Tips for Building and Managing Talent Pipelines

Tips for Building and Managing Talent Pipelines

Having a “ready to go” pipeline of qualified and interested candidates for a new req that gets put on your desk is a great feeling to have.  However, building and keeping those pipelines up to date is no easy task.

In today’s round-table we’ll talk about how to build out your pipelines and ways to keep them up to date.

Listen in on what our panelists have to say.

This event is part of the “Let’s Talk Recruiting” series where a panel of recruiting practitioners get together online and have a conversation on a variety of topics related to corporate recruiting.


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Our Panelists…

Name & LinkedIn Profile Group Title Company

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We asked our attendees, “If you currently use pipelining as part of your recruiting strategy, what is one tip you have for others to achieve this?”

Here are their answers:


Chat Messages from the Session…

10:09:28 >> From  Marie deGroh : Talent Network

10:10:07 >> From  Amanda Mendez : Here is a blog post I wrote for recruiting marketing tips and how to get started: https://engineering.tapad.com/recruiting-marketing-employer-branding-tips-9f77707f66ed

10:10:13 >> From  Daniella McDonald : At my prior company we used iCIMS and when candidates applied they could sign up to get emails about other positions that open of interest. Or if there were no jobs open they could just get into the talent pool and get notifications of new jobs that open.

10:10:52 >> From  Erin Doucet   to   All panelists : my experience has been the same as Daniella

10:11:31 >> From  Lynda Whittemore   to   All panelists : Hi Daniella. We use ICIMS talent community as well. They can get job alerts, and we also do email campaigns. We also go in and identify candidates to nurture more closely.

10:13:34 >> From  Erin Doucet   to   All panelists : I have

10:14:03 >> From  Marie deGroh : We used Smashfly for our pipeline CRM

10:14:58 >> From  Catherine Hansen : @Ciara, that’s amazing re hiring manager Recruiter seats!  Do they use these?

10:15:16 >> From  Lucy Dettl : Indeed just rolled out a Project feature as well.

10:15:53 >> From  Chiara Hughes   to   All panelists : Yes!  Our hiring managers use LinkedIn Recruiter a lot!  

10:16:05 >> From  David Marr   to   All panelists : Indeed acquired Zapinfo and it allows you to work with their Zapboard and be able to create projects/ lists that allow you to group your candidates and upload them into your ATS

10:16:55 >> From  David Marr   to   All panelists : At the tech companies I’ve worked for, Recruiting would send messages on behalf of the Hiring Manager

10:17:35 >> From  David Marr   to   All panelists : If you are just using LI, you are missing out on a large % of Tech talent as they don’t utilize Linkedin

10:18:54 >> From  Catherine Hansen : @Ciara, great way to manage your hiring managers and get them involved.  Curious if the hiring teams are mandated by leadership to be so involved in hiring?

10:23:01 >> From  Lloyd Fassett   to   All panelists : What kinds of numbers are we talking about? How many open reqs? How many fills per month? How many candidates in your pipeline that you market to?

10:26:38 >> From  Chiara Hughes   to   All panelists : @lloyd fassett, was that question directed at me?

10:26:40 >> From  David Marr : Indeed acquired Zapinfo and it allows you to work with their Zapboard and be able to create projects/ lists that allow you to group your candidates and upload them into your ATS
At the tech companies I’ve worked for, Recruiting would send messages on behalf of the Hiring Manager
If you are just using LI, you are missing out on a large % of Tech talent as they don’t utilize Linkedin

10:27:34 >> From  Tracey Anderson   to   All panelists : Me either Michelle..

10:28:27 >> From  Tracey Anderson   to   All panelists : Does any use NextDoor?

10:28:38 >> From  Chiara Hughes   to   Catherine Hansen and all panelists : @catherine Hansen, yes – leadership mandates that all hiring managers are involved in recruiting for their teams.

10:28:55 >> From  Erica Cuthbertson : Any tips for connecting with niche talent that isn’t on LinkedIn?

10:29:15 >> From  Erica Cuthbertson : Also, what tools do you use outside of your ATS to track talent for follow-up

10:29:48 >> From  Tamara Garlett : I would love to have the template also, please!

10:29:54 >> From  Tamara Garlett : AMAZING! [email protected]

10:29:55 >> From  Monique Carroll   to   All panelists : @Ciara can you post on the deck?

10:30:07 >> From  Chiara Hughes : @lloyd fassett, was that question directed at me?

10:30:10 >> From  Erin Doucet   to   All panelists : please send template to me too!

10:30:12 >> From  Tamara Garlett : Great discussion panel!

10:30:14 >> From  Melissia Bruehl : Chiara, I would love to receive that too!  ([email protected])

10:30:21 >> From  Erin Doucet   to   All panelists : I think we all would love those training wheels

10:30:22 >> From  Natalya McCool   to   All panelists : I would love the template too! Is that possible?

10:31:02 >> From  Sonji Johnson : Please share template!  Awesome information.  [email protected]

10:31:04 >> From  Sammyra Scribner   to   All panelists : same goes for me! [email protected]

10:31:07 >> From  Sammyra Scribner   to   All panelists : Thank you!

10:31:16 >> From  Erin Doucet   to   All panelists : [email protected] for the template please

10:31:17 >> From  Monique Carroll   to   All panelists : @Chiara [email protected]

10:31:18 >> From  Catherine Hansen : @Chiara, me too!  ([email protected])

10:31:24 >> From  Barbara Fasth : Chiara I would also love that template – [email protected] Thanks in advance, Barb

10:31:28 >> From  Dang Hua   to   All panelists : Hey Chiara, I would love to receive the [email protected]

10:31:40 >> From  Catherine Hansen : Template requests blowing up!  Awesome Chiara.

10:31:42 >> From  Lloyd Fassett : @ciara I thought of it for you, but it works for anyone on the panel.

10:31:53 >> From  Chiara Hughes : You guys are so cool to be so interested!  I can’t keep up with the template requests!  Just shoot me an email at [email protected].

10:35:47 >> From  Lynda Whittemore   to   All panelists : @RoomandBoard, we identify markets/roles, actual post a “future” job openings (not a greenfield job posting, just transparent it’s an open role), go through our standard selection process, extend an offer (formal letter and pre-employment) and stay in touch every 3 weeks until the role opens.  We’ll hire them up to 6 months before the anticipated role officially opens. We filled 25% of our roles last year using that strategy.  [email protected]

10:38:11 >> From  Chiara Hughes : We have tons of job openings.  Mostly hundreds for our inspection centers and, right now, for our Customer Care positions.  Each recruiter has KPI’s at 10 hires per week.

10:39:08 >> From  Erin Doucet   to   All panelists : a tickler file

10:41:09 >> From  Erin Doucet   to   All panelists : This is amazing info. Another great webinar, Sean. I have to run but hope to get to the recording as soon as you release it.

10:41:38 >> From  Chiara Hughes : @lynda whittemore, what is your falloff percentage before the candidate actually starts work?  How do you keep the candidates warm?  For what type of roles?

10:43:29 >> From  Catherine Hansen : @Glenn, what tool/s do you use to manage/store these Hotlist candidates?  I used to keep a spreadsheet of these but getting hard to manage

10:44:45 >> From  David Marr : @glenn Instant Datascraper chrome extension will do that

10:44:59 >> From  Amanda Mendez : I forgot to mention I add reminders AND tag the people I talk to with unique tags. For example, for engineering, I will add “2020 SWE Level 3”.  The key is to be very specific. I use Greenhouse.

10:45:43 >> From  David Marr : @Erica Follow-up messaging technology that works great to look at are as follows: GEM, Loxo, and Interstellar (my personal favorite)

10:46:46 >> From  David Marr : Tags are also very important to track all sorts of short hand.  I’d recommend making a list of all the tags you use and track based upon your industry, niche etc

10:47:48 >> From  Lynda Whittemore   to   All panelists : @Chiara – very little fall out. We have a “communication plan” that is built out with a touch point every 3 weeks by the hiring manager or recruiter.  We pipeline for our core hiring roles – Design Associates in our showrooms and Delivery Associates, Warehouse Associates. Not technology roles or highly specialized roles (at least not at this point).

10:48:00 >> From  Lloyd Fassett : @Sean, thanks for the answer to say more Quality…makes sense, but then how to measure quality?

10:49:14 >> From  Marie deGroh : Are your teams only pipelining candidates you have spoken to? If not, how do you truly know the quality.

10:49:41 >> From  Tracey Anderson   to   All panelists : Preach Chiara

10:49:54 >> From  Chiara Hughes : Haha!  Thanks!

10:50:10 >> From  Marie deGroh : @chiara – exactly. Not everyone in your pipeline gets a high-touch

10:50:53 >> From  David Marr : @Glenn. I agree 100%.  You need to have your active short list of A players that you go to and keep a relationship with.  I’ve placed some people 6+ times at this point.  Great strategy

10:51:26 >> From  Catherine Hansen : Quality – so true that this is dependent on well-developed “recruiter gut” and how well you are calibrated with your company’s hiring requirements!

10:52:36 >> From  David Marr : Average tenure for Tech employees now is 18 Months

10:53:06 >> From  David Marr : Your word is your bond.  Plant your seeds today for your harvest tomorrow 😉

10:53:11 >> From  Catherine Hansen : @David – is that for engineers specifically?

10:53:15 >> From  David Marr : You have to earn your seat at the table

10:53:28 >> From  David Marr : This is for IT Talent

10:53:38 >> From  David Marr : Not just engineers (SWE)

10:53:49 >> From  Chiara Hughes : @david marr, WORD.

10:54:21 >> From  Sonji Johnson : At WarnerMedia, we track prospects in our Talent Network.  After screen/conversation, we move our “top” prospects to our Talent Community.  We build/nurture relationship with prospects in our Talent Community.

10:55:44 >> From  Marie deGroh : I think if you follow them it shows up in notifications

10:56:04 >> From  David Marr : Tools like Seekout and Hiretual keep track of this

10:56:14 >> From  Marie deGroh : Thank you all!!

10:57:55 >> From  Chiara Hughes : This is my SOAP BOX!!

10:57:57 >> From  Fernando Terrero : Job Changer Notifier:  simply sends an email notification when a contact changes their job. I believe it was discontinued but worth a look. https://mashable.com/2011/07/12/linkedin-job-notifier-app/

10:58:02 >> From  Tracey Anderson   to   All panelists : Great discussion. Thank you

10:58:04 >> From  Lucy Dettl : Thank you all!  Very informative!

10:58:05 >> From  Michelle Randall-Berry : THANK YOU ALL!!!

10:58:06 >> From  Sonji Johnson : Awesome session!  Thank you all!

10:58:10 >> From  Sammyra Scribner   to   All panelists : TY!


Some of the attendees…

Name & LinkedIn Profile Group Title Company

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