2020 was a difficult year—for both individuals and businesses. HR professionals don’t need us to tell them that; as people who effectively serve both individuals and businesses through their job functions, they know the realities of the pandemic. If you’re at an organization that is reopening roles for the first time in a year, chances are you’re going to want to build out your talent pipeline. Keep reading for tips and tricks to do just that in the post-pandemic world.
The State of Hiring Today
The pandemic affected organizations all over the world, across a variety of industries. Everything from hiring to retention to office location changed and changed quickly. Now that the world is, largely, starting to recover from the pandemic and lift various restrictions, companies are also lifting hiring pauses. There are two main reasons that experts predict a hiring boom as consumers begin to engage more and the economy starts to recover:
- Companies are backfilling roles that were cut or furloughed
- Companies are opening roles that had been paused
So what does this hiring boom mean for your recruitment goals and talent pipeline? While no one would disagree that the pick-up in hiring is a good thing, it does mean that the job marketplace is going to remain a competitive place, on both ends of the spectrum. Job seekers aren’t going to settle for a role that doesn’t fit their expectations, and employers are going to be keeping their eyes peeled for their perfect match. If you anticipate that you’ll soon have a large number of roles to fill—or are already living in that reality—now’s the time to ensure you have strategies in place for building a robust talent pipeline.
Strategies For Building Your Talent Pipeline
Before you start building your talent pipeline, you’ll want to align on your organization’s short-term and long-term hiring goals, so you know what your pipeline is serving first. And while the job marketplace may be competitive, the good news is that there are a lot of different strategies you can employ for building out your talent pipeline. Some of these include:
Expand your sourcing. The world today is not the same as it was a year ago—so why would you use the same talent sourcing methods? Consider avenues you haven’t tried before, such as college job fairs, employee referrals, and even social media. When you expand your sourcing, you can also keep an eye out for passive candidates—or those who are not actively looking for jobs.
Consider previous applicants. For this, you’ll want to use an applicant tracking system (ATS). Similar to how you can’t predict when a passive candidate will become an active one, you never know when a previous candidate may be the perfect fit for a new open role. With an ATS, you can keep previous candidates easily accessible within your talent pipeline.
Make use of modern technology, like programmatic recruiting software. Chances are you’re balancing job ads for a variety of roles—potentially across departments and skill levels. Every job search comes with its fair share of time-consuming to-dos that can quickly add up. By using programmatic recruitment software, like PandoLogic’s AI software, you can not only save time during the job ad placement process, but you can also ensure that your job ads are getting in front of qualified candidates who you want in your talent pipeline. (Learn the difference between an ATS and recruitment software here.)
By aligning on your goals and then choosing your strategies effectively, you’ll be well on your way to building a robust talent pipeline to serve you now and in the future.