Hiring GlossaryWhat is a talent pipeline?
What is a talent pipeline?
Have you ever interviewed a candidate who wasn’t quite right for the role – but might be perfect for a future opening? That’s exactly why talent pipelines exist.
A talent pipeline refers to all the candidates who have been sourced or apply to your open roles. Once candidates enter your talent pipeline, you can continue to communicate and engage with them to keep them informed about future roles.
The term talent pipeline is often used in contrast to a talent pool, which is a wider group of potential candidates who are not associated with any specific role.
Building a talent pipeline is a critical part of your talent acqusition (TA) strategy, based on the idea that it’s more efficient and effective than simply waiting for qualified candidates to apply whenever you open a new role. It’s more of a proactive approach to recruiting rather than a reactive one, so it involves more ongoing effort to nurture candidates and prospective candidates.
In order to build a talent pipeline, you’ll need:
- A way of collecting and maintaining candidates’ information. You can do this manually but you will probably find it much easier with a dedicated tool like an applicant tracking system (ATS).
- A plan for communicating and building relationships with the people in your talent pipeline and continuing to add new members. This often involves intentionally building your employer brand through events and social media or online campaigns.
- A way to organize and track your communication with candidates over time. Again, you might do this manually but you will likely find that a dedicated candidate relationship management (CRM) tool can automate many steps and give you access to insights and data that you wouldn’t have otherwise.
What are the benefits of implementing a talent pipeline?
It’s true that building and maintaining a talent pipeline requires ongoing effort, but most TA teams feel that the alternative – starting from scratch each time you open a new role – is much more time-consuming and ineffective. Here are a few of the benefits of the talent pipeline approach:
Improved hiring efficiency and time-to-hire
You’re always adding to your talent pipeline whenever you source candidates or they apply to roles. This means that whenever a new role opens up, instead of sourcing from scratch or posting an opening on job boards and waiting for candidates to apply, you can go directly to your talent pipeline to source candidates.
And since the people in your talent pipeline are already familiar with your company and may have already interviewed for roles, you may be able to skip or expedite some steps of the interview process, which can reduce your time-to-hire by days or even weeks.
Here’s how Ariana Moon, VP of Talent Planning & Acquisition at Greenhouse, explained the efficiency boost: “The awesome thing about the CRM is that you can re-engage promising candidates and re-enter them into your interview process all before you interview any direct applicants. Revisiting warm leads in Greenhouse CRM is the first thing I do upon opening any role, because then you’re capitalizing on work you’ve done in the past to significantly cut down on the time you spend on a job search.”
Plus, you’ll have a historical record that helps you track all the relevant information for each prospect or candidate, so you’ll know who from your team was last in touch and what the appropriate next steps would be. This eliminates duplicated efforts and creates a streamlined and seamless experience for prospective candidates, making them much more likely to respond when you reach out.
The data backs this up – sourced applicants (like those who come from a talent pipeline) are five times more likely to be hired than inbound applicants. And by some estimates, 75% of the workforce is employed but willing to consider other roles. In other words, there’s a strong chance that a prospective candidate who is currently employed somewhere else would be willing to learn more about your latest role – especially if they had a positive experience with your company in the past.
Enhanced candidate quality
Relying solely on inbound applications leaves a lot up to chance – especially since Greenhouse data shows that the average recruiter is handling three times more applications than they were four years ago.
The wide availability of AI tools means there’s also a growing number of candidates who are using AI agents to apply for roles automatically or misrepresenting their skills with fake portfolios or work samples.
When you take the talent pipeline approach, you’re starting with a group of candidates who have already been vetted. You know that they’re legitimate and they’ve expressed interest in your company in the past, which means they’re already at least somewhat familiar with your business and industry.
Long-term workforce planning and retention
Building a talent pipeline isn’t really about filling the roles that are open today – it’s about ensuring you have plenty of qualified candidates to consider when roles open up in the future.
As long as you continue to invest in it, your talent pipeline will keep growing over time. You can then create segments that are relevant to specific roles or skill sets.
As you begin to anticipate your future hiring needs, you can design campaigns to nurture members of your talent pipeline and cultivate their interest.
Depending on the size of your company, you may also be investing in internal recruiting and building internal talent pipelines with employees who have expressed interest in working in certain roles or building specific skills. Keeping them informed of open roles that fit their desired career path can motivate them to stay at your company rather than pursuing those opportunities elsewhere.
What are the steps to build a talent pipeline?
If you’re interested in building a pipeline, here are a few of the key steps to take.
Step 1: Identify your workforce needs and skills gaps
Decide what types of candidates you’re looking for. This “ideal persona” might include different role and job requirements or specific skills you know your company is going to need in the near future.
Step 2: Source candidates through various channels – and use the right technology to manage them
“Sourcing” refers to activities recruiters do to proactively find potential candidates. One effective sourcing tactic is to review past candidates, such as silver medalists – those who did well in the interview process but didn’t end up getting hired.
Most recruiting teams and companies use an ATS to keep track of all the candidates who applied to jobs and candidates they sourced themselves, so make sure you check this database if you have it. Using an ATS can help you quickly find the right candidates by allowing you to use keyword searches that align with the job requirements, the ideal persona you created and the hiring manager’s expectations.
In addition to looking at past applicants, you can proactively source candidates through networking, hosting events and searching online networking sites and databases.
Step 3: Engage in and nurture relationships with potential candidates
Your talent pipeline will grow and evolve over time, and so will your relationships with the candidates who are in it. Make sure you periodically reach out to candidates to build relationships with them. You can share company news, invite them to events or just ask for updates on their careers. That way, when it’s time to reach out about a job opening, they’ll be much more likely to respond to your outreach.
What are some tips for effective talent pipeline management?
Once you have your talent pipeline up and running, there are a few best practices to help ensure you’re getting the full benefits.
Regularly assess and update your talent pipeline
Think about how you’d like to segment the members of your talent pipeline. This may involve dividing them into more specific groups. For example, you might create segments based on roles or departments or by seniority level. You can also create prospect pools that segment prospective candidates based on how you plan to communicate with and evaluate them for future roles.
You might also compare your existing talent pipeline to the roles you know are likely to open in the future. If you identify any gaps, you might want to proactively source more candidates with those skills or qualities.
Use technology to track and engage talent pipeline members
This is where having a dedicated ATS or CRM can really help you since it can automate processes and provide data and insights. For example, Greenhouse Prospect Posts allow you to collect applications from those who are interested in your company, even when you’re not actively hiring. You can build a pool of great talent to source from for future openings and configure custom questions and application rules for your Prospect Posts to help you identify the most promising prospects for your nurture strategy. Explore more pipeline management tactics in Greenhouse here.
Build a diverse and inclusive talent pipeline
One of the advantages of proactively building a talent pipeline is that it allows you to be intentional about sourcing prospective candidates from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds so you can ensure your talent pipeline is diverse and inclusive. Here’s how Erica Ebinger, Recruiting Lead at Niantic, described her approach: “If you’re relying on referrals and applicants, you’re really limiting the pool of strong and diverse candidates. I try to diversify who, where and how I’m reaching out to different people.” Read more of Erica’s sourcing tips here.
What are some common challenges in talent pipeline development?
If you’re planning to make a talent pipeline part of your talent acquisition strategy, there are a few challenges to be aware of.
Addressing the skills gap is one common challenge. You may know what roles you’re trying to fill today, but can you predict which ones you’ll be hiring for in the coming months and years? Because talent pipelines are focused on your future hiring needs, you’ll need to become more comfortable at taking the long view, understanding your business’s mid- and long-term goals and anticipating the skills your company is likely to need in the future.
Another challenge involves managing candidates’ expectations and experience. This can be difficult because you won’t always know exactly when roles will open up, and this timing may not always match up with when candidates are open to pursuing a new job. This is why maintaining communication with candidates – even when you don’t have an open role to share with them – is such an important part of talent pipeline management. You want to consistently show prospective candidates that you value them and remind them why you think they’re a great fit for your organization.
Like many other aspects of hiring, your talent pipeline is susceptible to bias. If you’re only prioritizing candidates that fit a very specific profile – like those who attended elite universities or worked at Fortune 500 companies – consider if there are better ways to measure their likelihood of success in a role. If your company uses structured hiring, take a closer look at which skills and attributes hiring teams are looking for and consider how you might use similar criteria to fill your talent pipeline.
How can you measure the success of your talent pipeline?
Once you have a talent pipeline in place, how do you know if it’s performing as you expect? There are a few key performance indicators (KPIs) that will help you measure your talent pipeline’s success:
Conversions at each stage
You’ll want to know what happens after each touchpoint you have with a prospect – how likely are they to move on to the next stage? Camille Conrotto, former recruiter at Niantic, explained, “To track sourcing success, you have to also track conversions at each stage of the process. The most important conversion for me when sourcing passive candidates is recruiter screen to first-round screen – tracking passive candidates that are interested enough to hop on a call, and after the call, they’re excited and want to start the interview process.”
The average number of messages it takes to get an initial response
You may occasionally get lucky and receive a response after your first communication attempt with a member of your talent pipeline. But it will often take at least a couple of tries before a prospect responds. Keeping track of the average number of messages it takes before you receive a response can help you plan out your communication campaigns.
The most effective sources – and how much you’re spending on them
When it comes to sourcing prospective candidates to fill your talent pipeline, there are countless tools and services you can use, and they vary significantly when it comes to cost. This is why you’ll want to track how much you’re spending on each source as well as which sources tend to be most effective.
For example, Justin Foreman, a former technical recruiter at Postclick, found that working with an agency involved spending at least $70k per role, while other sourcing tools, like the Greenhouse Job Ad Market, cost a small fraction and gave him much more flexibility. Having the ability to turn Job Ad Market on and off at will without being tied into any long-term subscriptions is a huge win for Justin. “It allows us to be really strategic with our sourcing budget.” Learn more about Justin’s strategic approach to filling his talent pipeline here.
When it comes to tracking the key performance indicators for your talent pipeline, your best bet is to use your ATS. Erica Ebinger, recruiting lead at Niantic, said, “I utilize the Greenhouse reports function often.”
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