Hiring The Best in 2020 - Part 4 - Talent Pipelining

The Covid 19 pandemic has made 2020 the most volatile recruitment market ever in my 25 years in the profession. 

It has impacted every aspect of hiring from talent pools to selection processes to internal recruitment resources. In this 5 part weekly series I cover them all to help you get your talent strategy on point and in a position to make the most of hiring conditions in 2021.

We are already on to week 4 and focused on Talent Pipelining.

Talent Pipelining

It feels an opportune moment to talk about talent pipelining. With the prospect of a Covid vaccination rollout being just weeks away, optimism is building that the pandemic may be behind us by the middle of next year. Naturally, this gives companies more confidence in growth and hiring plans even if they aren’t quite ready to push the button yet.

First of all, let’s define talent pipelining. It is a continual process whereby a company (either directly or via a third party) identifies individuals who are potential hires of the future, makes contact, establishes mutual interest and then maintains a dialogue until a formal recruitment process can begin.

It’s not just a list of names or a bunch of LinkedIn connections.

The continuous nature of pipelining requires dedicated effort and management to keep target lists up to date and ensure candidate engagement is regular and meaningful. However, the benefits are significant and include gathering competitor intelligence on everything from salaries to company culture, and slashing your time to hire when required because all the groundwork has already been done with shortlist quality candidates.

Now let’s consider how the pandemic has affected the talent pipelining landscape. There is plenty of good news for companies committed to this aspect of their talent strategy.

For those candidates who have suffered redundancy or face job insecurity, a call about potential career opportunities elsewhere will be welcomed. Given their need for a new position immediately the biggest challenge is managing their expectations and there is a very real possibility that they secure a new position before you are ready to engage them in a formal recruitment process. However, it should be noted that even if they take another job it is worth keeping them engaged as often their new position won’t be ideal if they have had to make a hasty career decision to keep themselves financially afloat.

The remainder of the candidate pool have generally become more cautious about moving jobs given the wider economic volatility they have witnessed in 2020. This can manifest itself in a reluctance to engage with talent professionals about a job move right now. But talent pipelining is about the near future. It offers the candidate an attractive balance of beginning to explore a new career opportunity without having to make a commitment to move yet. For many that is ideal just now. In short, your talent professionals should find a receptive audience at the point of engagement.

We all know that home working has increased exponentially this year and for many businesses it is set to stay at least as a hybrid model if not full time. This has a very significant impact on your geographical reach in talent pipelining. 

For example, you can engage candidates who would not have been willing to commute to your office five days a week but would be willing to do so twice a week if the other three days are working from home. Your catchment area has effectively grown. More quality candidates are now within reach. 

A high quality, effective talent pipelining strategy is still very rare, largely because of the dedication and time required to implement it. This in itself offers your company a potential competitive advantage if you can make the necessary commitment. 

If Covid has halted your recruitment plans for this year perhaps there is some spare capacity in your talent acquisition team to start effectively pipelining for 2021? Equally, this work can be outsourced to a trusted recruitment partner to get you ahead for next year. Either way, it’s an investment worth making if you anticipate growing your team in the near future.

I hope this has been food for thought on your company’s approach to Talent Pipelining.

If there is any aspect of this you would like to discuss further please get in touch.