Keeping Great Candidates on File

When finalists go MIA, recent hires do not work out or departments need similar talent fast, finding quality talent quickly becomes essential. An effective strategy for building a hiring pipeline is to archive applications from individuals with the skillsets and experience your institution may need for future opportunities. Once you have identified the talent you want to keep "on file," here are three tips to better ensure that they will be excited to learn more about other opportunities.

1. Personalize the "On File" Message

Take a moment to call these individuals or send them personalized messages -- messages that explain why you would like to keep their particular resumes on file. This extra effort will help these individuals remember you and your institution and positively react when you contact them.

2. Don't Wait too Long to Share a New Opportunity

Unless the position is highly specialized, purge your candidate files two years after receiving the initial application -- no matter how great the candidate. After a couple of years, people move on.

3. Ask to Add Them to General Hiring Communications

If your institution sends out a newsletter about current openings, ask these individuals if you can add them to the mailing list. It will keep your institution on their radar and top of mind. Then, when you reach out to them, they may be prepared for the call or may have already applied for an opening.

Fortunately, you don't have to worry about any legal compliance issues by keeping their resume for an extended amount of time. Federal law requires employers with 15 or more employees to keep employment applications, resumes and related hiring information and documents for at least one year after creating the document or the hire/no hire decision, whichever is greater. Plus, most ATS make it relatively easy to keep resumes in the databases and searchable for future openings. As you now wrap up the formal hiring season -- having received a ton of applications from top talent -- this is a great time to do this important work.