You may sometimes struggle with drawing out the right candidates for your job vacancies, but you can’t seem to pinpoint where your efforts may be lacking. We’ve prepared a mid-year checklist to help hiring managers like you identify which areas you can improve in talent management.
Maintain a healthy candidate pipeline by improving your sourcing channels for your recruitment needs with the help of this list.
Your Healthy Pipeline Management: A Checklist
In calibrating your candidate sourcing for your pool, think about your succession plans. Broaden your view of candidates and think about how they can fill every vacancy in the company and not just in one team. A healthy talent pool and candidate pipeline strategy can keep you prepared for any sudden vacancy you may encounter.
Out of the 31 capabilities of human resources experts, it was found that the least effective were succession planning efforts. This is based on McLean & Company’s study entitled “Use Talent Pools to Support Flexibility in Succession Planning”.
The research further found that 63 percent rated the effectiveness of their succession planning at six out of 10 as the highest, even though 77 percent also claimed that it is a significant function in achieving the goals in HR with a score of at least eight.¹
1. Your quality job posts attract the right candidates.
Have you ever wondered how many candidates have viewed your job post just to move on to the next without sending you an application? Your job post may be missing a few important things.
Look at the items below to help you create a job story that can attract people to your work and lifestyle.
- Specify exactly the kind of person you are looking for, including personality and background. This will help them know if they can fit well in your team and company. Give them a glimpse of themselves working side by side with you on a project.
- Showcase your work environment. Describe in your job post what a day at work in your company would look like. This includes their possible duties for the role, the leisurely activities they have access to, and the goals they can reach.
- State what their long-term objectives would be. This should include their major tasks once they’ve met the qualifications you’ve been looking for at the end of their training period. For example, if they would get the chance to manage their own projects or get to organize a product launch.
- Share your company story. The employer brand is important to some applicants, and they would want to know what they are getting into. Let them know how you started and what values drive you to move toward success. If you have regular advocacy-related activities, such as outreach programs, include that here as well.
- Simplify the directions to your location. Employees want an accessible workplace. Give them an idea of what your location is like by providing simple directions, including the address and landmarks. Identifying the landmarks around your office, such as malls and shops, may also encourage them to move near you for more convenient transportation and better work-life balance. ²
2. You ask applicants specific screening questions.
Including screening questions in your hiring process assures you that you find the best candidates. Use questions that will allow you to remove from your shortlist the individuals who don’t have the skills you’re looking for. Some job portals already have this screening feature, helping you improve the quality of your pool.
3. You test your application process internally.
Don’t drive away your potential top candidates. To make sure that your process will encourage more applicants to click the apply button, let your team try out the process themselves whenever you make changes. This will ensure that your application is user-friendly and easy to navigate.³
4. You acknowledge each application and referral you receive.
Acknowledge every application you receive even when they don’t pass your qualifications. You can automate this area of your recruitment by using chatbots or AI so you can focus on your strong candidates.
This way, people won’t have to keep waiting for a reply and will quickly know if you’ll interview them or not.
Through your automated response, make sure that you let rejected applicants know that you will be keeping in touch with them in the future if you find any vacancy that would suit them better.
5. You maximize your referrals.
When you’re creating your talent pool, trust your employees’ referrals. They will most likely refer to you people they know personally or ones they’ve worked with before.
Your employees will also share with others what it’s like to work at your company, and that’s a free endorsement you got there. This is because they know your company’s values, stories, and work culture.
Having a rewarding referral program at hand will also motivate your employees to submit candidate details to you. Set a budget for this and think about what rewards can be useful to them. It can be cash, gift certificates, or office supplies.
6. You keep in touch with your candidates.
Keeping in touch with your candidates lets them know that you have them in mind for future openings. You can keep in touch with them through various means such as a database, newsletters, and other platforms for job postings you may have.
Create a community that you can easily alert when you have new openings. Reassure them that they’ll be the first to know if you need to hire new people.
If someone has an active application with you, keep them updated on the status of their application. If there is any delay due to your needing to interview more people, be honest and let them know as well. This may keep them still interested in working with you.
7. You provide quality feedback on time.
Your timely feedback will matter to each candidate. Quickly letting them know that they didn’t pass your qualifications will keep them from waiting for nothing. If possible, be as honest as you can in letting them know what standard they didn’t meet.
This can give them a better idea of what to do on their next application with you or another employer. In addition to this, giving helpful feedback may keep them coming back to you because you showed them that you care. You will notice that they will be making themselves available to be interviewed for your job vacancies.
8. You know when to take down a job post.
If your job post isn’t receiving as many applications as you’ve hoped for, it’s time to take it down and rethink what it says. It could be that you forgot to state your benefits package or your office location is unclear to the ones reading it. It may be possible that you are posting on the wrong sites. Try changing things up, such as posting on social media if you haven’t yet, and get the help of your team for internal feedback.
For a successful job post that has garnered plenty of applications, take them down at the right time. You may choose to remove it from your pages when you’re in final negotiations with someone.
Keeping an ignored job post up for a long time may ruin your employer branding because you’ll be giving people false hope that you are still screening for candidates. End your post once you have gathered enough top talent to your liking.
Take care of your candidates from pre-application up to their onboarding.
Taking care of your candidate experience will attract more candidates to apply for jobs at your company. Make sure that they get a clear idea of your brand and work environment upon application so that they can also show you their best skills for the job.
REACH HIGHER QUALITY CANDIDATES WITH THE HELP OF ALLIED INSIGHT
Share the authentic story of your staffing firm to widen your candidate reach. Allied Insight is a full-stack marketing firm that can help you execute effective talent acquisition strategies. We offer services such as Complete Competitive Analysis, SEO Optimization and White Hat Strategy Development, and Brand Continuity and Design Assessment.
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References
1 Cochi, Renee. “Succession Planning: Talent Pools Increase Retention.” HR Morning, 27 Jul. 2022, www.hrmorning.com/articles/succession-planning-talent-pools/.
2 “9 Ways to Increase the Quality of Your Candidate Pool.” Contract Recruiter, www.contractrecruiter.com/increase-quality-candidate-pool/. Accessed 4 May 2023.
3 Campling, Bev. “10 Ways to Build and Maintain Your Talent Pool.” Recruitee, www.recruitee.com/articles/candidate-pool. Accessed 4 May 2023.
