How to Build a Talent Pipeline: Strategy and Steps

Originally published April 9, 2021. Refreshed on October 29, 2026.

Quick answer: A talent pipeline refers to a group of engaged candidates, both active job seekers and passive talent, that you build and nurture so you can contact them when relevant roles open. To build one, identify the roles and skills you will need, attract candidates to opt in through targeted channels, and keep them engaged with relevant content. Then measure sign-ups, engagement, and hires that come from the pipeline.

As everyone involved in recruitment marketing and talent acquisition knows, it all starts with talent. Getting top talent  is a complex and ongoing challenge, and an effective talent pipeline goes a long way toward meeting your hiring goals. A proactive talent pipeline lets business leaders and hiring managers plan for needs instead of reacting to them. This guide explains what a talent pipeline is, why it matters, how to build it, and how to measure one in three steps.

What Is a Talent Pipeline?

A talent pipeline is a collection of candidates who are engaged with your organization and can be contacted easily when relevant roles open. It is also called a recruiting pipeline, recruitment pipeline, candidate pipeline, hiring pipeline, or talent acquisition pipeline, and building one is sometimes called talent pipelining.

A talent pipeline can include:

• Candidates your team has sourced

• Leads from career fairs and events

• Unsuccessful applicants you would like to re-engage

• People who signed up for your Talent Network

• Individuals from diversity initiatives and executive or corporate searches

• Job seekers who visited your site but left without taking action

• Candidates referred by current employees

• Current employees who may be ready for a promotion

Not every candidate in a pipeline matches a current role. Often they are pipeline prospects you want to keep tabs on for future opportunities. Think of them as a queue of potential applicants waiting outside your headquarters: the longer the queue and the better the candidates, the easier it is to keep making great hires.

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What Is the Difference Between a Talent Pipeline and a Talent Pool?

A talent pool is a broader group of people with some connection to your organization, such as past applicants or event attendees. A talent pipeline is the engaged part of that pool, made up of vetted candidates you actively nurture toward specific future roles. A strong talent pool feeds a strong talent pipeline.

Why Does a Talent Pipeline Matter?

A talent pipeline matters because most of the highly qualified candidates you want to hire are not actively applying. Waiting for applicants to come to you first leaves roles open longer. The data points the same way:

• 51% of U.S. employees are either actively looking for a new job (11%) or watching for opportunities (40%), according to Gallup's Q4 2025 survey. You need to reach people actively job hunting and those who are only watching to meet your hiring goals.

• 69% of organizations report difficulty recruiting for full-time regular positions, and among them 51% cite too few applicants and 41% cite more candidate ghosting, according to SHRM's 2025 Talent Trends research.

With talent shortages and a largely candidate-led market, you cannot wait for candidates to take the lead and apply. A pipeline replaces reactive hiring with planning, and it brings real advantages:

• Cost savings: when you can tap a pipeline to fill a role, you may not need to spend as much on advertising.

• Better targeting: a well-segmented pipeline lets you message the people most likely to respond to your openings.

• Quicker turn time: you can reach out the moment a need arises, which often leads to faster results.

• More awareness: even when you are not recruiting, communications to the pipeline build your employer brand over the long term.

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How Do You Build a Talent Pipeline?

Build a talent pipeline in three steps: identify who you need, attract them to opt in, and connect with them through relevant content. Together they are your pipeline stages. Measure results throughout, so talent pipeline development keeps improving.

Step 1: Identify Who Belongs in Your Talent Pipeline

Start by understanding who and where your current and future needs are:

• Look at your current skill base. A skills gap analysis, or a review of turnover rates, new hires, and internal movement, shows where your organization has gaps.

• Focus on future growth. Uncertainty and competition make planning hard, so consider who your organization will need in the coming years and how you will align leaders, workforce, and processes to meet changing demands.

• Build candidate personas. A persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal candidate, defined by the characteristics, skills, and traits of your ideal hire. Personas guide your hiring process, including assessing candidates, and help you recognize the best-fit talent.

Include internal candidates too. A complete talent pipeline holds internal and external candidates. Existing employees are internal candidates who may be ready for a promotion or a move into critical positions, and developing internal talent through leadership development grows future leaders and experienced leaders from within. External candidates and external talent fill the skills you do not have today. Balancing internal development with external hiring is part of strategic workforce planning: map your key roles, compare existing skills with future needs, and decide where to develop and where to hire, so a critical role never opens with nobody in the queue.

Step 2: Attract the Right Talent to Join

Once you know your target audience, focus on getting them to opt in. These methods support pipeline building well, mainly because of their low cost of entry and strong targeting.

Search and display campaigns. Google lets you target very specific audiences, and it flexes as your needs change.

• Search campaigns reach active job seekers based on the terms they enter.

• Display campaigns reach more passive candidates with a banner, based on how their online behavior fits your target profile.

• Retargeting reaches people who already showed interest by visiting your site, and helps you bring them across the finish line to a sign-up or application.

Our digital marketing team builds these campaigns around candidate personas.

Social media. Many recruiters use social media only to post jobs, which does little for their employer brand or pipeline building. A better approach is building relationships through authentic conversations about life at your organization:

• Celebrate employee achievements.

• Share real-life stories.

• Post photos and videos.

• Show candidates what it is like to work with you.

Organic content works well for people who already follow you, but you will likely need to extend your reach with paid social, including sponsored posts on Facebook. See our guide to connecting with candidates using Facebook.

Other entry points. Add a Talent Network sign-up to your career site as one area for entry. It is also helpful to collect leads at career fairs, industry conferences, networking events, and other industry events, and encourage referrals, so every touchpoint can feed the pipeline.

Step 3: Connect With Candidates Using Great Content

Finally, you need a way to send your initial outreach and ongoing messages to the pipeline. That usually means a Talent Network and an outreach platform. ACTIVATE® CRM allows you to build a network and send personalized communication by email and text to segmented audiences, with custom landing pages, email templates, and analytics so you can measure and refine your efforts. For more on the system behind this, read our guide to candidate relationship management.

Text outreach deserves a place in your plan. It is immediate, quick, and easy, and candidates are comfortable with it.

Some outreach will focus on specific roles, such as seasonal jobs or new job postings, but that should not be your only focus. Even when you are not recruiting, you can keep the pipeline engaged with:

• Blog posts: repurpose content your team has already created about your company or industry.

• Industry trends and news: show candidates you are a leader by joining conversations about trending topics.

• Company news: funding, office moves, new hires, and product releases keep candidates informed.

• Interview tips: help candidates feel at ease with tips unique to your application process.

• Career pathing: show examples of career growth across your organization.

How Do You Measure a Talent Pipeline?

Measure pipeline effectiveness by tracking who joins, how they engage, and how many hires come from it. Analytics are the only way to know which candidates respond, which messages work, and where you see success. Track:

• Sign-ups: how many candidates join, and from which sources

• Engagement: how many open emails, respond to texts, and view content

• Content performance: which topics and messages drive action

• Campaign performance: how each campaign performs against its goal

• Pipeline hires: how many hires come from the pipeline, and how quickly roles fill

ACTIVATE® Analytics shows these all-in-one view. Measuring quality matters too: SHRM's 2025 benchmarking found that only 20% of organizations track quality of hire, so a successful talent pipeline you can show produces strong hires stands out. Use what you learn to keep growing and to refine your entire strategy.

What Are Talent Pipeline Best Practices?

A robust talent pipeline is focused, segmented, and kept fresh. Five habits matter most:

• Start where hiring hurts. Build talent pipelines first for the roles you hire repeatedly or struggle to fill, then widen the net.

• Segment by persona, role family, and location, so every message speaks to the person receiving it.

• Keep a steady rhythm. Regular communication, such as a monthly update, keeps your brand visible to top candidates even when you have no openings.

• Make joining easy. A short sign-up form on your career site, at events, and in campaigns removes friction.

• Review the pipeline regularly. With your recruiting team, update records, remove duplicates and inactive contacts, and honor opt-outs so the pool stays accurate.

What Platform Can Help You Build a Talent Pipeline?

A platform for building a talent pipeline should capture opt-ins, segment candidates, send email and text outreach, and report on engagement and hires. Look for:

• A Talent Network sign-up with custom landing pages

• Segmentation by role, skills, location, and engagement

• Branded email and text templates and automated sequences

• ATS sync, so candidate data flows without duplicate entry

• Analytics that tie outreach to sign-ups and hires

ACTIVATE® CRM covers these capabilities, and our team can manage the entire program for you. For vendor questions and a scorecard you can adapt, see our guide on how to evaluate HR technology solutions.

Frequently Asked Questions About Talent Pipelines

What Is a Talent Pipeline Strategy?

A talent pipeline strategy is a strategic process within your wider talent strategy: a plan for who you want in your pipeline, how you will attract them, how you will keep them engaged, and how you will measure the results. It ties your recruitment strategy to business performance, so you recruit for the roles you will need, not only the ones open today, and it gives the entire organization a competitive edge.

What Is Talent Pipelining?

Talent pipelining is the ongoing practice of finding, engaging, and nurturing potential candidates before roles open, so you can fill them faster when they do.

How Do You Build a Talent Pipeline for Hard-to-Fill Roles?

Start with those roles first. Build personas for the talent you need, reach them with targeted search, display, and social campaigns, and use referrals and events to find people who may not be looking. Then nurture them with content that shows why your organization is worth joining.

How Often Should You Contact Candidates in Your Pipeline?

A steady, predictable rhythm works better than occasional bursts. Many teams use a monthly update, mixed with timely messages when a relevant role opens, and let each candidate's engagement guide how often they hear from you.

Ready to Build Your Talent Pipeline?

NAS would be happy to help you build your talent pipeline. We can help every step of the way, from a great platform in ACTIVATE® CRM to attracting the right candidates, engaging them with inspiring content, and analyzing the results. We can even manage the entire program for you. To learn how we can help you build and manage your talent pipeline, get in touch with us today.