How to optimize your recruitment pipeline

Finding the best talent for an open position at your company can be a challenging task. The COVID-19 pandemic has put extra pressure on some sectors like the tech industry and made the process even more of a slog.

With the IT talent shortage that has become even more of an issue in light of recent events, finding the right candidates for your open position can be a struggle. For many businesses, the key to a successful hiring strategy is developing and implementing a robust recruitment pipeline process.

What is a Recruitment Pipeline?

In a nutshell, a recruitment pipeline refers to a system of hiring which funnels candidates through a step-by-step process that hopefully leads to a hire. It sounds simple, but creating a hiring pipeline that filters out the best candidates and has a solid hire rate can be tricky.

What the recruitment pipeline does for you and your business is accelerate the hiring process while also providing you with key insights you can leverage to streamline the system. It can be seen as an organized approach to recruitment. You establish the important criteria from the beginning and filter all potential candidates through it to speed up the process.

The recruitment pipeline will vary according to the type of open position and other factors, but usually, it should cover the following key stages of the hiring process:

Screening

The screening process can be time-consuming, so to create an efficient recruitment timeline, it’s worth finding ways to make it less so. For example, this could mean ruling out candidates based on strict criteria you’ve established such as particular qualifications.

Interview

The interview process is crucial as it’s your opportunity to put the candidates in the spotlight and cross-examine them. To make it more streamlined, you can draw up a list of go-to questions that solicit the kind of answers you’re looking for to fill the vacancy.

Evaluation

Finally, the evaluation process is all about sifting through shortlisted candidates to find the perfect fit for your vacancy. To speed it up, you could come up with a procedure for determining which candidate is a better fit, based on certain criteria such as experience or qualifications.

Why do you Need One?

You need a recruitment pipeline because the chances are if you haven’t assessed your recruitment strategy in a while, and you’re struggling to fill new roles, then it could be optimized.

Specifically, a hiring pipeline could help you with the following:

Faster Hiring

One of the biggest problems recruiters face is keeping up with the demands of the hiring company. Filling open positions is a key process to stay on top of business operations, yet finding the talent quickly isn’t easy.

However, with a solid recruitment pipeline, you can accelerate the process keeping those at the top of the company satisfied. 

Talent Pool Development

Often, the worst-case scenario with the hiring process is that the competition is fierce to fill the position. This is all-too-common in the tech talent crisis we’re experiencing, and it seems like employees at the large tech firms have all the power in their hands.

In this case, what you need to do is establish a recruitment pipeline that acts as a net, catching potential talent each time it's cast out. That way, you can grow a talent pool that you can dip into in the future should a job become vacant that fits one of the candidates.

How can you Optimize your Recruitment Pipeline?

Fortunately, while the talent might be hard to come by, there are ways to accelerate your recruitment pipeline so when the right candidate does come along you can snap them up quickly.

Diversify your Talent Sourcing

When it comes to recruitment, one thing’s for sure: the more sources you draw your talent from, the more fruitful the process is likely to be.

If you rely on just a single talent source, such as a networking platform like LinkedIn, then the talent might dry up quickly. That’s why diversification is key.

Some of the best ways to source candidates include in-house events if you have the resources, referrals, and even tapping into an existing talent pool that you’ve created. As mentioned earlier, developing a talent pool you can dip into again and again is a beneficial byproduct of developing a solid recruitment pipeline.

Don’t Exclude Existing Employees

A common mistake when establishing a recruitment pipeline is omitting existing employees from the process. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t look both internally and externally for talent.

Granted, existing employees might not have the requisite skills for the vacancy, but if you’re struggling to make a hire there’s always upskilling.

What is upskilling?

Upskilling refers to the process of retraining talent within the company in order to boost their skillset and perhaps even prepare them for a different role. This process does require company resources and a willingness on the part of the employee, though, so it should be seen as more of a last resort.

Broaden your Recruitment Horizons

The recruitment pipeline should be about finding the right candidate for the position, and as such, out-of-the-box thinking is sometimes needed to aid the search.

Here are some alternate recruitment strategies that could help you secure the right talent for the job:

Outsourcing

Sometimes the talent pool in your local area has dried up, but that doesn’t mean you have to give up the search. Nearshore delegating is all about outsourcing work to a team or agency in a nearby country. The benefits of this are that you can work in a similar time zone with minimal cultural differences and perhaps even save money in the process.

Hire a Contractor

Did you know that freelancers make up around 35% of the global workforce?

This figure is staggering, and with the disruption and digital transformation caused by the pandemic, you’d have to assume this figure is set to grow.

The global freelance market is an excellent resource for any recruitment pipeline as it can speed up the hiring process and open up a significant talent pool to you.

It’s imperative to take initiative now that the tech talent crisis seems worse than ever, and the first step you should take is to review your recruitment pipeline process. Once you’ve optimized the way you hire, the company should be able to create a talent pool and fill open positions much more efficiently. This should stand you in good stead, even in the competitive market of today.