Courtenay HR

Pipeline or Pipedream?

Fast becoming the most used word in the resourcing industry, next to ‘talent’, companies are now combining both and talking about developing their own ‘pipelines of talent’ Nice words but is it practical and will companies ever be able achieve this dream and see the benefits it can bring? Maybe, but there are a few barriers both organisations and recruiters must overcome before this will become a real element of the resourcing process and one which will add value to both.

Firstly, organisations must come to grips with just exactly what ‘developing a pipeline of talent’ means, and the work involved. They should ask themselves if they have the resources available to do it as turning this idea into reality means a substantial amount of additional workload on top of the current demands of resourcing live positions. Talking with potential candidates on a regular basis, keeping up to date on what they are doing, briefing them on changes in the organisation, discussing the market and trends etc all take time. All things, in fact, that many recruiters already undertake, indirectly, on behalf of clients.

Many organisations will have been seduced by the idea that this will solve a significant number of their future resourcing needs but the truth is it won’t, as many are inadequately prepared or equipped to pull it off.

The other significant issue to address is the role played by the recruitment organisations in all of this. Many are attempting to talk the same language, offering to ‘build and manage talent pools’ for clients but in truth they are just keeping up with the terminology. What they are not seeing, mainly because the industry seems to have its head well and truly in the sand, are the implications of this approach for their own business. Are they reviewing their own internal structures and processes? Are they developing a new range of products and services to support this way of thinking? In the vast majority of cases the answer is no. It’s the same old business with the same people doing the same things – just talking a different language.

Do we, as recruiters, really think that we can play an active role in developing and managing a separate pool of candidates for our clients, put all the effort in to keeping the client top of mind with the candidate, introduce them and encourage them to have direct, ongoing contact with clients and at the end of it all still charge a hefty fee for the ’introduction’? Oh no. If we do we are kidding ourselves.

The fact is that organisations are looking to do more themselves and take more ownership of the resoucing process. Whilst they have a long way to go before they are fully equipped to do this, in time they will get there. Unless we change our thinking, it is highly likely that we could be forced out of the process completely.