You don’t need me to point out an obvious fact – every employer wants the perfect candidate for their role. However, you also don’t need me to tell you that this ideal situation is rather rare. But just because you don’t have a role at the right time, wouldn’t you like to keep a tether on a perfect candidate just in case a role comes up in the future? Enter: your talent pool.

Let’s say a good candidate applies for a role in your company but you don’t feel that they are quite suited to it. However, they have an outstanding CV and you wish that you had an alternative role to offer them. Solution? Put them in your talent pool. By doing so, they can be informed if/when you have another, more suitable role available.  You know that your talent pool contains candidates who have expressed an interest in your company/a desire to work for you.

At the moment, there is an abundance of people looking for a job. In this hubbub, it is often difficult sift through quickly to find the candidate you are looking for. If you have a talent pool, you know who is in there and what they are suitable for and you can find out whether they are still available or not. Talent pools can reduce the time-to-hire and administration as you already have your candidate’s details on the system.

It is very important that you maintain your talent pool to a high standard – you want to make sure all the candidates in there have up-to-date information and contact details. Keep up with the regular updates and any developments in job opportunities. Send them any news or even the company newsletter. Also bear in mind that if you include other similar roles in your job updates that you send to candidates, you are giving them the opportunity to refer their friends to you.

Essentially, you want to make sure your talent pool feels like a nice place to be for your candidates who reside in there! Do that and it won’t let you down