Creating a Talent Pool

Objectives

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

Create a talent pool status set.
Create a talent pool.
Share a talent pool with other users.
Add and manage candidates in a talent pool.
Add attributes to a talent pool so that users can filter the list of talent pools.

Talent Pools

A talent pool is a group of contacts who may be suited to a particular type of job opportunity. Anyone who has an account (candidate profile) can be added to a talent pool (or email campaign). Some examples are as follows:

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

Candidates can be added to more than one talent pool.

The basic functionality for talent pools is available without Candidate Relationship Management, but customers who do not enable Candidate Relationship Management cannot take advantage of the advanced features, such as the ability to send email campaigns to talent pool members.

Note that SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting talent pools are not the same as the talent pools used in SAP SuccessFactors Succession Management.

Talent pools can be used as follows:

Customers use talent pools to organize their talent.
Recruiters, sourcers, and hiring managers search talent pools as a targeted method of candidate sourcing.
Recruiters forward qualified members of a talent pool to new job requisitions.

Email campaigns are sent to talent pool members for a variety of purposes, primarily to keep candidates engaged with the company.
Recruiters create talent pools for prospective candidates from a career fair or online marketing or other recruiting campaigns.
Recruiters add "silver medalists" (candidates who advanced in the selection process but ultimately were not hired for that position) to the appropriate talent pools.

Add “Silver Medalists” to appropriate Talent Pools. The example shows two screened and one warm candidate.

Talent Pool Status Sets

Before creating a talent pool, you must create a status set for the pool.

Staffing organizations can create multiple status sets to support different types of talent pools. For example, statuses for an event talent pool will likely differ from statuses for a skill-based talent pool.

Talent pool status sets are created from Admin Center → Manage Data.

Create Talent pool status sets. The following are highlighted sets: No Contact, Contacted, Screened, Warm, and Not Actively Seeking.

Note the following:

Talent pool status sets are a different entity from the candidate status set.
When mapping statuses to status sets, it is best to assign each status a two-digit decade number,such as 20, 30, or 40. This makes it easier to later add new statuses between the statuses in the original set.
Once candidates have been added to a talent pool, you cannot change the status set of the talent pool, including deleting any status.

Create a Talent Pool Status

To create a talent pool status set, complete the following steps:

Steps

Create a Status Set from Admin Center → Manage Data.
Create Statuses.
Map statuses to the Status Set.

Create a Status Set for Talent Pools

This video demonstrates how to create a status set for talent pools.

Business Example

The initial setup for talent pools involves creating statuses for the candidates within the pool, and grouping those statuses into a status set.

Steps

Navigate to Admin Center → Manage Data.
To see if there are any existing statuses or status sets, from the Search box, search for Candidate Relationship Management Status. (In a new instance, there will not be any.)
To create a new status set, from the Create New box, enter Candidate Relationship Management Status Set and select it.
- For statusSetId, enter default.
- For statusSetName, enter Default Status Set.
- For description, enter Basic Status Set.
- Save.
To create the statuses, from the Create New box, enter Candidate Relationship Management Status and select it from the list.
Enter the first value in the list for the statusCode, and the second value for statusName. Save. Continue until all statuses have been created. (You need to search Create New before each.)
- noContact / No Contact
- screened / Screened
- warm / Warm
- notFit / Not a fit
- notActive / Not Actively Seeking
To map the first status to the status set, in the Create New search box, enter Candidate Relationship Management Status Map and select it.
- (statusSetItemId, is auto-assigned)
- For statusSet, select Default Status Set (default).
- For status, select No Contact (noContact).
- For order, enter 10.
- Save.
Continue mapping each status in the order shown in the previous step, assigning a two-digit "decade number" to each. In other words, for Screened use 20 for the order, for Screened use 30, and so on, in case additional statuses are added later.

Create a Talent Pool

The user who creates the talent pool is the "owner," which enables them to make edits later. Be sure to log in or proxy as the user who should have these permissions, usually an admin.

To create a talent pool, follow these steps:

Steps

From Recruiting → Candidates → Talent Pools, click Create Talent Pool.
Enter the Talent Pool Name and a Description, if desired.
Select the Status Set (Pipeline Status Structure) and the Default status that candidates will be added to. The status can be overridden as candidates are added.
Select whether the talent pool should be Private or Public. (See the Shared Talent Pools section for details.)
Save.

Result

You have created a talent pool.

Shared Talent Pools

Talent pools can be one of the following:

Private: Visible only to the user who created it.
Public: Visible to all users who have the talent pool role-based permission.

Talent pools are often set as Private and Shared.

To share a talent pool, proceed as follows:

Edit the pool.
Select the Shared with option.
Search for the person’s name or Recruiting group and select +Add.

Some considerations include the following:

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.
Note that all recruiters may not be able to view all candidates in a pool, depending upon the response the candidate provided regarding data privacy.
If the owner of a talent pool leaves, the pool is assigned to an admin.
To stop sharing the pool with a person, use the icon to the right of the name.

Tips for Shared Talent Pools

If multiple people are working on filling specific positions, they should share talent pools, rather than maintain multiple talent pools that contain the same candidates.

To organize the internal recruiting users who should have access to particular talent pools, create a recruiting group from Admin Center → Manage Recruiting Groups. For example, create groups of recruiters by location, and associate those groups to talent pools in the corresponding locations.

Example of a Recruiting Group.

The leading practice for shared talent pools is not to remove members who are deemed not suited for the work, or who indicate that they are not interested in that type of position. Instead, create statuses such as "Not a Fit" and "Not Actively Seeking" and move the candidates there.

Otherwise, another recruiter may inadvertently move a candidate back into a pool from which they were removed. It is annoying for candidates to continue to receive email campaigns or be added to requisitions for a job that they already said they are not interested in.

Do Not Remove Members from Shared Talent Pools. In the example, the following pools are highlighted: Not a fit and Not actively seeking.

Create and Share a Talent Pool

Watch this video to see a demonstration of how to create and share a talent pool.

Business Example

Create a talent pool for Web Developer positions in New York, Chicago, or Denver, with the possibility of working remotely. Typically, talent pools are created by administrators, but at Best Run, they are created by recruiters.

Steps

Proxy as a recruiter, such as Paula Price.
Navigate to Recruiting → Candidates and select Talent Pools.
Select Create Talent Pool.
For Talent Pool Name, enter Web Developers.
For Description, enter City=New York, Chicago, or Denver preferred. Remote locations considered.
For Pipeline Status Structure, select Default Status Set.
For Default Candidate Status, select No Contact.
For Privacy, select Private.
Save.
To share this talent pool with Paula’s manager, choose Shared with 0 People.
In the Add More People box, enter Grace and select Grace Griffin.
Choose +Add.
Choose Close.
To share this talent pool with the Recruiting group that has been defined, Choose Shared with 0 Groups.
In the Find Groups to Share Talent Pool With box, enter Recruiters and select Recruiters.
Choose +Add.
Choose Close.
Save.
ChooseClose.
Choose Web Developers to view the status set for this talent pool.

Addition of Candidates to a Talent Pool

You can add candidates to a talent pool by using a variety of methods.

Addition from the Candidate Workbench

Candidates can be added to a talent pool from the Candidate Workbench page.

While viewing a candidate’s information, choose Take Action → Add to Talent Pool.
You can also multi-select candidates and choose Action → Add to Talent Pool.
You can add candidates to a talent pool from the Inline Resume Viewer.

Addition from a Candidate Search

From Candidate Search → Keyword and Item Search, there is an option to add selected candidates to talent pools and email campaigns.

Also note the ability to:

Save Search
Search on Talent Pools
Search on candidate Profile Extension fields

Add Candidates to a Talent Pool from the Candidate Search.

Addition of All Candidates who Completed a Data Capture Form

If the Data Capture Form Code was completed when the form was added to the landing page, internal users can search for all candidates who completed a specific form and add them to a talent pool. The search can also be filtered by date range.

Add Candidates who Completed a Data Capture Form. On the Keyword and Item Search tab, view the Data Capture Form field.

Addition from a Saved Search

Customers have the ability to add members to a talent pool with a saved search that runs every night and adds candidates from the search result to the talent pool if they are not already part of the talent pool.

First, create the saved search(es) from Recruiting → Candidates → Keyword and Item Search.
For example, the recruiter can save a search for students who attend a particular school, and then add them to the talent pool set up for that school.

Note

This is a powerful tool, please use caution when creating saved searches that will auto-populate talent pools. The leading practice is to create multiple saved searches instead of one big one.

Add Candidates to a Talent Pool from a Saved Search . Auto-populate by Saved Searches option is highlighted.

Talent Pool Management

Talent pool options enable you to do the following:

Sort columns
Manage columns
Filter to display more search options and action options, such as Add to Email Campaign, Edit, Share, and Archive

Mass Changes to the Status of Candidates in a Talent Pool

It is possible to move several candidates at once into a different status. For example, if a recruiter calls or emails multiple candidates who are currently in the No Contact status, they can all be moved to the Contacted status at once by selecting the candidates and then selecting Actions → Change Status, and then choosing the appropriate status.

Up to 100,000 members can be deleted at a time.

To make a mass change to Status of Candidates in a Talent Pool, select the checkboxes next to candidate names and choose Actions – Change Status.

Add Candidates to a Talent Pool

In this video, you will learn about a variety of ways to add candidates to a talent pool.

Business Example

Add candidates to a talent pool in a variety of ways.

Task 1: Add candidates who have applied for a position

Steps

Proxy as Paula Price and navigate to Recruiting → Job Requisitions.
Choose any number in the Candidates column to open the Candidate Workbench for that job.
Select one or more candidates.
From the Action dropdown list, select Add to Talent Pool.
From the Talent Pool Name field, select Web Developers.
Select No Contact from the Place in Status dropdown list.
Select Submit.

Task 2: Locate candidates from a candidate search

Navigate to Recruiting → Candidates, and then select Keyword and Item Search.
From the Profile Extension dropdown list, select Area of concentration (Major).
Enter Engineering and select Search to generate a list of candidates who entered Engineering for their major on a data capture form.
Select the checkbox before a candidate's name, and from the Actions dropdown, select Add to Talent Pool.
Select Web Developers and No Contact.
Select Submit.

Task 3: To automatically add candidates to a talent pool nightly based on saved search

While still on the Search page, remove the Area of Concentration search parameter, and from the Activity dropdown list, select Data Capture Form.
Select the Data Capture Form Code that you entered when you added the data capture form to the Landing Page: Engineering Students.
Change the Candidate Activity to Submitted, or leave at Any Status.
From the Submission Date Range field, select today.
Choose Search to test the results. (It doesn't matter if no candidates have completed the data capture form today and so the result is 0. We will save the search anyway.)
Choose Save Search.
For Search Name, enter Engineering Students.
Choose Ok.
Choose Talent Pools.
Select the box before the Web Developers Talent Pool and from the ellipsis dropdown, select Edit.
Choose List of Saved Searches.
Enter Engineering Students at the top of the page and select + Add.
Choose Close.
Select Save and Close.

Add candidates to talent pools from the candidate profile

Navigate to Recruiting → Candidates → Keyword and Item Search → Basic Info → First Name.
Search for Tina.
Select Tina Thomas to open her profile.
Scroll down to the Talent Pools portlet and select +Add.
From Talent Pool Name dropdown list, select Web Developers.
For Place in Status, select Screened, assuming that you have already screened Tina.
Select Submit and then OK.

Task 4: Confirm that three candidates have been added to the Web Developers Talent Pool

Navigate back to Recruiting → Candidates → Talent Pools and choose Web Developers.
Notice that two candidates are in the No Contact status, and one is in Screened status.
Select No Contact.
Select the box before one of the No Contact candidates and from Actions, select Change Status.
Change the Status to Warm.
Select Submit and then, OK.

Additional Attributes in a Talent Pool

For organizations that use talent pools extensively, as SAP does, it may be difficult for Recruiting users to find the talent pool they’d like to work with. Users can filter the list of talent pools by attribute, so that only talent pools that match the search are displayed in the listing. For example, if the Recruiting user knows that a talent pool is associated with a particular department, add Department as an additional attribute and populate it for all talent pools.

Filter the list of talent pools by attribute, so that only talent pools that match the search are displayed in the listing. The following fields are highlighted: Department and Location. The Hide Filter Bar button is located in the top right-hand corner.

Any generic object, both standard and custom, is available to be added as an attribute to a talent pool.

Standard generic objects include Division, Department, Job Classification, and Cost Center.
An example of a custom generic object is Goods Sold, with details about the customer's retail stores.

The Location Foundation Object can also be added as an attribute.

It is possible to select one or more values for each attribute. In this example of a Java Developer talent pool, the Department generic object has been added, and the Engineering department has been associated with the talent pool.

The order in which attributes are added is the order in which they are displayed. It is possible to select one or more values for each attribute.

In the figure below, the Department generic object has been added, and the Engineering department has been associated with the Web Developers talent pool.

In addition, the Location Foundation Object has been added, and Chicago has been associated. Users can locate this talent pool in the list by searching for Engineering or Chicago.

Additional Attributes Associated with a Talent Pool are located at the bottom of the Edit Talent Pool page.

Add Attributes in a Talent Pool

To add additional attributes to a talent pool, follow these steps:

Steps

Navigate to Admin Center → Configure Object Definitions.
From the first dropdown, select Object Definition → Take Action → Make Correction.
From the second dropdown, use typeahead to select Candidate Relationship Management Pool Extension.
Select Take Action → Make Correction.
In the Associations area of the page, enter the information to add a generic object (such as Department) and/or the Location Foundation Object.

Result

Attributes have been added to a talent pool.

Add Additional Attributes for Talent Pools

Watch this video to see a demonstration on how to add additional attributes for talent pools.

Business Example

Best Run would like to be able to filter the list of talent pools by Division add the Division generic object to the Web Developers talent pool.

Steps

Log in to SAP SuccessFactors as the admin.
Navigate to Admin Center → Configure Object Definitions.
From the first dropdown list, select Object Definition.
From the second dropdown list, use typeahead to select Candidate Relationship Management Pool Extension.
Select Take Action → Make Correction.
Add the Division generic object in the Associations area of the page by entering the following information:
- Name: Division (will be saved as "cust_Division")
- Multiplicity: One to Many
- Destination Object: Division
- Type: Valid When
Choose Details.
Scroll down to Label and enter Division.
Choose Done.
Save.
Select Yes to continue.
Run the metadata refresh from Admin Center → OData API Metadata Refresh.

Values for the Additional Attributes in a Talent Pool

To add values for the additional attributes in a talent pool, proceed as follows:

From Recruiting → Candidates → Talent Pools, select the pool and from the ellipsis button, select Edit.
Scroll down to Additional Details and see that the new attribute fields are now shown.
Note
There may be a delay before the new attributes are displayed. Be sure to run a Metadata Refresh.
To associate one or more values for the field, choose the double boxes icon and select the desired values. See the figure, Add Values for Additional Attributes in a Talent Pool, for an example of Department and Engineering.

To add Values for Additional Attributes in a Talent Pool, on the Talent Pool tab, select the ellipsis button, select Edit. Scroll down to Additional Details. Select the double boxes icon and select the desired values.

Filtering Talent Pools using Additional Attributes

Users can filter the list of talent pools by attribute.

Choose Filters → More Filters and then select the values you are interested in. Only talent pools that match those values display in the resulting list.

Note

Limit selection to at most 5 filters and less than 20 values in each filter for performance reasons.

Filter Talent Pools by Additional Attributes. The following fields are highlighted: Department and Location.

Users can choose to display additional attributes on the Filter Bar.

Choose Filters and select the attributes that you would like displayed there.

Users can now find talent pools by searching for the name of the Department or the Location.

The checkboxes next to your additional attributes are selected.

Add Values for the Additional Attributes in a Talent Pool and Filter Talent Pools by Attributes

In this video, you will see how to add values for additional attributes in a talent pool and then filter talent pools by attributes.

Business Example

To make the Web Developers talent pool easy to locate, associate the division of Engineering with it. Then, practice how recruiters quickly locate talent pools for candidates who may be a good fit for the Engineering division. And finally, enable the new attribute to appear on the Filter Bar.

Task 1: Add Values

Steps

Proxy as Paula Price, who created and owns the talent pool.
Navigate to Recruiting → Candidates → Talent Pools.
Select the box before the Web Developers talent pool and, from the ellipsis button, select Edit.
Scroll down to Additional Details and notice that the Division attribute has been added.
In the Division field, select the double boxes icon and select Engineering. Note that you can multi-select to add additional divisions. Choose Select.
Save and close.

Task 2: Filter Talent Pools by Attributes

Steps

As a recruiter who owns a talent pool or has a pool shared with them, navigate to Recruiting → Candidates → Talent Pools.
View the basic fields that are searchable for all talent pools.
Choose Adapt Filters.
Select Division, and choose OK.
In the Division field, enter Engineering.
Choose Go. The Web Developer talent pool is still in the list, but any other pools not associated with the Engineering division are removed.
To clear the filters, select the X buttons in the Division box.
Choose Go. All talent pools are listed.

Leading Practices: Talent Pools

Some of our larger, global customers maintain up to approximately 220 talent pools, with over 300 recruiting users managing talent pools every day.

Skill- and Region-based Talent Pools

Most of these talent pools are organized by skill segment and by region. Customers can organize talent pools in skill groupings such as: Consulting, Customer Facing, and Technology. Skill-based talent pools were created for each of these three regions: APJC, EMEA/MEE, and Americas.

When working with your customer on the types of talent pools that would be useful for their recruiting organization, help them to think about the logical divides in their work, for example, Clinical versus Facilities or Corporate, Production, and Retail.

Example: Talent Pools Organized by Skill

Talent pools can be organized by skills:

Consulting	Technology	Customer Facing
Consultant-Business Process	Data Science	Channel/Partner/Alliance
Consultant-Development/ Technology	Development-Cloud	Inside Sales
Consulting Manager	Development-On Premise	Presales
Delivery Manager	Development Manager	Sales Large Enterprise
Delivery Executive	Development Operations Engineer	Sales Management
Project Manager	Product Management	Sales Small/Medium Enterprise
Services and Support Leader/SSL	Program & Project Management
Services Sales	Software Development
	User Experience Design

Each of these skill-based talent pools is duplicated for each of the three regions: APJC, EMEA/ MEE, and Americas.

Using the Data Capture Form for the Talent Community

New candidates who complete the "Talent Community" data capture form on the career site can then be added to a talent pool for new candidates using a saved search. (Remember that most customers use the Create an Account form to create a profile for new candidates, rather than a data capture form.)

A team reviews the data collected, looks at the candidate’s profile on LinkedIn, and so on, and then adds the candidate to specific skill-based talent pools. Email campaigns are sent from these pools.

Using Talent Pools for Events

Larger customers host many types of events for prospective candidates, in addition to hiring events. Some events are in-person gatherings, and some are virtual. "A Day in the Life" events are popular with many of our customers. For example, students studying data science may be invited to learn what activities a data scientist with the company is involved in.

Customers can create a talent pool for each event. When a recruiter requests a new data capture form for a specific event, a talent pool is also created for that event. Event talent pools use a different status set than for the skill-based talent pools. For example, status such as Invited, RSVPed, and Attended are included in event talent pools. After the event, recruiters organize members of the event talent pool into specific skill-based talent pools.

Talent Pool Administration

When managing and administrating large amounts of talent pools within the Recruiting environment, it is important to remember the following:

Creating limits on the number of new talent pools that recruiters can create can help to ensure that one-time-use pools are avoided.
Saved searches can be used to automatically add candidates who complete data capture forms to specific talent pools, eliminating the need for manual maintenance by recruiting users.
All talent pools are recommended to be set up as Shared. When a new recruiting user joins the team, they are added to the recruiting group for that region, which associates them with that region’s talent pools. The new recruiting user is also added to SAP SuccessFactors Recruiting Posting for that region.
For legal and logistic reasons, consider whether hiring managers should be provided with access to talent pools.
Encourage customers to configure as few talent pool statuses as possible. For example, New Contact, Warm, Invite to Event, and so on.

Log in to track your progress & complete quizzes