How To Get the Most Out of Your Talent Pool

By Bizclik Editor

Written by Sylvia Vorhauser-Smith, PageUp People

 

Organisations are increasingly using talent pools to improve the way they identify and access skilled candidates in the labour market.

Internal company talent pools and candidate database systems are becoming more prevalent in Australia today. They are effective for a number of reasons. These include:

  • Reducing candidate cost per hire
  • Reducing the time to fill roles
  • Helping to target leaders for the future

Talent pooling helps recruiters and HR managers to focus on quality in specific crucial job functions. It also gives employees opportunities to grow in their careers.  PageUp People’s own HR team has established a talent pipeline across business critical and hard to find roles.

So, how do you begin to build the talent pool you need? Here is what worked for PageUp People.

Determine the appropriate strategy

The first thing our talent team did was to identify previous quantitative data by looking at employee reviews and feedback. Then, we spoke with leaders and managers to identify the key roles to fill. From this information we were able to determine which roles:

  • Took longer to find the right people
  • Had a higher attrition, and the reasons behind that
  • Had the biggest impact on the bottom line

Next, we established a basic framework to define the profile of an ideal candidate. The specifics of what constitutes an ideal talent pool candidate will vary in each organisation. PageUp People decided that it was important to have spoken to the candidate in some detail – a phone interview at a minimum. This helped to establish that the candidate’s skills and experience were relevant to current and future roles.

TIP: You can create “overflow” pools for great candidates that come your way but might not be on the critical list right now. It is a great way to keep candidates in mind for opportunities in the future.

Manage talent pool activity

Once PageUp People decided the talent pool strategy, we needed to be able to manage and track talent pipeline activity.  We set-up relevant job pools in the intranet system and added the equivalent of an ‘expression of interest’ on the careers site. We created an alternative application form so applicants could express their interest while capturing employee goals and career aspirations.

We always make sure to review previous applications.  Skills, job titles and previous employers are some of the criteria we use to find candidates who expressed an interest in PageUp People.

Tips for getting the most from your talent pool(s)

  • Set the expectations from the start. Don’t over commit to a candidate who applied via an expression of interest. 
  • Review applications in your talent pool in a reasonable time frame
  • Set up regular communications with candidates. This can be done through careers newsletters or regular catch-ups.
  • Schedule time to tidy up your talent pools regularly. It will make such a difference to the quality and functionality of your talent pool.

Talent pooling is a cost effective way to finding the right skills set. It also gives people the opportunity to grow in their careers and will help with employee loyalty and retention.

 

About PageUp People

Since 1997, PageUp People has helped employers worldwide attract, hire, develop, retain, and improve employee performance. Our Unified Talent Management platform, along with our talent management consulting services, help you optimize your multinational workforce strategy across the whole business, maximize business impact with a balance between global efficiency and local responsiveness, and continuously improve the return on your human capital investment.

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