build your talent pool

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