Building and maintaining an active talent pool is the key to proactive recruitment.

Do you have a talent pool?

Of course you do. If you use an Applicant Tracking System or a modern all-in-one recruitment software, you certainly have a database of your current, past and potential job candidates.

(If you by any chance don’t have a talent pool, make sure to learn effective techniques for building your talent pool ASAP!).

However, a database or a list of candidates is NOT a talent pool. A talent pool is a database of candidates INTERESTED in working for your company.

How to maintain an active talent pool?

Here are the top 3 ways that will help you maintain an active talent pool with highly engaged candidates:

1. Segment your talent pool

Segment your talent pool into smaller groups based on certain criteria. Wondering how to segment your talent pool and which criteria to use? A good idea is to segment your talent pool on the criteria of your candidates preferred role or job position at your company. That way, you can create groups of candidates interested in different roles, for example in marketing, sales, IT, etc.

The process of talent pool segmenting will help you understand who are the candidates in your talent pool groups and what are their interests. Create a distinctive candidate persona for each of your candidate groups.

2. Create interesting digital campaigns

Once you have defined a distinctive candidate persona for each group in your talent pool, you will have deeper insights into the interests and motivation of candidates in that group. Use that knowledge to create interesting and engaging content aimed specifically at the candidates from that certain group.

For example, for the group of candidates interested in your marketing positions, create a weekly or monthly newsletter with relevant industry news, such as latest marketing tools and trends, interview with marketing experts at your company or share a story of your new marketing intern. Oh, and don’t forget to include an information about your new job openings in the marketing department!

3. Organize offline events

Besides organizing online events, such as courses, webinars, conferences etc, it a good practice to organize offline events. These types of events are a great opportunity for your local candidates to get to know your company, meet your employees and get a glimpse into your company culture.

Organize open doors at your office, host a local experts meetup or another educational event. Invite the candidates from your talent pool to attend your offline events and meet you in person! And don’t forget to take photos of the events and share them on your career blog and social media profiles! This way you will share your company’s vibe even with your potential job candidates who live outside of your city.

Maintaining an active talent pool sounds like a lot of work...is it worth it?

Of course, it is!

By using these 3 ways to maintain an active talent pool, you have highly engaged candidates who are eager to work for your company. It means that you will be able to fill your positions with better candidates faster, thus reducing your time and cost per hire while improving the quality of hire.