Ask an HR Pro: What Is a Talent Pipeline?

When you have an open position to fill, your first step is likely to post a job ad and wait for applications to come pouring in (hopefully).

While that’s all well and good, savvy hiring managers know that proactively reaching out to qualified candidates directly (i.e., “sourcing”) helps you cover all your bases and hire even faster. And in order to do this, you need a talent pipeline.

What is a talent pipeline, and why should every organization – even small businesses – have one?

Get the answers to these questions and more from iHire’s Senior HR Consultant, Vickie Krolak.

What Is Talent Pipelining?

“A talent pipeline is a set of qualified candidates you have in your back pocket when a hiring need arises,” explained Krolak. “These might be silver medalists or runners-up that have applied to positions with your company before, or strong prospects that you’ve connected with elsewhere in the past.”

Talent pipelining is an essential hiring strategy, especially in a competitive labor market.

“You never know when you might have to fill a critical position unexpectedly. With a solid talent pipeline at your fingertips, you can hire faster by contacting candidates directly and inviting them to apply instead of only waiting for talent to find your job ads,” Krolak continued.

How to Build a Talent Pipeline

The first step to building a talent pipeline is establishing your target candidate personas.

“Think about the types of technical and essential skills and core competencies a candidate should have in order to thrive within your organization,” Krolak said. “Also consider the types of positions you hire for most frequently, as well as those hard-to-fill roles. These criteria will help you narrow your focus as you build your talent pipeline.”

Next, start connecting with talent and collecting resumes!

“Again, anyone who might be a great fit for your company in the future should be in your talent pipeline,” said Krolak. “Consider looking both inside and outside of your organization.”

Sources of talent for your pipeline include past applicants, as mentioned above, as well as:

• Current employees who could make an internal move
• Employee referrals
• Searchable resume databases
• Your professional network
• Candidates you’ve engaged with at job fairs, conferences, or other networking events
• Customers or fans of your company/brand

Talent Pipeline Management & Engagement Tips

“The key to maintaining a strong talent pipeline is consistent outreach and genuine communication,” advised Krolak. “In other words, simply keep in touch and maintain the relationship so the candidate has a positive impression of you and will be excited to apply when the opportunity arises.”

You should engage with your talent pipeline on a personal level – through coffee chats or brief check-in messages, for example – and more broadly through employer branding efforts.

“You can’t create or maintain a talent pipeline without a positive employer brand. Make sure you have a career site or careers page that’s up to date and promotes your unique workplace culture,” Krolak continued. “On your company’s social media accounts, share employee photos, videos, and testimonials. Host free events within the community. All these things help you build and maintain a reputation as a great place to work.”

Ready to add talent pipelining to your hiring strategy? iHire offers multiple solutions for connecting with great candidates, including outsourced HR services, industry-specific resume databases, and iHire360 – our all-in-one platform exclusively for small businesses that includes premium job ads, a career site, AI-powered resume matching, automated recruitment marketing, and much more.