When an open role needs filling, recruiters can open and close them within a week — or spend months searching for the right candidate. The difference in these time-to-fill rates comes down to one factor: the recruiter’s strategy for building talent pipelines.
Recruiters who maintain robust candidate pipelines have constant access to a pool of potential applicants. When an open role arises, these recruiters don’t need to start the candidate search from scratch. Instead, they tap into the pipeline and invite warm leads to apply.
How to build talent pipelines: 3 AI-Infused strategies to use
Recruiters are increasingly using technology for building talent pipelines that deliver quality candidates. Artificial intelligence (AI) allows recruiters to reach more job seekers, improve the caliber of their applicant pool and deliver an enticing candidate experience. With AI, recruiters can quickly build impressive talent pipelines that deliver the candidates they need when they need them. As you set your recruiting pipeline strategy, here are three ideas to ensure your recruiters have warm leads ready to apply.
Strategy #1: Unearth strong candidates with AI agents
The first step in building talent pipelines is creating a robust and abundant supply of talent. This step is often the hardest, as it requires pinpointing pools of talent and generating interest among potential applicants. Recruiters can pour significant time and energy into this stage, especially if they need talent with specific credentials, certifications or licenses.
AI streamlines this stage. Recruiters using AI to find talent are increasing the number of candidates in their pipelines. As their access to potential applicants improves, so does the quality of talent and the diversity of hires.
Consider, for instance, how recruiters can refine their talent pipelines with AI agents. Agents are similar to virtual assistants, although far more powerful. However they have the capacity to carry out computer-based tasks without any human input. While this technology is newer, recruiters are already using it to schedule meetings, edit files and analyze data.
Agents are particularly adept at sourcing talent. They can scour digital sources like job boards, social media and resume databases to identify potential applicants and highlight those who are poised to be top performers.
AI agents don’t lose this ability when they’re tasked with pinpointing hard-to-find talent. Recruiters can instruct agents to perform highly specific candidate searches based on custom search criteria. The agents will look for candidates whose profiles feature specific skills, experiences and more. An agent can even assess potential applicants for how they might align with an organization’s culture.
The power behind AI’s keyword search capabilities is a kind of technology called semantic search. Semantic search goes beyond word-for-word matching by understanding the meaning of the words and phrases recruiters are looking for. It allows recruiters to pinpoint talent whose resumes may lack the exact terms of their search but who offer the skills and experience an organization needs.
In this way, semantic search allows recruiters to spot candidates with precise qualifications. Semantic search can detect applicants with evidence of leadership qualities, communication skills and time management abilities. It can even highlight candidates who have a sense of humor.
This technology is extremely useful to recruiters looking for specialized talent. Talent teams within healthcare facilities, for instance, must search high and low for candidates with the necessary education credentials, skills, experience and licensing. Semantic search makes the hunt for highly specific talent easier and more productive.
Strategy #2: Cultivate better talent pools with AI-powered communication
Candidate sourcing is only the first step in building talent pipelines. Next, recruiters need to cultivate candidates who are interested, engaged and ready to apply when an opportunity arises.
When recruiters approach this task without the help of technology, they set themselves up for failure. A majority of their workday hours are spent sending messages to potential applicants. Then, they’ll spend more time crafting follow-up notes. Ultimately, they’ll lose track of which job seekers they’ve contacted, which candidates have responded and those who need a nudge.
In the end, recruiters may never hear from many of the leads they’ve contacted. Their work may be fruitless, with everyone’s time wasted.
AI helps recruiters avoid this outcome. This stage of creating a talent pipeline strategy is another area that’s well-suited for agents. Once agents have identified candidates based on their skills and experience, they can reach out. Recruiters can then instruct agents to make contact, follow up on unread messages and schedule initial interviews with interested applicants.
Agents also streamline the process of engaging cold candidates. Consider how to build a talent pipeline at a hospital looking for nurses to staff its intensive care unit. The hospital’s recruiters can use an agent to identify potential candidates who are local and have the necessary backgrounds, skills and experience.
Next, recruiters can ask the agent to send a first round of messages to the top 100 candidates. Of those potential applicants, 20 may respond. Next, an agent can send:
- Follow-up messages to the 80 applicants who failed to reply.
- Thank-you notes to anyone who declined an invitation to apply.
- More information to those who expressed interest — perhaps a link to a job post, online application or career site.
Recruiters save vast amounts of time by using agents to engage cold candidates. Savvy recruiters can use multiple forms of AI to make this process even more efficient — for example, using tools like ChatGPT or Gemini to craft initial messaging to candidates, then programming agents to send those messages.
AI gives recruiters more time to invest in the candidates who respond to these messages, such as taking calls and answering questions. Most importantly, they’re available to promote their company to interested talent.
Strategy #3: Keep candidates warm with engaging content
The trademark of a truly impressive candidate pipeline is how recruiters can tap high-quality candidates as soon as they’re needed. To build that kind of pipeline, recruiters must source good talent, engage them and keep them interested until the company is ready to make a hire.
Maintaining candidate interest may sound like an arduous assignment filled with emails, texts, calls and other reminders. With AI, however, all a fruitful recruiting pipeline strategy requires is a little creativity.
Recruiters begin by brainstorming recruitment marketing efforts, like the use of effective content to cultivate their candidates. Then, by using GenAI recruiters can begin executing their ideas. Here are 3 pieces of content recruiters can create with GenAI:
- Newsletters that keep candidates abreast on company happenings, upcoming events and job openings.
- Social media posts that showcase the organization’s employer brand.
- Career sites or blog posts that familiarize candidates with the company’s employee value proposition.
Today’s candidates desire fast and direct communication with potential employers. Recruiters who combine generative AI, agents and other tools deliver on that expectation. When a position opens and job seekers begin applying, recruiters can use AI to deliver a candidate experience that is personalized, swift and seamless.
The ROI of AI-powered talent pipeline strategies
Recruiters who use these recruiting pipeline strategies enjoy faster access to candidates, source higher-quality applicants and streamline their workload. AI helps recruiters with building talent pipelines and elevating the talent they bring into their organizations. Put simply, recruiters who use AI make better hires faster.
To learn more about how AI can elevate your candidate sourcing, schedule a demo with Bear Claw’s next-generation recruiting platform.