What do you do if your candidate pipeline isn't delivering results?

When encountering a dry candidate pipeline, one of the initial steps is to evaluate your job advertisements. Ensure they are clear, concise, and compelling, emphasizing the benefits of working for your company and the significance of the role. Include essential requirements and expectations without excessive rigidity or ambiguity. Incorporate relevant keywords and phrases aligned with the search intent of your target audience. If necessary, consider revising your job ads to enhance their appeal and effectiveness.

Reviewing job ads can help by ensuring they are clear, compelling, and inclusive of essential details and top keywords. This attracts the right candidates and filters out unqualified applicants, improving the effectiveness of the candidate pipeline.

If you want to expand your talent pipeline, get rid of your college degree requirements and shift to #Skills-Based Hiring. Currently, 60% of American workers over the age of 25 do not hold a four-year degree, and adding a four-year degree requirement automatically screens out 76% of African Americans, 81% of Americans in rural communities, and 83% of LatinX workers. New LinkedIn findings show that a skills-first approach to hiring led on average to a 9.4x increase in eligible workers across all jobs. To expand your talent pipeline, shorten your time-to-fill, and improve your mis-hire rate, move to #Skills-Based Hiring.

Your Job Descriptions: Ensure that your job descriptions are accurate, detailed, and appealing to potential candidates. Highlight the key responsibilities, qualifications and benefits of the position to attract the right talent. Expand Sourcing Channels: Diversify your sourcing channels to reach a broader pool of candidates. Consider leveraging job boards, social media platforms, referrals, and recruitment agencies to attract qualified candidates. Optimize Your Career Site: Review and optimize your company's career site to make it easy for candidates to find and apply for open positions. Ensure that the site is mobile-friendly, visually appealing, and provides clear information about your company culture, values, and career opportunities.

In my experience the data in the talent pipeline can be misleading. With today’s marketing and integrations with vast list of job boards, resumes are abundant. Our challenge in building our pipeline is shifting from sourcing to qualifying/closing. Modern day assessment tools are great to validate skills, but arming recruiters with the tools they can utilize to promote positive dialog with talents is one missing link. IMHO relationship building between the talent and the recruiter will continue to be the challenge. Understanding and applying AI strategies in the process will help bridge the gap by arming the recruiters with tools to aid in real conversation promoting relationship building. Hence closing the staffer in your pipeline.

To enhance your candidate pipeline, broaden your sourcing channels beyond traditional avenues. Avoid dependence on a limited number of job boards or platforms. Explore diverse options including niche sites, social media platforms, industry forums, blogs, podcasts, newsletters, and events. Utilize job posting services that disseminate ads across multiple channels while monitoring their effectiveness. Increased exposure enhances the likelihood of reaching and attracting a varied pool of qualified candidates.

Expanding sourcing channels that are focused on finding candidates with the right skills will diversify and improve your talent pipeline. It starts with emphasizing abilities, not alma maters. Prioritizing accomplishments, not backgrounds. These notions underscore the essence of a skills-first hiring approach: assessing candidates based on their abilities, aligning their skill sets with the role’s requirements. With such a skills-based hiring strategy, employers tap into overlooked and highly skilled talent pools while candidates gain equitable access to good jobs.

It's not just a matter of expanding your sourcing channels, but also checking the efficiency of each channel. What channel produces the best result? What channel is least effective? Make use of data to determine this. Put more investments in channels that work and lessen investments in channels that don't. You may even void yourself of that channel.

Don't forget to take a moment and reflect on how you build a pipeline through your sourcing channels. Ensure you think widely and beyond the Linkedin networks you've built, and job board searches /ad responses can access. How many of us can truly say they look at previous vacancy applications, or uses boolean inside their candidate CRM. Who tracks recent candidates you didn't place to see how they are finding things 1-3-6 months into the new role, and if you're not engaging with Linkedin job groups then get joining so when you post attraction content socially you can post in these too. Not all sectors will benefit from the social platforms like TikTok, Facebook or Instagram but look at in case. Oh and do not forget referrals, referrals!

There is nothing more effective than snowballing in your network for an effective candidate search . Upon leveraging your network for a candidate search you aren't hitting in the dark and good candidates will automatically get identified basis testimonial from a large universe of potential hires (who may or may not be fitting with the role.)This is one of the reasons a lot of organizations have found merit in launching IJPs and ex-employees groups.Outreach programs engaging alumni, client partners, ex colleagues and key stakeholders in the industry, render long terms benefits.

Utilize your network as a valuable asset for sourcing and engaging potential candidates. Leverage connections to request referrals, recommendations, and introductions from colleagues, clients, partners, alumni, friends, and family. Reach out to passive candidates who have previously expressed interest in your company or industry, or possess relevant skills and experience. Utilize platforms such as LinkedIn, email, or phone to initiate contact and establish rapport. Maintain regular follow-ups to keep candidates informed about the hiring process.

Utilizing your network and reaching out to contacts can expedite the process of finding suitable candidates for positions and will help in reviving your pipeline of candidates.Maintaining a database of individuals who previously applied for roles but were not a fit at the time, and contacting them regarding new opportunities, can be advantageous in identifying potential candidates.

To improve your candidate pipeline, don't overlook the power of leveraging your own network. Reach out to former colleagues, industry contacts, and even friends who understand your business and its needs. These connections can recommend candidates who might be the perfect fit for your roles. A recommendation from a trusted source not only speeds up the hiring process but also tends to bring in candidates who are a good match for your company culture. By activating your network, you tap into an often undervalued source of potential candidates, making your search for the right talent both more efficient and effective.

Tap into your network for candidate sourcing and engagement. Seek referrals, recommendations, and introductions from colleagues, clients, partners, alumni, friends, and family. Reach out to passive candidates with relevant skills or prior interest in your industry via LinkedIn, email, or phone. Cultivate relationships by keeping them updated on your hiring process. Leveraging your network enhances access to qualified talent and fosters a community of potential candidates.

After sourcing candidates, it's crucial to maintain their interest by nurturing them effectively. Establish a talent pool, comprising individuals who have applied or shown interest in your company. Segment this pool based on criteria like skills, location, availability, and preferences. Regularly communicate with candidates, sending personalized messages, updates, tips, invitations, and feedback. Employ automation tools to streamline and enhance outreach efforts for optimal efficiency.

Talent pools are vital for sourcing, especially in a volume capacity. It's not only important to build on your talent pool, but you need to keep the candidates within your pool engaged with the process. A suitable method for this is scheduling role/industry specific content to be shared with the pool to ensure they stay updated on any trends or news, and it keeps them invested in future opportunities. You also want to dedicate time to check in with the pool to make sure they are still interested in the opportunity and their circumstances have not changed. It's important to ensure the talent pool is an accurate reflection of available and suitable candidates, as it could give a false sense of security regarding your pipeline.

If you are in a small industry with fewer players, consider expanding recruitment efforts to different backgrounds of candidates to reach a wider pool of candidates. Additionally, assess the company's employer brand and reputation in the industry to ensure it's attractive to potential candidates.

After sourcing candidates, maintaining their interest is crucial. Establish a talent pool comprising applicants and interested individuals. Segment them based on skills, location, availability, and preferences. Regularly engage them with personalized messages, updates, tips, invitations, and feedback. Utilize automation tools to enhance outreach efficiency. This proactive approach nurtures relationships and ensures a robust pipeline of qualified candidates.

In our market here in Vancouver, there's a disconnect between uninformed job seekers and companies looking to hire. The overwhelming majority of applicants do not submit strong applications or resumes. This underscores the importance of nurturing your talent pool when you uncover top talent – individuals who align with your organization but may not fit the current open position you're recruiting for. Being short-sighted and alienating potential hires, whether short-term or long-term, will undoubtedly harm your long-term hiring strategy. You need to engage with this pool of candidates, communicate with them, attend networking events in the industry, and continue to build a roster of people who are interested in working for your organization.

Conclude by assessing your hiring process to pinpoint bottlenecks, inefficiencies, or gaps impacting your candidate pipeline. Collect and analyze data on metrics including time to hire, cost per hire, quality of hire, candidate satisfaction, and retention. Solicit feedback from candidates, hiring managers, and team members to understand their experiences and expectations. Based on insights gained, implement adjustments and improvements to your hiring process. These may include simplifying application forms, reducing the number of interviews, or enhancing your employer brand to attract top talent effectively.

Optimizing your recruitment efforts involves leveraging data and analytics to track and evaluate their effectiveness. This helps you identify trends, patterns, and areas for improvement based on data insights. It's also important to review your screening and selection processes to ensure they're both efficient and effective. You can consider streamlining the process to reduce the time-to-hire while still maintaining thoroughness. Additionally, it's crucial to equip your interviewers with the necessary skills and training to assess candidates effectively and ensure that you're hiring the right people. By implementing these constructive changes, you can improve your recruitment processes and attract the best talent to your organization.

Evaluating your hiring process is essential to ensure that it is effective and efficient in attracting, selecting, and retaining the best candidates for your organization. Here are some steps you can take to evaluate your hiring process: 1. Gather feedback from candidates 2. Analyze time to hire 3. Assess candidate quality 4. Review diversity and inclusion efforts 5. Monitor recruitment sources 6. Seek feedback from hiring managers 7. Measure candidate experience

To enhance your hiring process, assess it for bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and gaps impacting your candidate pipeline. Analyze metrics like time to hire, cost per hire, quality of hire, candidate satisfaction, and retention. Solicit feedback from candidates, hiring managers, and team members to identify areas for improvement. Adjustments could include simplifying application forms, reducing interview rounds, or strengthening employer branding. Continuous evaluation and refinement ensure a smoother, more effective hiring process.

One of the best ways to evaluate your hiring process is to seek genuine feedback from your recruiting partners (e.g agencies). They receive direct feedback from applicants going through your process and have a broad view of the market and best practices. They understand what works and what doesn't, working with multiple firms within your field and knowing who has a successful hiring process. But this requires being open to and welcoming constructive feedback.

I would suggest to review your screening process to ensure it effectively filters out unqualified candidates while attracting those with the right skills and experience. Evaluate your compensation and benefits package to ensure it aligns with industry standards and meets the expectations of potential candidates. Assess your internal recruitment processes for any bottlenecks or inefficiencies that may be hindering the candidate pipeline.

If your candidate pipeline isn’t delivering results, a 360 review of your entire process may uncover where the pain points exist and where improvement is needed. This 360 review, if done right, will improve your overall candidate pool, yet if done incorrectly it will waste a lot of time and energy. If your organization wants to fast-track attracting the right talent, especially high-performers, leveraging the right recruiting partner is the most efficient (and can fill in the gap while you are conducting your 360 assessment).

If your candidate pipeline isn't yielding results, dive into specialized online communities often overlooked. Niche forums, Slack groups, and career-specific subreddits can be hidden treasures for talent. Kick off a series of 'AMA' (Ask Me Anything) sessions in these spaces, where your company's leaders share insights into the corporate culture, innovative projects, and growth opportunities. This approach not only attracts candidates with specific interests and skills but also enhances your employer brand by engaging directly with potential hires in environments they value and trust.

The one that many people forget to check is the ATS! Don’t jump straight into I have got a new job requisition I must by default post a new job advert as my 1st step in the hiring process.

Leverage your referral policy or look at implementing one if you haven’t already! Your employees may know people with similar skill sets to their own from previous organisations. Referred candidates tend to onboard and settle in quicker as well as being more likely to stay.