What is a Candidate Pool?
A candidate pool is an internal database of potential hires organizations create to fill current or future job openings.
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Understanding Candidate Pools
In the pre-Internet era, employers relied on paper resumes and manual processes to find the right candidates for open positions. Today, the advent of digital tools has revolutionized this process, making the creation and maintenance of comprehensive candidate pools more efficient and effective.
A candidate pool is an organization's database of prospective job candidates. It's usually composed of people who have previously applied to positions with you, people sourced by recruiters, and those referred by current employees. These candidates are often stored in a company's internal applicant tracking system (ATS), allowing employers a ready supply of qualified candidates to pull from when vacancies occur.
How to Build a Candidate Pool
Leverage as many sources as possible to build a database of qualified candidates that could fill future jobs. Channels such as job boards, social media platforms, employee referrals, and job fairs are great ways to attract a wide range of candidates. Use an ATS to efficiently collect and organize candidate information. Regularly update the pool by engaging with passive candidates and maintaining contact with past applicants who had potential but were not hired.
Build a candidate pool by leveraging all recruitment channels and keeping the list and corresponding communications up to date within your ATS.
Advantages of Candidate Pools
By having a ready-made list of candidates to consider, your organization's time to hire is significantly reduced. These individuals in your candidate pool have already had contact with your organization, making them higher-quality, higher-intent candidates. This proactive approach to talent management and workforce planning empowers businesses to stay ahead of vacancies and minimize disruptions to effective operations. It also ensures a steady pipeline of talent for future needs, putting you in control of your recruitment process.
Candidate pools not only speed up hiring by featuring high-quality candidates familiar with your organization but also ensure a steady prospect pipeline. This steady pipeline provides a sense of security, knowing that you have a pool of potential hires ready when you need them, boosting your confidence in your recruitment strategy.
Challenges and Considerations
A major challenge of hosting a candidate pool is keeping it updated. Candidate details change over time, including, of course, their employment availability. It is also important to periodically engage with prospects to keep them interested in future opportunities. However, this can be time and resource-intensive for small businesses. Effective candidate pool management requires enough resources, such as dedicated HR professionals' time to get right.
Regularly updating and engaging with a candidate pool is essential but can be resource-intensive, especially for small businesses.
Best Practices for Small Businesses
Small businesses that often struggle with recruitment in tough job markets will benefit greatly from establishing and maintaining a candidate pool. To save time and money, use cost-effective digital tools like a free ATS to organize candidates. Additionally, keep lines of communication open with passive candidates and previous prospects through email newsletters, social media platforms, and other channels. Remember, your talent pool is only as strong as your HR team, so empower them with the resources necessary to maintain a robust candidate database, making them feel supported and valued in their role.
Establishing and maintaining a candidate pool helps small businesses in tough job markets, especially when they follow best practices.
A candidate pool is a valuable proactive recruiting tool for small businesses to fill their open positions. It's a database of job prospects, typically comprised of contacts from employee referrals, direct sourcing, and previous applicants. Small businesses can streamline their recruiting efforts by leveraging cheap and free digital platforms to build and maintain a robust talent pool and following other best practices.
About the author
Casey Pontrelli
Casey Pontrelli is a multi-talented professional with a background in content creation, branding, and social media marketing. Whether writing for a newspaper, eCommerce website, B2B startup, or a marketing agency, she has taken her strong background in journalism and turned her focus to SEO and content marketing. She’s written about everything from boutiques to cars to small businesses, and enjoys most when she knows her writing has had an impact. When she’s not writing up a storm or creating attention-grabbing social media posts, Casey enjoys hanging out with her partner and three cats, Eddy, Larry, and Marcus, going on long walks in the Green Belt, and, predictably, reading.
