Building Your Own Applicant Pool

Candidate sourcing can often be the biggest hurdle in recruiting. All too often, we see employers so focused on finding new talent that they forget about the folks already in their pipeline, who already know the company, but weren’t a good fit at one point in time, for whatever reason. 

But circumstances change—on both the employer side and the employee side—so it’s worth revisiting that pool of candidates from time to time. 

That’s why Team Engine users have the ability to designate ‘quit’ or ‘fired’ employees as ‘eligible for rehire.’ Users can even include an optional note about why or when the ex-employee should be reconsidered. 

Team Engine users can also save applicants that they aren’t hiring right now—but might in the future—and easily resurface them in the system when they’re ready to re-engage later.

When Rehiring Previous Employees Might Make Sense

Seasonal Hires

If your business has seasonality to it, you might lay off workers when things are slow and bring them back for busy season.

Amicable Quits or Firings

Sometimes an employee leaves on their terms because they found what they believe to be a better opportunity. However, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. If that ex-employee comes to realize your benefits and culture mean more to their job satisfaction than extra money, they might be interested in coming back.

Alternatively, sometimes employees are let go due to no fault of their own. Those terminations are often a result of external environmental factors (like a global pandemic, for example) and are no reflection of the employees’ performance or value they brought to the company.

Naturally, these are sensitive situations that should be handled with care, but that doesn’t mean the bridge has been burned. Don’t be afraid to rekindle these relationships, or keep them warm over time through nurturing.

A Change in the Job

Maybe you finally got approval to increase the pay for that position, which was previously a deal-breaker for the former employee. Maybe the position no longer calls for certain requirements they didn’t have. Conversely, maybe the scope of the role has changed and they’re now a better fit.

Whatever the reason that it wasn’t a good fit in the past, doesn’t mean it won’t be a good fit now—so reach out to ask!

Mark Ex-Employees as ‘Rehire Eligible’ in Team Engine

When updating the status of a quit or fired employee, Team Engine users are prompted to include details about the cause of their termination, as well as leave notes about their eligibility for rehire. 

When you open a new requisition and begin the hunt for talent to fill it, you can start by filtering your employee directory to view former employees who are rehire eligible (with your notes on why or when to reach out) and message them individually with a click of a button.

When Saving Applicants to Hire Later Might Make Sense

An ideal candidate can come in at the not-so-ideal time, so rather than lose them in the shuffle or have to remember them for later, Team Engine makes it easy to save these candidates, as well as reach back out to them when the right time comes.

Some example scenarios include:

• The applicant is a better fit for a different position that’s opening in the future
• The position was filled, but there are qualified applicants in the queue who might be a good fit if/when the position opens again in the future
• The best candidate has been selected but may not clear their drug and background screenings, in which case other qualified candidates would be pursued
• Before making a public post, you’d like to share the newly opened position with candidates you’ve previously screened and/or interviewed

Save Applicants for Later in Team Engine

When Team Engine users mark an applicant to save for later, they’re prompted to choose one of the following categories:

• Desired shift not available
• Missing qualifications
• No longer hiring
• Pay expectation too high
• Other

Additionally, there are optional fields to save additional notes about the applicant and to set a reminder to follow up with them at a future date.

Incorporating former employees and saved applicants into your hiring strategy can strengthen your applicant pool and give you a significant advantage over your competitors. With Team Engine, the process becomes seamless, allowing you to stay connected with valuable talent and re-engage them when the time is right.