Hiring, engaging and retaining the right employees is critical to any organization’s success. And given the rapid pace that in-demand skills are evolving, primarily focusing your talent strategy on immediate job openings is no longer effective.
Instead of only thinking about short-term talent needs, forward-thinking companies build proactive talent pipelines to address both existing and long-term strategic skills gaps. Learn more about what a talent pipeline is, best practices for implementing one, and how to build a custom talent pipeline portal that aligns with your business needs.
What is a Talent Pipeline?
A talent pipeline is a pool of potential candidates, also often called a talent network, who are qualified to fill relevant positions when new opportunities open up.
Building a proactive talent pipeline enables organizations to maintain a steady stream of qualified talent to quickly fill skills gaps and address shifting needs in today’s ever-evolving business landscape.
Talent pipelines can include both existing employees — such as identifying employees for future succession planning or internal growth and mobility opportunities — as well as a network or database of external talent to tap into when open roles align with their skills and experience.
Benefits of Building a Talent Pipeline
As business priorities change and technology continues to advance, talent pipelines can help organizations quickly and efficiently fill emerging skills gaps — which is essential to long-term growth and success.
According to a survey conducted by edX, amid rapid artificial intelligence (AI) adoption, executives believe nearly half (49%) of the skills that existed in their workforce in 2023 won’t be relevant in 2025. Additionally, the executives surveyed also feel that 47% of their workforce is unprepared for the future of work.
Benefits of building a proactive talent pipeline include:
Reduced time-to-hire
Access to a broader talent pool
Decreased recruitment costs
Better quality hires
Proactive succession planning
Improved employee engagement and growth opportunities
Enhanced employer brand
Stronger business agility and resilience
Best Practices to Build a Talent Pipeline
While proactively recruiting and building relationships with qualified talent is important given the competitive and ever-evolving labor market, many organizations face challenges when it comes to effectively building talent pipelines. According to a survey of HR and talent acquisition leaders from Symphony Talent, while 48% of respondents say building a talent pipeline is their top priority in 2024, 68% find reaching the right target audience challenging.
Here are a few best practices to consider as you build a talent pipeline at your organization:
Understand your workforce needs
Identifying and aligning on your overall talent and workforce planning needs can help ensure you build a talent pipeline with existing employees and potential candidates who can support your long-term business goals. Leverage workforce analytics to determine short and long-term skills needs, implement a skills-based hiring strategy, identify top employees for internal growth opportunities, and pinpoint what to look for in external candidates.
Highlight career pathways
Motivated employees and job seekers are eager to work for organizations that enable them to grow and evolve in their careers. In your recruitment materials and through internal communications, highlight potential career pathways at your organization that excite qualified talent to join and grow with your team. Keep in mind, career pathways aren’t always linear and always take a broader view of the job market to identify adjacent or overlapping skills across industries and occupations.
Reach a diverse talent pool
Access and engage potential candidates by promoting your open positions across a variety of recruitment channels, such as the careers page on your website, general job boards, industry-specific job boards, and social media. Also use real-time labor market data to better understand supply, demand, and compensation, which can help your organization expand your applicant pool and fill job openings.
Nurture relationships with job seekers
An important step in building a successful talent pipeline is engaging with potential talent. Consider creating a talent community to share available job opportunities and highlighting exciting news, such as employee success stories or recent company award wins. Also leverage labor market data and workforce analytics to guide job seekers toward opportunities that align with their experience and are in high demand.
How to Build a Custom Talent Pipeline Portal
Creating and maintaining a talent pipeline on your own can seem daunting. The good news is that you don’t have to. Lightcast SmartSites help organizations like yours address the most critical workforce challenges with custom, purpose-built websites designed by leading industry experts and powered by our best-in-class, real-time labor market data.
Lightcast SmartSites are custom-built to help you address your workforce needs — from attracting job seekers to recruiting, upskilling, and developing talent to aligning on a single source of labor market truth.
One of the top benefits of Lightcast is the capability to build a custom Talent Pipeline Portal to help your organization attract new talent and foster advancement among existing employees. Here’s how:
Expand your potential talent pool: Opportunity heat maps highlight where jobs are located and provide guidance to help job seekers find in-demand career development opportunities across the country.
Point jobseekers toward meaningful opportunities: Occupational details, including related occupations drawn from Lightcast Taxonomy, ensure jobseekers understand the requirements and skills needed to pursue a career in a specific industry.
Inspire jobseekers by showcasing career trajectories: Display immediate job openings, along with how individuals can progress into more advanced and lucrative roles, which helps to demonstrate your investment in your employees’ talent.
How Lightcast SmartSites Helped CompTIA Address the Cybersecurity Talent Shortage
The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) was facing challenges with a cybersecurity talent shortage when they turned to Lightcast for support. To address these challenges, Lightcast created a custom SmartSite, Cyberseek.org. Here’s how the SmartSite works:
A heatmap shows where the need for workers is highest across the country
Integrated data visualizations provide clear insights, along with comparisons to national trends
Career pathways highlight job openings, career opportunities, and average salaries for the roles CompTIA is looking to fill
A mapping tool highlights how different skills, certifications, and job are connected
Interactive maps identify relevant education and training opportunities across the country
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Build a Proactive Talent Pipeline Portal with a Custom Lightcast SmartSite
A proactive talent pipeline strategy can help your organization attract qualified talent, fill skills gaps as business priorities shift, and drive long-term business agility. Lightcast SmartSites offer dynamic dashboards and data visualizations for a wide array of organizations — from corporate enterprises and trade associations to government entities and educational institutions.
Our innovative SmartSites help organizations attract, develop, and recruit talent, align on labor data, illuminate significant labor gaps, and more. Learn more and see a live demo of Lightcast SmartSites — get in touch today.
