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As per a recent survey, 70% of CEOs and board leaders mentioned availability of key talent/skills among the top five most relevant threats to organizational health.
The four core aims of a successful global talent management strategy include recruitment, develop, deploy, and retain the right talent and individuals. A talent pipeline, also known as talent pool, candidate pool, or talent bank is critical to a company and can make a crucial difference if suddenly faced with talent shortage or inadequate talent pool to access. Also, the time it could take to source and negotiate with new and adept talent could be another major challenge adding to an already overwhelming situation. Also, talent pipelining provides the ability to recruiters to gauge how well their contacts will fit in different teams even before that candidate is hired.
Companies are understanding the critical value of having a talent pipeline for any eventuality, and developing such systems and processes that ensure an ongoing pool of qualified job candidates can be complex. A common strategy is development of an internal talent pipeline to enable collection of details and information regarding known talent and potential candidates from internal sources, including those engaging in internships and past job applicants. Another is accessing external sources such as job fairs and staffing agencies and manpower vendor firms.
Having access to a talent pipeline ecosystem is serving Human Resource (HR) needs quite well and as such framework comprises the relevant processes, systems, strategies, and technologies required to find job candidates, it continues to gain popularity. Such a framework is especially helpful for small businesses, which only source and categorize applicants whenever there is vacancy or need for a particular skillset. In such instances, the HR team can simply access the talent pipeline to identify a qualified candidate and fill a specific vacant position in a company, instead of starting from scratch with the entire process.
Developing and having access to an effective and valuable talent pipeline and deploying relevant strategies are also arming companies and HR teams with a powerful tool and ability to make more informed decisions. This framework serves as a talent supply chain as it enables resolving existing problems and meet future needs and requirements quite efficiently and with rapid outcomes. However, development of an effective talent pipeline requires understanding of pertinent challenges by working with department leaders, gaining a clear view of workforce needs, and assessing current and upcoming talent needs, followed by performing skills gap tests on existing staff, recent new hires, and former job applicants. Considering changes that could be affecting staffing, such as business growth or internal restructuring, also helps to develop a more efficient framework.
Once the initial framework related to needs mentioned above is developed, deployed, and is functional, HR teams focus on approaches and goals for short-term and long-term recruitment and hires, and these are clearly aligned with upper management and high-level business objectives. Use of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) allow measurement of a company’s talent pipeline effectiveness and enables minor changes to be made where required.
However, even developing a robust talent supply chain to overcome talent shortages may not be sufficient and other measures would be required to ensure a more robust preparedness. As per a recent survey, 70% of CEOs and board leaders mentioned availability of key talent/skills among the top five most relevant threats to organizational health. Survey results have indicated factors such as individuals pursuing own business objectives and endeavors, changed mindset or perceptions about corporate workplace, packages, expectations, and benefits, and the Great Resignation, among others have been giving potential employers and HR personnel major challenges in the post-pandemic world.
A key need is efficient talent pipeline management, and this strategic process is extremely critical and is used to proactively identify, attract, develop, and retain a pool of qualified candidates to meet a company’s current and future talent needs. All this starts off with the analysis of the organization’s current and future talent requirements based on business goals and objectives. HR and company management can engage in steps and activities focused on building and nurturing a talent pool which can be highly capable, dependable, and efficient when specific roles become available in the organization. After the roles and skill requirements are identified internally, majority of recruiters use channels such as employee referrals, social media recruitment, networking events, and partnerships with educational institutions to proactively seek out or attract a diverse pool of qualified candidates.
A crucial aspect of talent pipeline management is engagement with potential candidates, and this is important even if there are no immediate job openings within a company or organization. This serves to create and maintain a candidate’s interest and open avenues to interact and engage with individuals to keep goals open for potential future opportunities. Succession planning is another key strategy for efficient talent pipeline management. This preparedness entails proactively identifying, attracting, developing, and retaining a pool of talented candidates beforehand, and ensures more fluid transition and maintenance of business and operational continuity when key employees leave an organization.
Other key aspects for ensuring preparedness and having an effective talent pipeline management strategy are workforce forecasting; employer branding; sourcing and talent acquisition; Candidate Relationship Management (CRM); screening and selection; development and training; succession planning; diversity and inclusion; talent analytics; review and refine; and focus on upskilling and reskilling employees.
A key strategy across small businesses is internal sourcing and employee referrals to fill existing or future positions. Companies are also offering employee applicants training and development programs, which is looked upon favorably by candidates, as they also stand to benefit with higher packaging and internal transfers. Tapping into employee referrals has been a proven method and rated among the fastest approaches to sourcing talent and potential employees or for building and managing a talent pipeline. While employees sourced through referrals are known to perform exceptionally well and stay for longer tenure within a company, the success of this channel is highly dependent on execution of the overall process. While building and growing an internal talent pipeline offers a number of benefits and advantages, the approach can also be challenging and complex.
Internal Talent Pipeline: The process of building an internal talent pipeline involves numerous strategic steps to identify, attract, nurture, and develop employees for future critical roles.
External Talent Pipeline: Building an external talent pipeline also requires a strategic approach to be able to identify, communicate, attract, and engage potential candidates who align with needs and values of an organization. Below are steps organizations and companies are aligning with:
Despite dependence on such strategies to manage and grow talent pipelines, companies and HR need to remain agile as hiring needs could change at a moment’s notice due to some unforeseen circumstances. Scaling pipelines to address need to increase hiring serves to prevent bottlenecks and also allows creating a continuous stream of suitable talent. The strategy for decreased hiring needs requires effective pipeline strategy and management to maintain a steady inflow of talent, while avoiding overextending resources.
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