Creating a Hiring Bench: Ensuring Your Business Hires the Best Employees

Most small businesses start hiring when job positions become available. However, this isn’t the best approach.

Why so?

Because it’s REACTIVE rather than PROACTIVE. It means you have to act quickly to fill the position, otherwise your business risks falling behind.

That’s why many successful companies dedicate time and resources to creating a talent hiring bench. It allows entrepreneurs like you to have a pool of qualified candidates waiting on the sidelines, ready to be employed whenever the right time comes.

So, what is a hiring bench exactly? How do they work, what are the benefits they offer, and how can you create your own?

Businesses, Like Pro Sports Teams, Need a Strong Bench

Even the best pro sports team would be foolish to rely solely on its core lineup of players. They need additional talent on the bench that is ready to take the stage when players underperform, tire, get injured, or decide to leave the team.

The same is true for business. You don’t want to be in a position where you’re down a person while your competitors have a full squad; you’re going to get crushed.

That’s where a hiring bench comes in. Now, the analogy we just gave is not a perfect comparison, but it’s similar enough for you to get the point. 

When it comes to business, the talent you have on your bench has not yet been hired. Instead, they are a pre-vetted pool of candidates with all the skills and experience you need for specific positions.

As positions become available at your company, which can often occur with little warning, you already have some excellent options ready to fill them.

How Creating a Hiring Bench Works

You likely already have some methods you use for hiring. Creating a hiring bench is all about building upon this approach, refining it, and making it a continuous process rather than an occasional task. It’s also about tracking and building a relationship with candidates who are a good fit.

For instance, perhaps you usually post job listings on online job boards like Indeed or freelance platforms like Upwork, or perhaps you search for talent on social media platforms like LinkedIn. That isn’t going to change.

For bench hiring, instead of just doing this in emergencies when you need to fill a position fast, you do it continuously, and you connect with any good candidates you find, qualify them, even interview them, and see which candidates are strong and are worth keeping on your hiring bench. You can use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) for this or something as simple as a spreadsheet.

In the rare instances where you find someone who is just too good to miss, you find a place for them right away. However, typically, all you need to do is connect, have a quick call or meeting with them, review examples of their past work and experience, maybe have them complete a brief trial/demo project, and send them the occasional message to stay in touch.  

You might think this sounds strange, but when you think about it, most of the best talent out there will already be working, because they tend to stay busy and in demand. 

They’re not going to mind if you say you have no immediate positions available but that you think they’re a great fit, and will let them know in the future. You’ll be surprised how many are open to new opportunities when you do have positions available.

Google’s Clever Approach to Building Its Talent Bench

Google has no shortage of job applicants; studies show it’s one of the world’s most attractive employers. But that doesn’t mean they can just sit back and let the applications roll in.

Even Google takes steps to cultivate and improve its bench, and they have a pretty neat strategy for doing so.

By creating and releasing free online courses, such as the Google Project Management Certificate, Google has been able to open up its hiring bench to a wider range of candidates.

That’s because absolutely anyone can enroll in these courses; it doesn’t matter whether you have a degree or experience. People enroll in these free courses because they want to earn a certificate, which can help them in their careers.

However, at the same time, it gives Google access to a huge pool of potential candidates, along with a clear measure of their aptitude based on the quality of their coursework.

This effectively allows Google to find the cream of the crop and bring them on board when the time’s right. Google can uncover hidden star candidates to add to its bench who otherwise may not pass typical screening procedures due to a lack of experience or higher education.

So it’s worth considering: Is there something similar you could do that offers value to others while providing you access to top talent?

Here are a few Hiring Bench ideas:

• Host competitions that require participants to show their skills to win.
• Allow guest posts on your blog, offering publication and job opportunities to those who stand out.
• Add a skills test to your careers page or job application process.

The Advantages You Gain from a Hiring Bench

There are numerous benefits to be gained from creating a hiring bench. If you are not yet convinced your business needs one, consider the following advantages:

• Gain an Edge: Bench hiring is often overlooked, allowing you to gain a leg up on the competition.
• Save Time: A hiring bench allows you to fill positions in days, rather than weeks or months, ensuring you don’t fall behind.
• Master Hiring: Refining your approach daily allows you to learn where and how to attract the best talent. 
• Less Mistakes: When you’re not hiring out of desperation, you’re less likely to hire the wrong people.
• Better Staff: Building a bench is essentially screening for the best talent out there, meaning you’re more likely to hire exceptional staff.
• Higher Standards: With a strong bench, you can confidently enforce high standards in your business, rather than being too lenient out of fear of losing staff.
• Labor Market Insights: Creating a bench helps you truly understand the supply and going rates of talent in different professions.
• Crisis Management: Whether you unexpectedly lose a key staff member or rapidly need additional talent to meet an order, a hiring bench helps you mitigate challenging phases.

Unilever’s Continuous Hiring Improvements Pay Off

Let’s finish with one more story that illustrates the power of continuously developing your hiring bench. 

Unilever, the renowned global consumer goods company, used to do most of its recruiting from a selection of campuses.

But in its quest to continuously improve its talent pipeline, it started using online games and video interviews to reach a wider pool of candidates.

Not only did gamification double the likelihood that candidates who reach the final interview stage will receive and accept an offer, but it also reduced hiring times and costs.

Unilever has processed hundreds of thousands of applications this way and significantly increased the diversity of its workforce, regarding ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status.

Even for leading companies with robust hiring processes, there are still huge benefits to be gained from always working on and developing your hiring bench!

Hiring Bench Frequently Asked Questions

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