The word “talent pool” is self-descriptive and simply refers to a pool of talents. In more specific terms, it could be described as a collection of talented individuals who would be relevant to an organization’s workforce at a future date. 

Talent Pool Sources 

There are many different sources of talent pools. These are what they are:

Previously Interviewed Candidates

The easiest source of a talent pool is a list of candidates that have been in your hiring process. Of course, not every qualified candidate is taken in during a hiring. So what do you do with those who are obviously a good fit but didn’t get employed?   

For instance, a company releases a job vacancy and hundreds of applications are made. Out of these, it might discover a total of 20 highly qualified candidates but has to select one for the job. This leaves 19 other experts who can be retained in a talent pool for future job vacancies and hires. 

It is important to say that previously unengaged job applicants may be enraged or would have likely become hired at the time when a company goes back to its talent pool. This creates the need for the business in question to take good thought about how they approach these reserved talents. 

Former Employees

Many businesses have little or no consideration for former employees. That shouldn’t be the case. If you’re bold enough to conduct a resignation interview, you will find out that resigning employees sometimes indicate an interest in returning to the company later in the future. 

This response is not just for the papers. It is not intended to deceive the business executives or human resource team. In many instances, it is simply an honest response indicating that an employee’s exit is the result of uncontrollable circumstances, rather than a dissatisfaction with their job or the company. 

Needless to say, former employees who leave such comments are a good place to start when seeking candidates for a talent pool. 

Waiting List or Queue

Another way to create a talent pool is by starting a waiting list. The idea behind a waiting list is to have individuals indicate their interest in a forthcoming business activity or a yet-to-launch product or service. 

In this case, the waiting list is created and broadcasted by the business. Its purpose is to have talents register to be reached in the event of a vacancy or similar engagements.  

Candidates Whose Skills Weren’t Previously In Demand At The Business  

Your business may not have an immediate need for a skill but that doesn’t mean it never would. As an entrepreneur, it is your responsibility to forecast both your personal business growth and future industry trends to identify what skills might come in handy in the long term. 

Once done, you can then focus on creating a talent pool consisting of individuals who have the forecasted skills. For example, let’s say that your business is around six months old. This stage most definitely presents a narrow skills requirement and the business can do with having a handful of employees. 

However, you perceive that the business dynamics will change drastically within the next few years. Your next line of action should be an analysis to reveal what new skills will drive this wind of change. Right after this, you should be creating a talent pool around these promising sets of skills. 

Benefits of Having a Talent Pool

Business owners might believe that they do not need a talent pool. They may consider it to be a waste of resources or simply fail to see how it pays over directly sourcing whenever the need arises. Do they have a point? They do. Nevertheless, it’s difficult to say that the benefits do not outweigh whatever cost to resources the business might have to bear. Take a look at these benefits:

Improved Hiring Time:

Having a talent pool can significantly shorten the time to hire. You’ve already met some of the individuals in your talent pool so it’s easy to make a quick decision on who would best fit a vacant position within your business. This eliminates the need for time-consuming aspects, such as crafting a job vacancy post, deciding which platforms to post it on, confirming if there are subscriptions you need to pay, and all of that.  

Better Quality Hire:

In the case where they have been tested or engaged, previously interviewed candidates potentially amount to a better hire over completely new ones. The encounter between both parties helps form a good understanding of the business’s hiring process. 

Low Recruitment Costs:

Rather than spending lots of money on recruitment, you can cut down your expenses by simply having a talent pool handy. Businesses with this resource do not need to subscribe to online platforms in search of talent or pay advertising fees to have their vacancy publicized. What they do, instead, is access their talent pool which is usually in the form of a list or a digital database. Once they’ve identified preferred candidates, they go ahead to publicize the vacancy or directly invite them for an interview by sending an email.

Better Retention:

Pooled candidates have a good understanding of your business since they have either applied for a position, partnered in an operation, or been at your office for a function. Their interaction with your brand gives them a decent idea of what it feels like to work at the company or, at least, what to expect. Such foreknowledge translates into better retention as employee expectations match reality.

How to Create a Talent Pool

Looking for a step-by-step guide to creating a reliable resource of talents. Here’s  

Create a Criteria:

A popular quote says “If you don’t know what you seek, everything looks attractive”. You’re going to be living this quote if you don’t figure out the specific skills you’re looking for in your talents. And when we say specific - we mean it. 

If you feel like your business needs someone who has an engineering background, without determining if it is electrical, mechanical, management, or any of the other three major categories of engineering, then you’re simply making fruitless efforts. 

It is critical that you can tell what category - and specific subcategory - of engineering you desire your talent to have experience in. Other common criteria you might want to consider are years of experience, quality of hands-on roles, adaptability, learning potential, etc. 

Choose Your Talent Source(s):

Where are the best possible places to source potential workers based on your criteria? The answer might depend on the details of your talent criteria. For example, if you are looking for talents whom you’ve had an encounter with, you may have to look at your list of interviewed candidates. 

Alternatively, if you require talents with unique skills (from what your business is familiar with), there’s more likelihood that you would only find that in your waiting list or queue.  

Bear in mind that in many cases, you may need to utilize more than one talent source when creating your pool. You can either browse through each source individually or - to make things easier -  create a combined database for an easy sweep. 

Select Qualified Individuals:

You have set out criteria. You have identified the most useful places to source talents based on the set criteria. Now, you’re left with choosing talents that match your preference. Ensure that you pick talents strictly based on your well-thought criteria. There’s always the temptation to go outside your initial plans which isn’t so much of a good idea. 

Once you begin deviating from your criteria, you make the talent pool less reliable as a resource for acquiring a specific set of candidates. It is important to verify the current/updated statuses of the talents you are putting together. People change careers, retire, or get employed with no chance of working a second role. It would be a waste of effort and resources to select such individuals as a part of your talent pool.

Organize The Talent Pool:

At this point, you have gone through the first three steps - which are really crucial. But there’s still one last thing to do towards creating your talent pool. That is to organize the pool in a way that makes it easy to access and browse through. 

A huge part of organizing your talent pool includes determining the best way to store the information. You might want a printed-out version for easy reference within the office, but, ultimately, you should have the list of candidates safely stored in a cloud server or local computer. 

How to Maintain a Talent Pool

Creating a talent pool is one thing and maintaining it is another. These three steps will guide you to properly manage your talent pool.

Maintain Communication with The Talent Pool: 

Communication with your talent pool is important. This may not be on an everyday basis. However, it has to be regular enough for both parties to maintain a kind of bond. Communication can take the form of email newsletters, SMS, magazines, and the like. 

Such frequent communication makes it much easier for the business side to introduce vacancies to the talent pool. On the other hand, it also makes it easy for the talent poolside to request assistance or collaborations. For example, towards an industry-relevant research or project. 

Consistently Update: 

Verified information representing an update to the status of a candidate within your talent pool should be duly noted. It might be impossible to access such information for most of the talent pool - and that is no big deal. 

Host Talent Pool Events:

How about hosting an event where everyone in your talent pool list gets to attend? The idea for this would be to create awareness about the company and inform the individual about being in the talent pool. Furthermore, such events should foster networking and express the gratitude of the businesses towards everyone that makes up its talent pool. 

Conclusion

Talent pools come in handy for emergencies, such as when a critical role becomes vacant within the business or an urgent need for extra hands surfaces. Since these situations could critically affect operations and you rarely see any of them coming, it is advisable to manage your pool all year round. The information in this article should serve as a detailed guide to creating and managing your very own talent pool.

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