As every recruiter knows, sourcing, screening, and selecting the ideal candidate is time and cost-intensive.
If you’re looking to decrease your time-to-hire and recruitment costs, a candidate database can help.
When a role comes up, a candidate database gives you immediate access to a variety of candidates to search through. No more sourcing from job sites or asking for referrals when you have an urgent role to fill.
If that sounds appealing, this article will tell you everything you need to know about building a candidate database for your business.
What is a candidate database?
Whenever you recruit for a role, you turn away more people than you hire. But that doesn’t necessarily mean those candidates are bad – they have skills, experience, and personalities that might be valuable to other roles, either now or in the future.
The same goes for people you meet at conferences, referrals from other businesses, and passive candidates. Almost everyone has the potential to be your next new hire.
You need somewhere to store these candidates and their information – somewhere you can categorize, search, and analyze data. You need a candidate database.
A candidate database (or recruiting database) is a centralized database of potential recruits. It contains relevant data such as personal details, contact information, skills, qualifications, prior and current roles, and any other data you think is important to your hiring process.
When you need to fill a role quickly, you can search your recruiting database and find the most qualified candidates that match your job descriptions.
Similarly to a business using a 360 customer view to create a customer profile, recruiters can use a candidate database to get a more comprehensive view of each individual applicant.
When you need to fill a role quickly, you can search your recruiting database and find the most qualified candidate for the job.
How can a candidate database streamline the recruitment process?
HR teams and recruitment agencies alike can use candidate databases to speed up, simplify, and streamline the recruiting process. A recruiting database can:
- Cut down the time it takes to source a candidate, since you’re sourcing from your own database
- Organize candidates by skills, qualifications, job history, location, etc.
- Provide the ability to search using specific criteria
- Provide data analytics that offer valuable insights into candidates and their potential
- Show you the source of your most suitable candidates so you can invest more in those recruitment channels
- Cut down your reliance on costly third-party recruitment tools
Ultimately, a candidate database is a fantastic tool in your data driven recruitment arsenal, helping you improve candidate quality and reduce time-to-hire.
How to build a candidate database for effective recruitment
If you’re thinking about building a candidate database, look no further. Here are the steps you’ll need to take to get one up and running.
Gather the right tools
For businesses or startups on a tight budget, the right tools might be a spreadsheet and an Indeed business account. You can gather candidate data from recruitment websites and add it manually to your database.
Alongside these, incorporating time tracking software can optimize the recruitment team’s efficiency by ensuring activities are completed within scheduled timelines.You can gather candidate data from recruitment websites and add it manually to your database. This approach not only streamlines the process but also helps in better allocation of time and resources.
Don’t be put off by the lack of a budget. Starting your candidate database as early as possible, even manually, gives you a strong foundation of data to add to a more expensive solution later on.
For businesses with bigger budgets, tools like applicant tracking systems (ATS) and third-party recruitment software can automate the process.
Look out for tools that allow categorization of key criteria, such as skills and qualifications. The ability to conduct an accurate and thorough candidate search is vital to finding the most qualified candidate for a role.
Source your candidates
There are a few ways to source data for your recruiting database, including:
- Job applications
- CVs
- Employee referrals
- Networking events
- Candidates you’ve screened in the past but weren’t quite right for the role
- Internal candidates looking to change roles or go up for promotion
- Searching websites like LinkedIn and Indeed
- Analyzing resume examples from industry-specific job boards can provide additional insights into candidate qualifications and industry-specific experiences.
- Third-party business data platforms that provide employee datasets either free or for a price
Remember, the purpose of a candidate database is to have a repository of potential recruits if your business needs to fill a role. Anyone with potential can become part of your database. You can be as discerning as you like, or cast a wide net if you prefer.
Keep your data organized
Your candidate database contains masses of valuable data ready to be activated. What is data activation? The process of turning all that personal candidate information into actionable insights and searchable queries.
But data needs regular cleaning to remain useful. Out-of-date data, duplicate entries, typos, and missing fields can slow down candidate searches and create inaccurate analytics.
There are a couple of ways to maintain your database.
When inputting data:
- Fill every field
- Ensure all data is in the right format
- Do a candidate search first to ensure you’re not creating duplicate profiles
- Double-check for typos and inaccuracies before you enter the data
After that, data hygiene is an ongoing process. Train employees to keep candidate data up-to-date, regularly check for duplicates, and fill missing fields by searching for relevant information.
Maintain your candidate pipeline
Your candidate pipeline is a pool of your most qualified candidates – think of it like your shortlist. If a role comes up, a candidate in your pipeline is pre-screened and, therefore, primed to fill it quickly.
Maintaining regular contact and outreach keeps these high-quality candidates in your pipeline. You can do this by:
- Notifying candidates about upcoming roles they might be interested in
- Adding candidates to your email list for news and interesting content
- Engaging with candidates on social media
- Simply checking in every so often with a personalized email or call
A well-maintained pipeline helps build relationships with the people who might, one day, turn into promising candidates.
Recruit more effectively with a recruiting database
A candidate database is a powerful recruitment tool for any business, small or large. You’ll always need to recruit, and a database streamlines and speeds up sourcing, cuts costs, and helps you build relationships with potential candidates. Use our handy guide to start building a candidate database now.