With a shortage of qualified candidates, savvy recruiters are digging in for the long haul. A combination of getting to know candidates, building trust, and nurturing longer-term relationships is now the way to go.
Here’s why the long game is vital for your talent pipeline and the key things you must do to nurture candidates with the most potential.
What is the Long Game in Recruitment?
The long game means two things. They are firstly, predicting roles and skills requirements. Secondly, nurturing potential candidates, so they are primed and ready for opportunities as they arise.
The Importance of Engagement
One-time interactions in recruitment are dead. Candidates who don’t think you are interested in them will go elsewhere.
Sustained candidate engagement is now fundamental for your talent pipeline. It takes time to build meaningful relationships with candidates. Through engagement, you can also understand candidates’ skills gaps and prime them for difficult-to-fill roles.
3 Ways to Identify High-potential Candidates
A lot goes into identifying and nurturing high-potential candidates. To cultivate a network of high-calibre professionals, you’ll need to:
- Diversify your sourcing
You may have all the usual bases covered regarding social media platforms and job boards, but niche platforms could unearth potential talent from under-represented backgrounds. Expand your sourcing databases and tools for a more diverse reach.
- Mine your data
A great hire could already be in your database! Clean up your data and run regular searches.
- Build a runners-up pool
Prevent nearly-made-it candidates from becoming your competitor’s next star hire. Build a runners-up pool, and stay in touch with these candidates to consider them for future roles.
How to Engage with Passive Candidates
The best way to dig out passive candidates is by being proactive on social media and building a presence. Share industry insights and case studies, participate in conversations, use and follow relevant hashtags, and create great content.
Learn more about how to keep your talent pipeline organically healthy here.
