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Permalink Reply by Dan Nuroo on January 29, 2009 at 11:41pm

Couldn't agree more Maren, like most things.. it's all about setting expectations at the start.. making sure everyone is on the same page, then everyone can decide if it is a connection that is worth having or not.

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Permalink Reply by Slouch on January 29, 2009 at 11:43pm

I don't know if you are looking at it the right way. The issue should not be if you are giving hope where there is none. You should be thinking about the placements you are going to make and if you only had 100 people to put in that talent pool for the purpose of getting referrals, who would they be. I believe and you may not agree that making placements ( my perspective is always that of a third party recruiter. I have trouble seeing it any other way) is about finding the right candidate and the right candidate is someone you have a job for. I know a lot of recruiters who still think of candidates as 3x5 cards and you know what? They make a lot of placements and 3x5 cards are easy to handle.

I don't think you need to interview candidates to put them in your talent pool. It's name generation but that's not recruiting.

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Permalink Reply by Dan Nuroo on January 29, 2009 at 11:54pm

I see talent pooling as talented people I would hire if I had the right opportunity, or people I need to connect with as they will definitely know people who I'd want to hire. There shouldn't really be that much difference between the TPR variety and an inhouse team, just different angles (ie I won't make more money from hiring or placing them unfortunately)

These relationships have come in handy.... I was able to hire almost all my companies Management team from this. ie people I'd met, kept in contact with over the years, just in case. You can never know too many talented people. One of my Northern Managers took me 3 years to get across, my HR manager 6 months, my Senior BD person 18 months.. all from keeping the pool relevent, and my name in the person's head, again expectations always being set and managed

Slouch said:

I don't know if you are looking at it the right way. The issue should not be if you are giving hope where there is none. You should be thinking about the placements you are going to make and if you only had 100 people to put in that talent pool for the purpose of getting referrals, who would they be. I believe and you may not agree that making placements ( my perspective is always that of a third party recruiter. I have trouble seeing it any other way) is about finding the right candidate and the right candidate is someone you have a job for. I know a lot of recruiters who still think of candidates as 3x5 cards and you know what? They make a lot of placements and 3x5 cards are easy to handle.

I don't think you need to interview candidates to put them in your talent pool. It's name generation but that's not recruiting.

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Permalink Reply by Slouch on January 29, 2009 at 11:58pm

Dan, I think you meant to say "and my name hat in on the person's head, again expectations always being set and managed"

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Permalink Reply by Dan Nuroo on January 30, 2009 at 12:01am

my bad... naturally! :)

Slouch said:

Dan, I think you meant to say "and my name hat in on the person's head, again expectations always being set and managed"

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Permalink Reply by Dan Nuroo on January 30, 2009 at 12:25am

My current favourite type of pool.. esp with 104F or 40+ celcius outside....

Dan Nuroo said:

my bad... naturally! :)

Slouch said:

Dan, I think you meant to say "and my name hat in on the person's head, again expectations always being set and managed"

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Permalink Reply by Steve Levy on January 30, 2009 at 9:32am

It can't be a something for nothing proposition - if you build a pool then it is your obligation to give something back. Create a newsletter with information that can be useful to those swimming in the pool. A great lifeguard isn't there simply to make a rescue; they engage swimmers, giving tips and guidance on how to stay afloat and/or have fun.

This might mean creating an e-newsletter that is tailored by function, sector, location, candidate, client that includes everything from resume writing tips to share with friends, openings, links to articles/blogs/twitters.

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Permalink Reply by Jerry Albright on January 30, 2009 at 9:44am

I've been "talent pooling" since the day I picked up the phone 22 years ago.

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Permalink Reply by Gino Conti on January 30, 2009 at 3:55pm

Jerry - I think you meant let's go polar-bearing. At least that's what I'd be doing up here in Michigan right now.

Anyway, I think building a talent pool is necessary for anybody right now for a couple of reasons. First, from a self-preservation standpoint you need a solid network in order to fill more jobs faster once they start coming in. I don't know too many people who would argue that. Another less thought of reason is that there are tons of people out of work right now. Some of these people are probably very talented yet unlucky, while others were part of the fat that was trimmed. This is the perfect time to build a network of the truly talented folks to ensure you're aligned with the right type of candidates.

As far as the candidate experience goes it is a matter of setting the proper expectations. Tell them that you don't have anything for them now, but you want to be their talent agent and developing a relationship is how that happens. Get to really know what they need, want, and desire in a new job so that when you have such a role available the match is a simple one to make.

Thanks for the post Dan!

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