Everyone in the organization should always be on the lookout for potential candidates and especially qualified individuals who belong to groups that are currently underrepresented at the organization.23 In order to easily track these potential candidates, an organization should create a shared document in which to track names, contact information, and notes about these individuals.

Potential candidates can be grouped  into three types: actives, pre-actives, and passives:

• Actives are determinedly looking to find a new job (whether currently employed or unemployed).
• Pre-actives are making the decision to leave where they work but have not yet applied to new positions.
• Passives are fully employed but open to hearing about opportunities. 

A strong pool-building strategy involves tracking all three of these potential candidate types. 

Develop networks of connectors 

Organizations often post jobs to various job boards and listservs and assume that this is all the outreach needed to create a robust pool of talented candidates. In reality, building an outstanding talent pool means developing and maintaining a network of connectors—individuals who are not likely candidates for a position but who can connect you to potential candidates. Importantly, in order to create robust candidate pools that are inclusive of candidates whose identity/ies are underrepresented within an organization’s current staff, this network of connectors must extend beyond the typical personal and professional networks that organizations often turn to for candidates. As the saying goes, “What got you here won’t get you there”—these networks have not previously led to diverse candidate pools and are unlikely to do so in the future. 

Reach out 

Instead, organizations should consider what additional networks they might tap into that they have not previously connected with. These might include job affinity networks, colleges and universities, conferences, fellowships, and training programs that serve underrepresented communities, such as Jews/people of color, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities. In addition, organizations can consider sending a representative to career or job fairs at historically Black, Latino/ Latinx, and Native American-serving institutions, including historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Finally, organizations can develop partnerships with organizations that focus on the LGBTQ community, communities of color, or individuals with disabilities to distribute job postings to these organizations’ constituents who might not be reached by an organization’s traditional methods of staff recruitment. 

Learn more in our resource, A Guide to Recruiting and Hiring