Posted on: 10/04/2025

Thought Leadership

Building talent communities creates a ready pool of engaged candidates, reducing recruitment time and cost. By nurturing interest and re-engaging strong applicants, organisations can future-proof hiring. WME supports this through WMJobs and Tribepad tools.

By Katrina Whitby Senior Consultant at West Midlands Employers

We all encounter roles that are challenging to fill – roles that impact budgets, timelines, and the overall experience of our teams. As the future of work evolves, so too must our resourcing strategies. To stay ahead of market disruptions and evolving workforce trends, we must build proactive, not reactive, talent strategies that ensure pipeline resilience.

While organisations are at different stages of maturity in workforce planning, there is one powerful strategy we can all adopt: building talent communities. Think of it as creating a pool of pre-screened, qualified individuals who are actively interested in opportunities at your organisation. When a role opens up, you can tap into this pool and invite candidates to apply, reducing the time and cost of traditional hiring processes. This doesn't replace your existing methods, but rather complements them, helping to extend your reach and improve efficiency.

Many organisations are working hard to strengthen their employee value proposition (EVP) to attract talent from both inside and outside the sector. However, it maybe there are no suitable roles during a recruitment campaign. So, how do you keep the interest of top candidates who are excited to work with you? This is where talent communities shine.

We can also consider the “silver medalists” – candidates who applied, invested time in your recruitment process, but were not selected for the role. They may still be a perfect fit for a future opportunity. How are you nurturing and re-engaging these strong candidates? Here are some key takeaways for organisations considering the benefits of talent pooling:

What is Talent Pooling?

At first glance, talent pooling might seem like a simple way to gather a list of interested candidates for future opportunities – like a human-powered job alert service. But building a talent community requires more strategy and intentionality. It’s about creating connections, sharing information, and building real interest in your organisation.

Key Steps for Building a Talent Community

1. Pre-Planning:

Define Your Objective: What do you want to achieve? For example, creating a pipeline of candidates for two hard-to-fill roles could be a clear starting point.

Registration Process: Consider what questions will help you understand a candidate’s fit. For instance, qualifications, skills, and preferred role types can help segment candidates appropriately.

Set Expectations: Be transparent about what candidates are signing up for – this is not an application for a specific role, but an opportunity to express interest and stay informed about future openings.

Engage Internal Stakeholders: If you're targeting specific areas like IT roles, work with relevant departments (e.g., IT directors, communications teams) to develop your strategy. Can they create a video introduction to the team? Share testimonials from current employees? Provide insights into key projects or challenges?

Plan Your Outreach: Involve key stakeholders in developing the follow-up strategy. Will you invite your talent pool to career fairs, virtual sessions, or share industry news?

2. Attracting Talent:

Expression of Interest: Promote the talent pool across different channels (e.g., website, social media, job boards). Engage “Silver Medalists”: These are candidates who were strong contenders but weren’t selected for the job. They’ve already shown interest and invested time – now’s the time to reconnect.

Referral Programs: Leverage your existing network by asking employees or former colleagues to refer candidates to the talent pool. Job fairs: Consider how you are capturing interest you receive through job fairs or local outreach events.

3. Assessing Candidates:

Screening Process: How will you assess whether a candidate is right for your organisation? Consider using assessment tools or interviews that allow you to get a deeper understanding of their skills and potential.

4. Nurturing Your Talent Community:

Engagement is Key: Continuously engage with your community to maintain interest and excitement. Depending on your budget, you may want to assign a candidate engagement specialist to manage ongoing interactions.

Regular Communication: This could include monthly newsletters, virtual workshops, or sharing updates about upcoming roles. Skill Development: Offer resources like CV writing tips or professional development opportunities, which not only engage but also help candidates build skills.

Team Spotlights: Share case studies or testimonials from current employees. Give your community an insider’s view of what working at your organisation looks like.

University Partnerships: Develop relationships with local universities and apprenticeship programs to cultivate a future talent pipeline.

5. Evaluate and Measure:

Track Your Success: Measure the effectiveness of your talent community by monitoring engagement levels, candidate withdrawals, hires, and overall attendance at virtual or in-person events. Use this data to refine your strategy and improve outcomes.

The Benefits of Talent Communities

By building and nurturing talent communities, you create a pipeline of qualified candidates for future roles. This proactive approach can lead to reduced hiring costs, faster recruitment times, and stronger engagement with potential candidates. With careful planning and consistent effort, your talent community will become an invaluable asset to your organisation.

Final Thoughts

Creating a talent community isn’t a one-time effort – it’s an ongoing strategy that requires investment and attention. However, the payoff is well worth it. A well-managed talent community can significantly enhance your recruitment efforts, help you tap into diverse talent pools, and ultimately ensure that you have access to the right people when you need them most. For organisations subscribing to the WMJobs service then don’t forget about the CV database available for you to access candidates who have expressed interest in working in the sector. For organisations subscribing to the WMTalent Acquisition service then this topic is part of our joint roadmap where we’ll be keen to work alongside our network to develop this strategy via the Tribepad system. If you’d like to trial or discuss this type of approach then reach out to the WME team and our resourcing specialists will be happy to strategise together