How can you use your talent pipeline to reduce time-to-hire and cost-per-hire?

In my experience, having an active talent pipeline is beneficial in reducing time-to-hire and cost-per-hire. An active talent pipeline is a pool of candidates engaged with and vetted for future hiring - typically within a reoccurring job family. An example of this is when a passive candidate will meet a Hiring Manager for an informal catch-up to better understand the company and the potential fit/role. In this way, you're being proactive in your hiring needs and the candidate is aligning their suitability with the company/brand. This is the reason why a lot of companies are adopting Talent Sourcing functions. Having a team of Sourcers allows you to build/maintain those talent pools - which saves you time and money for advertising.

Talent pipelines are groups of potential candidates that are usually organized based on skills, location, seniority/level, and more. Pipelining and preparing for the future helps to speed up candidate sourcing and engaging, and helps drive faster time to fill when new roles open up at an organization. A great tactic for building a strong talent pipeline is to never stop sourcing and engaging talent. This can be done through hiring managers and leaders engaging in informal conversations with future talent, attending career events, building strong partnerships with schools, and creating a robust referral program.

Proactive candidate sourcing, preparing a pipeline if any backouts, leveraging employee referral programs, and cultivating a strong employer brand are some of the key elements that help minimize both time and cost per hire.

In Executive Recruiting, the average time to fill was 75 days, but it can and is usually longer. Executive hires are much more complex. To address the longer time to fill or start, you must have a walled-off Executive lead repository where you have a person identifying talent ahead of demand. This isn't just pulling leads from LinkedIn, which is an important step, but full profiling of those critical Executive leaders for your organization. What is walled off? It is vital for many reasons to separate your executive leads from the rest of the hiring at your company. This is for confidentiality, candidate experience, etc. When a need arises, you pull a report of the leads, saving time and money.

To reduce time-to-hire and cost-per-hire, actively maintain a talent pipeline by engaging with potential candidates continuously, not just when vacancies arise. Use networking, social media, and referrals to build this pool. Regularly communicate with them to keep them interested in your organization. When a vacancy opens, prioritize candidates from this pipeline as they are already vetted and familiar with your company, speeding up the hiring process and reducing costs. Track the pipeline's effectiveness through key metrics like number of hires, time-to-hire, and cost-per-hire for continual improvement.

Building talent pipelines is one of the most effective strategies in all our projects. 1. Proactive Sourcing: By continuously building and nurturing a talent pipeline, we can proactively source and engage with potential candidates even before a position becomes available. This reduces the need for expensive and time-consuming reactive hiring processes. 2. Improved Reach-out Timing: with the right ATS your team can add notifications to every candidate: They will be empowered to connecting with the right talent at the right time. 3. Faster Hiring Decisions: having a pool of pre-screened and interested candidates readily available. Meaning: faster hiring decisions, reducing time spent on sourcing, screening, and interviewing.

Using your talent pipeline effectively can significantly reduce time-to-hire and cost-per-hire. Maintain an active pipeline by continuously engaging with potential candidates, even when there are no immediate job openings. This can be done through networking events, professional associations, social media engagement, and keeping in touch with past applicants. When a position opens, you can quickly tap into this pre-vetted pool of candidates, significantly reducing the time and resources needed for sourcing and initial screening. Regular communication and nurturing of these relationships mean candidates are more likely to be interested in and informed about your company, speeding up the hiring process.

In building a talent pipeline, I begin by carefully defining our future needs. This is done by proactively sourcing candidates through various channels, maintaining relationships, assessing and supporting them. Efficient database management and thoughtful segmentation will enhance your outcomes. Be sure to understand that this is a long-term investment that requires a commitment to nurturing each relationship.

Within a CRM, or candidate management system, you are able to create various projects and talent pools that house candidates with similar skills, locations, levels, and more. The candidates within the different pools come from a variety of avenues from past requisitions/previous candidates, sourced from social media and recruiting platforms such as Indeed and LinkedIn, to career and job fair attendees, referrals, and more. Creating strong and fruitful talent pipelines allows recruiters and hiring managers to have low hanging fruit for future job openings and creates a faster hiring process.

Maintaining a Structured Database: Recruiters often receive numerous job seeker requests. Coordinating with these individuals and constructing a well-organized database is crucial. This approach streamlines talent pipeline development by categorizing profiles based on skills and experiences. Job Posting: Anticipating upcoming job openings allows recruiters to post relevant opportunities. Staying connected with candidates regarding future openings ensures a continuous acquisition of pertinent profiles. References: Candidates from the existing pool frequently refer individuals for job openings. Proactive outreach to passive candidates and relationship cultivation enhance the talent pipeline.

It's important to remember that you often can't leverage your pipeline without transparency in the hiring process. Pipelines are often built through sourcing candidates who weren't a fit for other roles, but if you aren't open and honest about why those role weren't a fit, then a candidate is much less likely to remain an engaged participant in that pipeline. That engagement is crucial to the success of a pipeline; it can very quickly turn into a dormant list of names if you aren't endearing candidates to your company and prompting activity.

Qualification Process: Streamline hiring with a clear process aligned with current needs. Feedback Loop: Continuously refine the pipeline based on feedback from hiring managers. Regular Monitoring: Stay vigilant, regularly monitor and adjust your pipeline strategy. Automation Tools: Implement automation for efficient candidate engagement and management. Prioritize Qualified Candidates: Focus on the most qualified and engaged candidates for current openings. Positive Candidate Experience: Provide a positive experience with clear communication and respect. Collect Feedback: Gather feedback from candidates and analyze data for improvement.

Providing a positive candidate experience should actually be before the stage of leverage. If you do not provide a great CX as soon as they enter your process, they will never been in your talent pipeline. You may think they are, but they won't. You can't have a talent pipeline without prior great CX - you just end up with a database of disgruntled or neutral sentiment people who once a upon a time liked you enough to apply.

In my recruiting experience, leveraging a talent pipeline has been a game-changer. The key lies not just in having a process but in consistently refining and aligning it with real-time hiring needs. What stands out is the impact on candidate experience – a positive journey, whether hired or not, significantly enhances the employer brand. It's not just about reducing time-to-hire and cost-per-hire; it's about building lasting relationships and a reputation that attracts top talent.

Leveraging a talent pipeline involves strategically tapping into pre-screened candidates for efficient and cost-effective hiring. It offers a pool of engaged, quality candidates, fosters diversity, aids succession planning, and enhances the employer brand. Overall, It's a multifaceted recruitment asset.

The reason talent management and hiring get a bad reputation is because they are constantly viewed as "activities": items that need to be done in a moment in time, that take away from a manager's "real job." This mindset couldn't be farther from the truth. Talent Management is a lifestyle. It's something that you never stop doing, you always have to work on, and will always present challenges. Only until leaders see this as part of their core responsibility as a leader will they become effective. When you rush the process and do it at 50%, you feel the difference, your team feels the difference, and candidates feel the difference. Talent management done well always results in higher engagement, lower costs, and productive employees.

Additionally, leveraging employee referrals through your talent pipeline can be cost-effective. Employees often refer candidates who not only fit the job requirements but also the company culture, leading to quicker hires and potentially higher retention rates. By proactively building and maintaining a robust talent pipeline, you ensure a ready supply of qualified candidates, enabling faster, more efficient, and cost-effective hiring.

If you’re having a challenging time building a strong talent pipeline, lean on your cross functional partners to help support engaging top talent. In my experience, response rates have been higher when senior leaders and executives engage talent through social platforms and email.

You wear a recruiter's hat 24x7. Recruiting isn't just a work thing; it's everywhere, even when you're off duty. Let me share a cool story. So, I had just finished a hiring event in Bangalore, and on my way back, I was wearing my company's t-shirt definitely with a logo. While waiting at the airport lounge, a friendly chat started with a fellow passenger. Turns out, the person I met was perfect for one of our engineering jobs, and she was planning to move up north for her wedding. We exchanged coordinates, she visited our office, and guess what? She aced the interview! Anti-climax: She dropped the offer and moved to the USA because of Fiance's onsite project.

Implementing automated video interview assessments powered by AI can further expedite the evaluation process, providing valuable insights into candidates' soft skills and cultural fit. This targeted approach enhances decision-making efficiency and contributes to a more cost-effective hiring process.