Developing External Candidate Pools

Last time we discussed the importance of developing a talent pool. This week, we’re going to discuss developing external candidate pools—strong candidate networks that go beyond the recruiter in the office.

External candidate pools are used to attract both passive and active candidates and are designed to help HR managers stay one step ahead of the game—a step that allows them to always have a top talent candidate in mind.

Developing external candidate pools, however, is not something HR managers can build and forget about. External candidate pools must be built, cultivated, and maintained. When developing a game plan that utilizes external candidate pools, keep these ideas in mind:

Reach Candidates Where They Search

Major job boards (like Monster.com, Hotjobs.com, CareerBuilder.com, and industry or niche specific job boards) are often the first place semi-passive and active candidates go when searching for job leads so it’s important to incorporate job boards into your overall strategy for locating top talent candidates.

Active candidates are looking for change. They may want growth opportunities, more money, more incentives, better benefits, or more challenging careers. They want something different so they have no problem actively searching for top positions, posting resumes to job boards, or submitting resumes to qualified, potential employers.

Semi-passive candidates, however, aren’t necessarily looking for a new career, but are open to discussing the possibilities—especially if the right opportunity came along. They often avoid posting their resumes to job boards, but will submit their resumes to companies who’ve written compelling job descriptions that peak their interests.

Passive candidates will also visit the job boards from time-to-time. If they've had a bad day at the office and want to explore other possibilities or if they have been contacted about another opportunity and are considering responding - they will comparison shop. When they do it's good to have a very compelling well written job description that prompts them to find out more.

Active , semi-passive , and passive candidates all have the potential to fulfill the company’s needs. That’s why it’s vital to post job listings that generate buzz about the company by clearly reflecting the needs of the company and listing the incentives associated with the position. After all, job boards are only a good investment of your time and resources if you effectively target the right candidates.

Develop A Career Center For Your Company’s Website

Optimizing your company’s career center can not only weed out poor candidates, but can attract the right candidates. When optimizing your company’s career center the idea is to attract the right candidate right off the bat; therefore, your career center should include elements like:

a: Enticing, exciting, and invigorating job descriptions that are searchable by the search engines,
b: Non-monetary employee benefits—for top talent candidates, it isn’t just about the money, it’s about the benefits,
c: Employee testimonies—nothing tells a future candidate what it’s like to work for a company than the employees themselves,
d: Skills tests that challenge top talent candidates—let them know you are serious about hiring the best person for the job, and
e: State of the art welcome messages, complete with a video introduction from the president of the company, himself.

Come back in a few days and we’ll complete our discussion on developing external candidate pools by discussing how you can establish strong strategic relationships through leveraging.