Why You Should Keep Your Candidate Pipeline Primed

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Always be recruiting talent. Always.

When you’re constantly recruiting talent, you create a “candidate pipeline,” so you have vetted interested candidates ready to step into a position. You’ve already taken the time to rake through resumes, pick out promising applicants, interview them, check their references, and start developing relationships. Or perhaps you’ve chosen a recruitment agency to help create and continually feed this pipeline.

But the result is you can fill a spot faster, quicker, and (dare we say?) sharper than had you only started recruitment once the position opened.

That’s one of the benefits of filling a pipeline: You save time. The position opens, and the right vetted candidates step forward for a shot at filling it.

So, what are some scenarios in which your well-developed candidate pipeline helps immediately?

  • An anticipated busy season. Some quarters of the year are crazier than others. Say you know the upcoming quarter’s one of the busiest of the year and need to hire fast for a specific amount of time. Pipeline to the rescue!
  • A new facility. You’ve received word that your company is building a new facility or headquarters, and needs it staffed fast and efficiently. Time to bring in candidates from the pipeline.
  • A new upcoming project. The vice president of sales has a brilliant new idea for a project, and he wants a team assembled now. This project requires some outside help. Fortunately, you’ve gotten to know some amazing job candidates who fit the position well and would love to join your company.
  • A director quits. No one saw it coming…but the director of marketing quit, and rumors are flying about who’s going to fill his or her shoes. No worries, you’ve developed solid relationships with marketing directors looking for a change of scene, and you can easily pick a few to be promising candidates for the new position.

When you prime the pump early, you create a far more proactive recruiting process. After all, let’s face it… Sometimes, a position opens up abruptly, and you’re focused on getting this filled immediately. You’re pressed for time, and the company higher-ups want this done yesterday.

However, when you fill your candidate pipeline, you’ve completed some of the harder tasks of recruitment in advance. The new result: You don’t hire out of a sense of urgency, and your hiring decisions are made with a calmer, more confident mindset.

In today’s highly competitive business environment, savvy companies are taking this more proactive approach to hiring. For example, Microsoft has a “talent pipeline” that it nurtures.

Developing a talent pipeline requires a shift from reactive recruiting to proactive recruiting,” states Heather Parrot, a Microsoft executive recruiter. “Your mindset should switch from recruiting to fill an open position to thinking about who your company will want and should hire in the future.”

At Mankuta | Gallagher, we can help you create an outstanding candidate pipeline. We have experience in really talking to people to find the right possible fit for a position and representing our clients’ opportunity with a real voice.

Best of all, you benefit from our experience and boost your own hiring cred, thanks to our authoritative and evidence-based recommendations.

Give us a call and find out how we can fill this position for you, so you can focus on other critical tasks.