How to Access Hidden Talent Pools

The World Economic Forum just released the most in-demand skills for 2030 — and they’re mostly not technical hard skills. They’re durable. They’re transferrable. And they’re often hiding in plain sight: -> Analytical thinking -> Resilience, flexibility & agility -> Leadership & social influence -> Motivation & self-awareness -> Creative thinking -> Systems thinking -> Curiosity & lifelong learning Here’s the problem: These skills are everywhere — but they’re invisible. ⚠️ They don’t show up on resumes. ⚠️ They’re not listed in job histories. ⚠️ They’re rarely in performance reviews. That’s a massive missed opportunity. Because these are the skills that power transformation, spark innovation and create a lasting competitive edge. Here’s how to fix it: Step 1: Discover hidden talent Use a mindset and cognitive-based instrument like MyInnerGenius® to identify the durable, transferrable skills your people already have — skills that are invisible on paper but critical to future success. MIG also captures the roles they love and find meaningful and fulfilling. Step 2: Build a skills registry Turn those insights into a living, breathing skills registry — a nano-level view of your workforce’s strengths. This makes it possible to match people to emerging roles, projects, and career paths in real time. Step 3: Match people to purpose Use the skills registry to align individuals with the roles and learning opportunities where they’ll thrive — creating a workforce that’s agile, fulfilled and future-ready. That’s how you stop guessing — and start growing with intention. ♻️PS: Please Share #FutureOfWork #SkillsFirst #CareerCoach #HiddenGenius

Don’t let the sales people fool you, LinkedIn isn’t the best place to find great talent Most candidates aren’t active on LinkedIn, and honestly, I don’t blame them. LinkedIn is full of: ➡️ People bragging ➡️ People trying to sell you things you don’t want ➡️ Recruiters complaining about candidates ➡️ Hiring hot takes from Baby CEOs And don't get me wrong, LinkedIn is the top platform for networking, but if you want to find the true hidden gems in your industry, you have to hang out where they do. 💎 So, as a Recruiter, how do you figure out where to spend your time? I usually start by asking current employees where they hang out. Ask them: 📌 Where do they find answers to tricky problems they encounter at work? 📌 Where do they go to level up their skills in a particular area? 📌 How do they find out about the cool places to work at? 📌 Where do their friends go to brag or bash their employer? The answers to those questions have led me to some of the most interesting places where I've created content and found amazing people to hire! 👀 When you're a recruiter, creating content doesn't always look how you would expect it to. Some of my most effective "content" has been in the form of a comment on Reddit or a meme on Twitter. 💎 LinkedIn is a great tool for networking and building relationships with potential candidates, but it's not the best platform to find them. To recruit the best candidates, you need to use a variety of channels and focus on niche platforms relevant to your industry. There's life beyond LinkedIn. Go find your people where they're at! 🎯 #talentacquisition #linkedin #contentcreation

With the increased volume of inbound applications, we’ve been working with teams on how to manage this through designing processes to hold a positive candidate experience, leveraging technology for efficiency, and digging into network analysis. Most teams are looking at the first two, but very few are even thinking about the last one. So what is network analysis, why does it matter for recruiting, and how do you do it? What is network analysis? Network analysis is a method of studying the relationships and connections between ‘nodes’ or entities in a network. LinkedIn is the obvious example where people have relationships and connections to other people and organizations, and when you view profiles you can see mutual connections. The relationships we were seeking to better understand were between jobs and candidates applying for those jobs. Why does it matter for recruiting? For talent strategy, network analysis can surface incredibly valuable insights that can be used to identify and connect with potential candidates. Here’s how it works:  When candidates apply to jobs they create a connection, or what we call an application. When candidates apply to multiple jobs they create shared connections across jobs. When many candidates apply to many jobs you now have a very interesting network that can be used to better understand things like:  ➡ What jobs have shared candidate pools that could indicate if it would be more efficient to have some of those jobs consolidated to review a more streamlined pipeline? ➡ What jobs do candidates find most interesting for certain talent pools?  ➡ What jobs that have been filled historically could be used as sourcing pools for future roles? ➡ Are there job attributes that attract similar candidates - level, location, pay, skillset, etc? How do you do it? 1. Get the data Create a report from your ATS that has applications over the period of time that you want to analyze. The report should include a unique candidate and job ID, and upload your report into Google Sheets 2. Do the analysis Use Claude or ChatGPT to generate the Apps Script to run for generating the job pairs with shared candidates with the number of shared candidates for each pair. You could also expand this prompt to include other job attributes for your analysis. This will return the basics of shared candidates. I'll include a prompt you can use in the comments. If you want the Apps Script code and instructions I used, let me know in the comments. 3. Visualize the relationships between candidates across jobs You can take it a step further and visualize these relationships. Use a tool like Gephi where you can apply filters like number of shared connections >100 or using attributes like engineering or sales, etc. It will allow you to do all sorts of analyses through weighting variables and visualizations through color coding, sizing, etc.

A recent WIRED article about Elon Musk's DOGE recruitment process highlighted two takeaways in modern hiring. 👍The Good: When the team needed to attract niche talent, they went straight to where their target talent hangs out---through Discord and chat groups. 👎The Not-So-Good: One of their recruiters posted on X: "...we need the brightest people in the world to wrestle with that problem. I've always found Palantirians & ex-Palantirians to be the most exceptional people I know, so who better to confront that challenge." The obvious problem? They're essentially stating that they only want former or current Palantir employees. It's blatant pedigree bias that can be a hindrance in driving innovation. As someone who has placed tech talent for 16+ years, I can say this: I'm in favor of looking beyond just posting a job on your career site to attract talent. ✔️ Go beyond posting a job on your career site. I've said it before, but leveraging niche online communities and groups to find talent is smart. Slack, Github, Discord, Blind, StackOverflow, and Girls in Tech, to name a few for the tech community. Bonus points for not just recruiting but contributing value to these communities. ✔️ Cast a wider net beyond your personal network. Your next hire may NOT be from a competitor. They may even work outside the industry but have transferrable skills. Innovation can come from unconventional backgrounds. I'd be lying if I didn't source from my client's competitors, but I also look to identify prospects outside the scope that possess who skills & competency to potentially elevate the company. Sourcing tip dujour: Build your reach outside your typical talent pools. What's been your most surprising hire that come from an unexpected background?

Did you know your company is overlooking a HUGE pool of potential talent? I've seen this time and time again. Companies rely on the old post-and-prey method. If your company is not seeking out passive talent, you're cutting your candidate pool by 37%! But, what's the difference between an active and passive candidate? Simply put: Passive candidates are already employed. Many people might think that these kinds of candidates are more difficult to attract, or that they're not *that* interested in pursuing a new job. I know that's not true. Passive candidates can be just as eager as others for a new opportunity (maybe even more). The key to attracting passive talent is ☑ Being very clear about what you're offering. A vague message is never received well. Pitch the role and the company and why they should be interested (exciting project work, company launching a new product, etc) ☑ Follow-up. People are busy. Just because they didn't respond to your first message doesn't mean they are not interested. I have a 41% response rate to my second message. ☑ When you get them on the phone be sure to ask probing questions into the reason(s) they may be open to considering a new opportunity. Their motivations and your need/values should align or it won't be the right fit. ☑ Court them. You may think you don't need to roll out the red carpet because the candidate is (maybe) not considering other potential employers. However, candidate experience is always important. If there are hiccups in the process, lack of communication, and/or a drawn-out process the candidate won't want to take time away from their full-time job and life to complete it. Utilizing an external recruiter, like myself, is critical for finding and attracting these types of candidates. Your internal recruiters (if you're lucky enough to have them) are managing the business demands meaning new people team initiatives, process creation, and candidate management (referrals, applications, etc) become a heavy part of their day-to-day. They may also lack the network and tools that external recruiters have meaning their reach is limited. _____________ Her Scout is a search firm supporting female leaders in early and growth stage companies with their recruiting needs. #startuprecruiting #femalefounders #femaleleaders #hiring