Talent Pool: definition, structure and effective application

A talent pool is now an effective measure used in recruitment. Companies and recruitment agencies alike are increasingly favouring talent pools. However, what do you need to be aware of when setting one up? We will answer the most important questions.

What is a talent pool?

A talent pool is a database which stores talent profiles. Especially in times when employers find it more and more difficult to find suitable candidates on the job market, the talent pool is an increasingly important tool for employee recruitment. It is of interest to both employers and recruitment agencies. If an employer has a vacancy to fill, personnel managers or HR consultants can initially research their own talent pool to see whether it contains a candidate who would suit the position. If there is a promising talent, the next step may be to make them aware of the professional opportunity on offer by means of active sourcing.

Why does the time to hire fall with a talent pool?

A well-structured talent pool makes life significantly easier for recruiters and HR consultants especially in times of a skills shortage. Sometimes the collated contacts save tedious and expensive recruiting measures and the right talent is found with a few clicks of the mouse. Carerix also takes this into account by incorporating new functions in its software. We have completely restructured the content of our talent pool and added new features, which will be released before the end of the year.
As a result, not only does the time to hire fall dramatically. With the right HR software, settings in the talent pool are usually very accurate, which reduces a lengthy familiarisation phase. However, a keyword search can not only look for the perfect talent. An automated profile comparison (matching) also ensures that candidates are filtered that best suit the vacancy.

How widespread are talent pools?

HR consultants have known about the benefits of a talent pool for a long time. In the meantime, they have evidently spread to the business community. According to the Recruiting Trends study by the University of Bamberg, talent pools are now actively used by almost one in two companies. Currently 41.3% of the top 1,000 companies have implemented their own talent pool. Almost 30% of companies are planning on introducing a talent pool. In small and medium-sized business, a quarter of the companies already has a talent pool and 16.2% plan to implement one in future. The significance of a talent pool is thus evidently growing. This is not by accident. As part of their study, the researchers from Bamberg also considered the actual filling of vacancies with candidates from the company’s own talent pool and came to conclusions that sound promising, even in areas with few opportunities on the job market. As a result, the top 1,000 companies are able to fill 15.7% of their vacancies using candidates from their own talent pool. In small and medium-sized business, 18.7% of vacancies can be filled with candidates from the company’s own talent pool.

How do talent enter a talent pool?

So far, so good. But how do talent ultimately enter the talent pool? The talent pool of a company can and should include all the talents the company has come to know and identified as interesting as part of its personnel marketing and recruiting activities. This can take place using the following measures:

• University marketing
• Workshops
• Assessment centres
• Internships
• Social media campaigns

All talents with skills that could be of interest to the company in the future should, assuming they have given their consent, be admitted to the talent pool. The same also applies to applicants who have an interesting profile in principle, but have had to be rejected for a position before, such as due to a large number of applications. Who knows? Maybe a few months later they will find a suitable job opportunity within the company.

How do you set up a talent pool?

Setting up a talent pool should take place as systematically as possible. Again, using the right software can be instrumental in ensuring that talent in the pool does not decline, but that the employing recruiter always has a good overview of the talent thanks to sophisticated keywording mechanisms. For example, defining different applicant groups is recommended and recording the skills of candidate with as much detail as possible.

What are the benefits of a talent pool?

By using a talent pool, companies and HR consultants are ultimately choosing to use an approach that is highly focused on the candidates. When setting up a talent pool, it is not only important to maintain the database. It is also important that the company regularly communicate with the candidates. This creates loyalty and interest in the company does not fade. This reinforces the impression to the candidate: The employer has not included me in its pool out of sheer embarrassment, but really wants to keep in touch with me. This is how a company creates an advantage over its competitors and in an ideal situation, always has the best talent to fill its vacancies. But what measures succeed in retaining talent in a talent pool in the long term? This is a question that we will answer in our next blog post.