Applicant pooling is much like gardening. Rather than planting crops when you need them, it’s best to think proactively in advance and plant seeds so they turn into crops during the season you need to harvest them. When it comes to applicant pooling, your company gathers qualified candidates in advance so your recruitment team is prepared to onboard top talent when open requisitions occur.
The entirety of the garden is like a group of candidates while crops ready for harvest are hireable applicants. Plants that need more time to bloom are like passive candidates and crops ready to be picked immediately are like active candidates.
We will discuss general information about applicant pools, how applicant pooling benefits your organization, and tips for recruiters to follow when implementing this important hiring practice.
What Is Applicant Pooling?
Creating an applicant pool for recruitment starts by understanding general information about applicant pooling. This recruitment practice involves keeping a database of qualified candidates in a centralized location like an applicant tracking system (ATS) to draw from when a job opening happens.
Talent pooling for recruiters is a vital strategy for anticipating hiring needs and refining a proactive talent acquisition approach ready to streamline onboarding.
Applicant Pooling Benefits
How does applicant pooling enhance organizational efficiency? How does it expedite the hiring process to enhance various hiring performance metrics? Let’s evaluate the benefits of maintaining a strong applicant pool.
Faster Time-to-Hire
One of the most important hiring performance metrics that companies work to continuously refine is time-to-hire. Refining applicant pool development ensures faster time-to-hire. Taking a few simple steps can get this metric to perform better than ever.
Utilize text-to-apply software to get new candidates into the applicant pipeline. The AI chatbot will ask for the candidate’s personal information to build their candidate profile. Then, the chatbot will send the corresponding candidates an application link. From there, the candidate can complete the application which starts the day count for time-to-hire. The days in between involve screening, interviewing, and selection, and the final day of time-to-hire is when a candidate accepts a position.
Time-to-hire can also be expedited by drawing from candidates already in the applicant pipeline. One of the best applicant pooling benefits is that you don’t have to start from scratch each time a new role opens within the company. You can analyze recent applications and resumes in the pool to engage with individuals who have a vested interest in onboarding with the company.
Improved Candidate Quality
Pre-screened individuals in an applicant pipeline mean the company has a higher likelihood of onboarding candidates of higher quality. These candidates meet the base requirements for open requisitions, which also heightens candidate retention rates because of onboarding quality hires instead of bad hires.
Reduced Recruitment Costs
A strong applicant pool can reduce recruitment costs. The applicant pipeline acts as a viable resource for the hiring team to start interviewing and selecting candidates for open requisitions immediately. Rather than having to start from square one by posting on job boards, social media platforms, and other sources, the hiring team can save time and money by drawing from candidates already in the pool to get them onboarded more quickly.
Better Long-Term Relationships
While not every candidate in the pool will be hired immediately, it’s best to engage with them to build long-term relationships in case they are interested in a future opportunity with your company. A candidate’s current career may be serving them the best right now, but they may want to consider an opportunity with your company when the right one surfaces. Hence, engaging with all candidates in some way in the applicant pipeline can lead to better future hiring outcomes.
Advantages of Applicant Pools
Evaluating the advantages of integrating applicant pools into your organization’s recruitment procedures can help the hiring team consider different angles in hiring strategies.
Faster Response Time
The recruitment team can provide a faster response time to candidates by drawing from the applicant pipeline rather than waiting for new applications and resumes to enter the pool. This strategic approach is especially critical in high-volume industries where each passing day that high-volume role remains unfulfilled can throw off a company’s operational efficiency into a whirlwind. Nurses in healthcare, cashiers in retail, and warehouse workers in manufacturing are all examples of high-volume roles that showcase applicant pooling benefits of filling positions quickly.
Scalability
As a company expands or seasonal customer demand causes the need for more workers, the recruitment team can scale hiring solutions by drawing from a strong applicant pool. Updating and maintaining an applicant pipeline regularly can ensure there is always a fresh selection of candidates to consider when an open requisition happens.
Diversity and Inclusion
A carefully curated applicant pool encourages diversity and inclusion in a company’s work environment. Reaching out to underrepresented groups within the applicant pipeline can encourage a more inclusive workplace with candidates from different backgrounds and perspectives to refine more collaborative and innovative team dynamics.
Recruiter Tips for Applicant Pooling
Recruiters can draw from different angles for hiring by following the tips below.
Segment the Applicant Pool
Separating the larger applicant pool into smaller segments can divide candidates based on their skillsets, experiences, and career goals. This helps the recruitment team to recommend the proper open roles to each candidate within a segment when the time comes.
Maintain Engagement
One cannot take for granted that a candidate in an applicant pool will stay continually interested in your company. You can increase the likelihood of candidate engagement by regularly communicating with applicants with text notification blasts and emails containing job alerts and company newsletters.
Leverage Technology
Integrating technological solutions such as an applicant tracking system (ATS) can help the recruitment team track candidate profiles within their specifically segmented talent pools. ATS technology can also track hiring performance metrics like time-to-fill, candidate engagement, and candidate drop-off rates to showcase the success or failure of current hiring procedures.
Nurture Passive Candidates
Passive and active candidates should receive the same high-quality candidate experience. While it’s best to prioritize engagement with active candidates to solve current hiring issues, it’s best to nurture relationships with passive candidates to future-proof upcoming recruitment campaigns.
A study from iCIMS reports that about 58% of candidates denied a job offer because of a sub-par candidate experience. Hence, making all candidates feel valued during the recruitment process and ensuring regular communication with them will enforce candidate engagement. Discussing company culture and informing passive candidates about new jobs to gain access to a broader talent pool when the need arises.
Evaluate and Update Regularly
Challenge the recruitment team to evaluate the current candidate pool to keep it current. Letting applicants sit in the pipeline for too long can cause the overall resource to become outdated. Reach out to candidates who have applied to the company a longer time ago in comparison to the most recent candidates. Send a text asking if they are still interested in working for the company and if they would like to remain in the talent pool for future opportunities, even if no current openings are available. Keep them in the pool if they approve, and remove them from the pipeline if they say no.
