Managing Talent Pools

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to manage a talent pool and status set.

Introduction to Talent Pools

Talent Pools are groups of contacts who may be suited to various job opportunities. Note that Recruiting talent pools are not the same as the talent pools used in Succession Management. Staffing groups build Recruiting talent pools across candidates and employees to organize and manage critical talent needs. Recruiters create talent pools for prospective candidates from a career fair or online marketing or other recruiting campaigns. They also add "Silver Medalists" – promising candidates who have not been hired for an open position. Recruiters and Hiring Managers can search these talent pools as a more targeted method of candidate sourcing.

Private, shared, or public talent pools can be created. Configure one or more status sets for the talent pools. It is a leading practice to send candidates an email thanking them for completing a data capture form, and informing them of next steps. To keep candidates "warm," Recruiters send customized communication to groups of candidates in talent pools.

Anyone who has an account (Candidate Profile) can be added to a talent pool or email campaign:

  • Current employees
  • Candidates who completed an application
  • Candidates who completed the Create an Account page Join the Talent Community
  • Candidates who completed a Data Capture Form

Note that the basic functionality for Recruiting Talent Pools is available without enabling Candidate Relationship Management, but customers who do not enable Candidate Relationship Management cannot take advantage of the other features, such as the ability to add candidates who complete a Data Capture Form to a talent pool or the ability to send email campaigns to talent pool members.

Best Run requires a talent pool to manage candidates interested in the Sales Manager-Remote position.

Screenshot shows a list of candidates with their contact info and resume links for the position of Remote Sales Manager.

Talent Pool Status Sets

Before creating the first talent pool, you must create a status set for the pool. Talent pool status sets are a different entity from the candidate status set used in SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting. Talent pool status sets are MDF-based and are created from Admin Center→Manage Data.

Multiple status sets can be created to support different needs. For example, a unique talent pool is often created to capture candidates who attend a hiring event. Some of those candidates can then be added to talent pools for positions that require a specific skill set. The statuses created for those two types of talent pools are often different.

Below is the talent pool status set we’ll create for the Remote Sales Manager use case. Notice that it contains a status to invite candidates to remote leadership training opportunities. We’ll name this talent pool status set Training Status Set.

Screenshot of a talent pool status set

A leading practice is to include statuses indicating that the candidate has been determined to not be a fit for the position or that the candidate is not interested in the position. This is preferred over moving the candidate out of the pool, because another recruiter who is sourcing for the same position may inadvertently move the candidate back into the pool.

Talent Pool Status Set Creation

There are three steps to create a talent pool status set, performed from Admin Center→Manage Data.

  1. Create (name) the Status Set.Screenshot of the Manage Data section with details of a status set named Training Status Set, including details such as ID, name, and description
  2. Create (name) each of the Statuses.A screenshot of a status named No Contact, including details for Status Code and Name.
  3. Map each Status to the Status Set.Screenshot of a Candidate Relationship Management Status Map, showing details of ID 1641, Status Set as Training Status Set, Status of Member as No Contact, and Order number 10

When mapping statuses to status sets, it is best to assign each status a two-digit decade number for the Order field, such as 20, 30, or 40. This makes it easier to later add new statuses between the statuses in the original set.

Create a Status Set for Talent Pools

Business Example

Best Run provides training opportunities for candidates interested in several kinds of positions. In this exercise you will create a status set for talent pools to support this use case.

Steps

  1. Log in to SuccessFactors HCM as the admin.

  2. Navigate to Admin Center→Manage Data.

  3. To create a new status set, from the Create New box, enter Candidate Relationship Management Status Set and select it.

    1. For statusSetId, enter training.

    2. For statusSetName, enter Training Status Set .

    3. For Description, enter Statuses including training.

    4. Click Save.

  4. To view the statuses that have already been created in your training environment, from the Search box, enter Candidate Relationship Management Status and select it from the list.

  5. View the existing statuses from the next dropdown box (which contains No Selection by default).

  6. To create the additional statuses, from the Create New box, enter Candidate Relationship Management Status and select it from the list.

  7. Enter the first value in the list below for the statusCode, and the second value for statusName. Save. Continue until all statuses have been created. You will need to search Create New before each.

    Create the following statuses:

    1. screenedAdd/ Screened-Add to Reqs

    2. training / Send Training Emails

  8. To map the first status to the status set, in the Create New search box, enter Candidate Relationship Management Status Map and select it.

    1. (Status Set Item ID is auto-assigned)

    2. For Status Set, select Training Status Set (training).

    3. For Status of Member, select No Contact (noContact).

    4. For Order, enter 10.

    5. Save.

  9. Continue mapping each status into the status map using the following values.

    1. Screened-Add to Reqs: 20

    2. Send Training Emails: 30

    3. Not a Fit: 40

    4. Not Actively Seeking: 50

Talent Pool Creation

The user who creates the talent pool is the owner, which enables them to make edits later. When creating a talent pool, be sure to log in or proxy as the user who should have these permissions. For our use case that will be the recruiter, but for most organizations a recruiting administrator will create and maintain the pools.

Talent Pools are created from Recruiting→Candidates→Talent Pools. Click Create Talent Pool and enter a name for the pool. Select the status set and which status in the set candidates should be added to by default. (This can be changed at the time the candidates are added.) Select whether the talent pool should be private or public (see the next section) and save the pool.

Screenshot of Candidate Management system with a Talent Pools tab and Create Talent Pool button for managing candidates.
Screenshot showing a form to create a new talent pool, with fields for name and description, dropdowns for pipeline and candidate status, visibility options, and buttons to close or save

Talent Pool Sharing

There are two types of talent pools:

  • Private – Initially visible only to the user who created it. Private talent pools are often shared with other Recruiting users who are sourcing for the same position.
  • Public – Visible to all users who have the Talent Pool permission from Role-Based Permissions.

Only the owner of the pool can edit attributes of the pool or share it with other users. Users who have been shared the talent pool can view the pool and add members (candidates), but cannot edit. If the owner of a talent pool leaves, the pool is assigned to an admin.

Remember that all recruiters may not be able to view all candidates in a talent pool, depending upon the response the candidate provided for Make My Profile Visible to when they created their account. (The three options are Any company recruiter worldwide, Any company recruiter in my country/region of residence, or Only recruiters managing jobs I apply to.)

To share a talent pool, click Shared with X People and add individuals or groups who are working to fill the same position. To discontinue sharing, click on the icon to the right of the person’s name.

To organize the internal recruiting users who should have access to particular talent pools, create a recruiting group from Admin Center→Manage Recruiting Groups.

A screenshot of the Share with People section, which includes an Add More People field and a Remove icon next to a user's name.

Create and Share a Talent Pool

Business Example

You will create the talent pool for Best Run's Remote Sales Manager position, adding the status set you created in the last exercise.

Steps

  1. Proxy as Paula Price.

  2. Navigate to Recruiting→Candidates and select Talent Pools.

  3. Click Create Talent Pool.

  4. For Talent Pool Name, enter Remote Sales Manager.

  5. For Description, enter Add candidates to open requisitions and invite them to training opportunities.

  6. For Pipeline Status Structure, select Training Status Set.

  7. For Default Candidate Status, select No Contact.

  8. For Privacy, select Private.

  9. Save.

  10. To share this talent pool with Paula’s manager, click Shared with 0 People.

  11. In the Add More People box, enter Grace and select Grace Griffin.

  12. Click +Add.

  13. Close.

  14. Save.

  15. Close.

Talent Pool Usage

Each member of the talent pool can select which columns to view; sort the columns; filter for more search options; edit, share, or delete (archive) the talent pool; and add all pool members to an email campaign. See the screen capture below for details.

The image shows a user interface for managing talent pools in a candidate management system. It features options to sort columns, manage columns via a gear icon, search talent pool names, filter results, and perform actions like editing, sharing, or archiving.

Talent Pools Search with Filters

Organizations may create hundreds of talent pools. To find the pool they need to work in, users can filter the list by attribute. Select Show Filter Bar and select the values you are interested in. Only talent pools that match those values will be displayed in the resulting list. For performance reasons, limit selection to 5 filters at most and less than 20 values in each filter.

Screenshot showing the following filter options: Last Modified, Owner, Visibility , with dropdown menus for each filter option, and a Hide Filter Bar button

Summary

  • Talent Pools in Recruiting help staffing teams organize and nurture prospects (including "silver medalists") for targeted sourcing; pools can be private/shared/public, and CRM adds capabilities like adding Data Capture Form candidates and running email campaigns.
  • Before creating a talent pool, create an MDF-based Talent Pool Status Set in Admin Center → Manage Data: create the status set, create individual statuses, then map statuses to the set (use decade-style order numbers like 10/20/30 to simplify future inserts).
  • Create and manage pools from Recruiting → Candidates → Talent Pools: the creator becomes the owner (only the owner can edit/share), choose the status set and default status, set privacy, share with users/groups as needed, and use filters to find pools efficiently.
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