Talent PoolingTUSH WIJERATNE

Why should talent pooling be done ?

Managing forecasted headcount changes – Star Trek

Planning for the future – Back to the Future

Resource management of niche skills on specific programmes – The Substitute

Identify “hidden gems” - Blood Diamond

Brand development - Fast and the Furious

Reduce Cost – Trading Places

Reduce time to hire – Rush Hour

Communication – Jaws

Getting ahead of the competition – Catch me if you can

By not diversifying the company’s talent portfolio organizations can impede their own progress and assume a riskier trajectory over time in their effort to reduce risk

Forecasting….”Star Trek” !!

All organisations discuss headcount impacts at all levels and this is affected by:

Future Growth

Existing planned growth

New Market growth

Internal restructures

Changes in :

Processes

Legislations

Technology

Essential Specific Projects

Product Launches

Enhancements to current setups

The idea in growth and forecasting is to get to a place no man has ever gone before.

“Back to the Future”

We know where we want to be in the future, so now we need “go back”

and make sure we get there.

Regardless of the headcount and size of the organisation talent pooling

has proven to be most effective method of hiring for companies.

As there is time to organise the hiring , the quality and standard of

candidates is drastically improved.

Also there is emphasis on being able to identify the “best of the best” for

the organisation.

There is also the ability to track the careers of individuals who are of

potential interest for the organisation.

Skills ….”The substitute”

There are instances where certain projects need niche skills for a specific skills which are not already available inhouse.

Talent pooling assists in:

Specific projects : The Identification of niche skills and pipelining the resources accordingly for the projects.

Contract swap to Perm : Due to lack of certain skills organisations are in the interim required to use contract resources. Talent pooling enables us to identify the limited perm candidates and pipeline them for when they are ready to consider a new perm role. This also assists in the resource planning of interim solutions.

Hidden Gems…. “Blood Diamond”

Continuous Talent Pooling also enables to identify “hidden gems” who are the future shakers of the industry.

These can be passive candidates who are currently in roles where their core skills are

currently underutilised and hence not the obvious candidates in a search.

Candidates who are climbing the ladder but not yet at the stage where they would

be of interest to the organisation.

There might be unique situations where a candidate is talent pooled (TP’ed) and

even though there is no live current role, his/her skillset and experience is such that it

would be worthwhile forming a new role for the betterment of the organisation.

We want to get the “diamond” our competition is desperate to find!!

Branding….”fast and the furious”

The Process of talent pooling requires constant communication and

networking. This provides in direct marketing regarding the brand as there

will be discussions regarding:

Company growth and future aspirations

Product launches

The Structure and Process also provides a positive outlook, showing that

the company is investing in the expansion of headcount in advance, and

hence is a stable environment (specially considering the volatile market

we currently work in).

“money talk”

Talent Pooling when done efficiently is one of the biggest cost saving actions in recruitment.

Some of the strategies used in talent pooling require very low additional costs:

Networking

Current employers and the previous colleagues and associates

Unconnected prospects

Linkedin

Networking events / forums / socials

Reliance on agencies are reduced as there should be very few urgent “need to identify candidates now roles”.

We All know eventually money does talk !!

Avoid “rush hour” !!

Key for this is forecasting, which is a essential ingredient in doing talent

pooling.

By talent pooling we should be able to identify which candidates are

suitable for the organisation in all aspects:

Ability

Cultural fit

Time (availability)

Cost (salary / rate)

The identification of this talent in advance reduces the time to hire when the true

requirement arises.

JAWS

Communication is critical in any business.

Talent Pooling enables the bridge between recruitment / hr and line management to be stronger as there is a transparent , accurate overview of the resource pipeline.

This communication can be utilised in:

Resource management

High level reporting

Budget forecasting

Project / time forecasting

Strong Communication will avoid the true effect of “JAWS”

Competition … “catch me if you can”

By Talent Pooling we want to be in a situation where we:

Have mapped and identified the market

Got interest from high calibre candidates

Ahead of the recruitment game

Achieved all the factors discussed in earlier slides

All this will we enable us to tell our competitors to “catch me if you can”.

How is talent Pooling achievements

Different companies use different techniques, however there are common

achievements ….

Measurement-Forecasts-Reduced cost-Size of talent pool

Output/Results-Filling difficult hires-Niche and volume recruitment-Quality-Reactive recruitment-Interview ready/ interviewed classification

Internal Communication-Strong relationship with the business-Getting business buy in

External Communication-Delivering Consistent message-Engagement through contact and content-Increased brand perception-Targeted networking

Systems and Process-Linked In Recruiter-Referrals-Competitor mapping-Having a robust process

Talent Pooling Option 1

Gold

Been through selection standardised/ shared process

Examples of what ideal looks like

Salary benchmarking done with candidates

Engage vendors too

Don’t forget internal talent

Silver

Referrals

Don’t know right now, as have not been vetted but looks good on paper!

May not have all criteria

Qualified by recruiters and are good but not gold

Can’t have too many in this bucket

Agency freebies in here?

Bronze

List of names

No contact

Talent Stalk!

Linked In followers

Agency freebies?

Candidates that have applied for other roles

Talent Pooling Option 2 - CHUGS

C - Classically Ideal : Fully vetted by recruitment and business (worked with or absolute evidence they are high quality)

H – High Quality but semi-vetted; not worked with them but belief they are high quality ( i.e. Qualified by recruiters and not the business )

U - Unsure; just don't know yet, but looks good on paper! (this is the screening pot)

G - Good but we have better

S - Stored but doesn’t fit, black listed; useful knowledge

Candidate Engagement through talent pooling

Cat 1 :

Personal contact

Monthly relevant contact

Company information / insight

Standardise as much as possible

Ask for level of correspondence

Cat 2:

Jobs

Event days / product launches / open days /networking

Cat 3:

Be visible

Be Inquisitive

Resources needed for talent pooling

Dedication from recruitment as a team or individual with emphasis on

talent pooling.

Dedicated time and meeting room availability.

Technology (Avature / Linkedin / CV databases/ Job boards).

Linked In (company page, groups, leverage employees and agencies, use

tags)

Buy in from senior management and hiring management.

Marketing / Open days / networking initiatives.

Success measurement of Talent Pooling

MetricsIncreased hiring efficiencyImproved long term hire performanceIncreasing speed and qualityLower agency usageReduced cost and time to hireTargeted talent poolsIncreased % of hires from the talent pool

BusinessBetter quality succession planningChange in mindsetIncreased profile of recruitment teamProactive planningCross functional talent utilisation

Experience-Silver medallists available-Referrals from successful candidates-Increased initial engagement-ultimate candidate experience-social mediaIncreased understanding of the business-self selectionBetter engagement with hiring communitySystems

Targeted Linked In pages or careers siteMeaningful reportingATS candidate management

Q’s and A’s

Any questions please feel free to contact:

Tush Wijeratne