Pipelining is a popular trend in today’s recruiting market. Many large organizations have positions to fill on a regular basis, so a pool – rather pipeline – of candidates readily available makes the hiring time a lot shorter and less costly for the organization. Passive pipelining, on the other hand, takes the approach of building a candidate base without staunch recruiting efforts. This isn’t to say that a company who practices passive pipelining has an inactive recruiting department, quite the contrary. The passive pipeline builds a name for the employer brand first, and lets candidates come to the company instead of actively attracting the talent pool.

Currently, 54% of employers have open positions for which they can’t find qualified candidates. Building a talent pipeline of qualified and competitive talent would greatly reduce, if not rectify, this problem. Recruiting leadership first needs to understand where their best sources come from and what tactics they use to acquire these highly desirable candidates. Once they have a pipeline of candidates, they can begin to hire for those difficult-to-fill positions.

Explain the Passive Pipeline to me…

Look at companies who have already implemented a passive pipeline: Lockheed Martin, for example. Renowned for their advanced technology development, candidates face substantial competition against each other. Assessing where the best candidates come from is the foundation for a successful pipelines. Then build upon the employer brand you’ve already created to solidify the recruitment process. Recruitment becomes much easier with robust employer branding; with a platform that can ascertain the quality of candidates and the efficiency of the recruitment department, it becomes an extremely efficient process as well. Dean Da Costa (@Deandacosta), Lockheed Martin Strategic Talent Sourcing Consultant, said:

“It’s about branding. It’s about marketing. It’s about becoming a trusted advisor, both with prospects and your internal clients. If you’re pipelining effectively, you’re keeping your company relevant in the eyes of prospects because they see that you’re always interested in their skill set; your company’s name (and your name) are always out there.”

The biggest problem with a passive pipeline is that many companies simply don’t have the tools or resources they need to build an effective one. This is where Broadbean’s Big Data Analytics Suite (BDAS) makes a difference. It assesses all aspects of your recruitment department, integrating with the tools you already use, to give you the numbers you need in order to make the appropriate changes. But, because big data is only recently reaching HR and recruitment departments, it’s difficult for organizations to plan ahead for talent needs because of a lack of relevant information.

As a result, companies tend to shift more focus to developing an active pipeline, because they only have the tools to develop an active pipeline. They often focus on hiring staff just-in-time (which is about 40% of the independent workforce) or after someone has already left the organization. With a passive pipeline however, candidates will come to your doors.

How Do I Maintain the Pipeline?

Building an effective talent pipeline can be challenging because it relies on recruitment and company marketing. Once it is established, however, the maintenance isn’t as involved. Some tips to maintain that delicate passive pipeline include:

• Add value to company network – Because implementing a passive pipeline is a project that necessitates work from various departments such as leadership, it’s important that company leadership helps to grow the network. For example, try developing strategic partnerships with other organizational leadership.
• Determine current gaps – Where are current gaps in the organization? What about future gaps? These are questions that must be asked in order to effectively maintain a pipeline. Staying prepared and ahead of the recruiting cycles is essential.
• Uphold potential candidate relationships – Recruiters responsible for the talent pipeline can maintain the relationship with candidates who come to the organization searching for the coveted internship or entry-level position. This supports the employer brand already in place.

The strength of the talent pipeline relies heavily on the quality of the candidates you attract and the recruitment practices and platforms you use to target them. BDAS gives organizations the foundation they need to create an effective talent pipeline. Your difficult-to-fill positions will close sooner because you have an effective recruitment process and the right pool of qualified candidates to choose from.  By consistently evaluating the quality of the company network in congruence with current and anticipated gaps, you can easily maintain this talent pipeline.