According to ManpowerGroup’s Q1 2023 Employment Outlook Survey, nearly half of the surveyed companies in Singapore plan to increase their workforce. Despite economic uncertainties and increasing operational costs, they are still hiring. What about your company?

The most important asset of your company is people; therefore, you may still need to identify and recruit top talent in order to thrive in an economic slowdown. While you do not want to embark on a hiring spree right now (it is wise to avoid overstaffing), you should nonetheless work towards building a strong pipeline of talent.

By proactively building this pipeline in advance, you will have access to a wide pool of qualified candidates. Improving market conditions will not catch you unprepared—you can ramp up recruitment whenever the need arises. Whether your company desires to leverage new opportunities or stabilise business performance down the road, you will be able to move fast. Here are 3 ways you can build a strong and sustainable talent pipeline:

1. Explore Social Recruiting

Social recruiting—whereby companies utilise the various social media platforms to find, attract and hire talent—is one of the top Recruitment trends for 2023. By harnessing the vast network effects of LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and even TikTok, you can showcase your brand to the entire world. Potential candidates will get a glimpse of your company culture and what it’s like to work for your company through behind-the-scenes photos and reels.

To kickstart your social recruiting strategy, decide which social media platform(s) your company will be posting on. It largely depends on the candidate demographics you are looking to attract—and where your ideal candidates are most likely to be found. For instance, TikTok is most popular with the Gen Zs, whereas Millennials still flock to Facebook and Instagram.

Once you have settled on the social media platform of choice, actively engage potential candidates with regular branding posts. This should be carried out in a consistent manner, even though there are no available job positions to advertise at the moment. As such, you can create a pool of top talent to dip into whenever roles open up.

2. Offer Internships

Besides social recruiting, your company should look into offering internships. What better way to build a strong talent pipeline than to target fresh graduates who are just starting out in their careers? Top-performing interns who are aligned with your company’s values can potentially be converted into permanent employees in the future.

Furthermore, through offering internship opportunities to students, your company can forge closer ties with the various local Universities, Polytechnics and ITEs. The connections with these educational institutions can heighten your company’s visibility to potential candidates, thus increasing your brand recognition.

When planning internships, remember to take note of the different time periods students are available. Local university students usually have their internships during their summer break from May to August. This is as opposed to Polytechnic students who have their holidays either from end-February to April or end-August to October.

3. Tap into External Candidate Databases

If you do not already have an existing database, you should consider partnering with professional recruiters like Reeracoen, who can give you access to a large quantity of jobseekers. With over 11 years of professional recruitment experience, Reeracoen has amassed a pool of more than 700,000 high quality candidates!

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