An employee pipeline of key individuals and leaders to fill crucial roles is important for the organizational success of your company. The talent management process should focus on this, but it might miss the mark in some areas. For starters, some hiring managers and HR personnel have different views on managing employee pipelines. Hiring managers might put more emphasis on external candidates while HR focuses on relationship-building with internal candidates.

If you are nodding your head in agreement, it’s time to rethink your company’s recruiting process and begin working from a clear definition of needs and goals. No one disputes that a company’s success is largely based on the talent of employees. Nevertheless, your employee pipeline may have potential leaks when areas such as performance objectives or talent mapping remain unclear.

Begin identifying areas of conflict along with steps that will offer reliable ways to have an effective employee pipeline. Develop a plan to engage current employees, classify high potentials and explore various sources to know the type of talent your company needs to thrive.

Develop Internal Talent

How can you develop an employee pipeline that is impervious to competition, economic impacts or internal struggles? One way to begin is to create opportunities for entry-level and managers to learn skills that allow them to move up within the company. Tiered development opportunities that extend beyond the management team shows most employees that their input is valued. When they begin looking for a new position, they will know they can start with their current employer.

Identify High Potentials

In addition, tiered development programs help to identify employees with the best potential to fulfill needed roles. Make sure there is a sufficient level of transparency. Letting employees know that they are considered high potentials for promotion will affect their view of the company and of themselves.

Plan for Future Needs

This last point might seem redundant, but many companies fail to plan for the skills, education and experience necessary to fill certain roles. Planning reveals where on the spectrum current employees are to fill prospective roles. Old job descriptions often change as industry dynamics change.

Create a development-focused culture and you can have an effective employee pipeline to face business challenges today and in the future.

Smart businesses need new talent to remain competitive. Attracting new college graduates with fresh perspectives, enthusiasm and ambition requires Human Resources to develop effective strategies for tapping this pool of talent. Recruitment should include methods for fine tuning mutual fit between candidates’ skills and company needs as well.

Identifying Student Groups

There are four groups of students that HR should target:

• Broad student populations when a large number of similar positions are available
• Specific majors that meet knowledge requirements for particular departments
• Post-graduates for specialized or upper-level positions
• International students with unique skills

High-touch tactics to reach these groups include career fairs, on-campus presentations, faculty recommendations and engaging alumni who already work for your company. These methods are more effective when coupled with the use of social media to communicate unique benefits your company offers. Apply your strategies at the sophomore and junior levels for pre-recruitment activities too.

Evaluating the NCG’s Fit for Your Company

As an enticement to NCGs to sign up and to ensure a good fit for their skills and the needs of the company, job internships are an ideal way to accomplish both goals. Unlike candidates who arrive with years of experience, NCGs may have unrealistic expectations regarding job requirements and responsibilities, which can be adjusted as they cycle through temporary positions.

Even if they were introduced to the company through summer internships, placing them in a full-time rotating internship program over six months to a year provides them and the company a mutual evaluation of skills, expectations and motivating factors. When managed correctly, these programs lead to well-integrated, satisfied and efficient employees.

It Is Not All about the Money

Any college graduate is eager to receive his first paycheck, of course. Salary is not the only incentive for fresh graduates, however. They also consider the non-monetary benefits. Top among these are health insurance, vacation and opportunities for professional growth. Popular among new college graduates are companies that offer comprehensive training and both upward and lateral mobility. So, make sure your NCG hiring strategy is tuned to meet these expectations as well.