Talent Community - or just a pipeline?

I have been a recruiter now for almost 10 years now. I started out in a hiring manager role and then moved into general IT staffing. From there I moved into more of a niche field of recruiting. In my years I have always maintained a certain "method to my madness". This method consisted of sourcing candidates, qualifying them and placing them into what I would consider is my pipeline. These were always people that I have placed on positions and people that I WANT to place on positions. This would pretty much be standard practice right?

In recent years this method has evolved a bit as I have seen the need to differentiate myself from the pack. What would get a candidate to prefer to use me over someone else? Other then "results" (actually placing the candidate on a position) and good rates - what else can I offer them? I want to be the candidates "first call" when they are begining their search. Preferably - their only call!

The need to provide a "Value Add" experience evolved from this. So what am I talking about? Providing something more to a candidate to let them know that I value them. This can be free training opportunities, certification, bonuses, ability to collaborate with their peers, feeling that they are part of the team and can fall back on that team if they need a life line.

In evaluating my method I started to realize that it has changed. The reason I was being so successfull is that I created more then just a pipeline - I created this Talent Community that individuals want to be able to join. membership has it's privleges type of thing.

My method now looks more like this: Sourcing (the general population) - Pipelining (candidates that I want to speak with and get into the community) - Qualification Process - Talent Community (people that I have worked with and want to work with).

Is this just a glorified Pipeline?? I do not think so. In looking back at my recruiting past - I see taht this method could have been very useful in recruiting any and all skill sets. I have also found that these types of communities help foster life long relationships. I have had several candidates that have moved into hiring manager roles that knew exactly who to turn to for their staffing needs.

What are your thoughts around this?

JAKE WYANT | National Practice Recruiter
Analysts International Corporation | 3601 West 76th Street | Minneapolis, MN 55435
p. 952.897.4548| c. 612.251.4027 | jwyant@analysts.com | www.analysts.com

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Comment by Jake Wyant on March 26, 2009 at 10:16pm: No - of course not! I do not believe candidates should ever pay to be marketed. Are you asking because we are offering training? If so- the training we provide is WBT that we subscribe to (unlimited usage). This is at a minimal cost to the company.

One of the things I wanted to address in this as well is the proactive take on this versus being reactive. Creating a talent community that is of the skills sets our clients desire. I believe this is a selling point to the client. being able to tell a client you have X amount of prequalified candidates with xyz skill sets.

Comment by Jake Wyant on March 27, 2009 at 9:24pm: Ahh.. I see. "good rates" meaning our firm pays fair salaries and / or hourly rates.

I did find a posting on ERE re: Talent Communities.

http://www.ere.net/2007/05/10/talent-community-or-applicant-database/

It reads more to creating a User group per say then it does creating a group of pre qualified resources. I think my version of a talent community is more of a Skills Practice - but one that houses more then just full time employees. It houses people that I work with, ones that I want to work with again, and people I want to work with someday.

So this works in the nich market I am in. Will this work in other skill areas? Time will tell I guess!