How to measure and adapt your Talent Pools

Spot early signs in Candidate Insights

Start with the Candidate Insights tab.

You can look at this on a macro-level, or use filters to narrow your view by job, hiring manager, division, or location. 

This view, and specifically the top-right chart, (pictured below) helps you break down applicants by tag. 

When you filter by Tag Category (for example, if you have a Silver Medalist Pool and are using ‘Potential’ ), you’ll start to see the first signs of performance.

• Are candidates from your Pools reapplying for new roles?
• Are your nurture emails working?

These are the early indicators that your Pools are starting to generate quality applicants.

💡 If your tagged candidates aren’t showing up here, check your Tag Management tab. Below, we explain how to merge and remove irrelevant tags to multiple candidates at once. 

Compare jobs with and without Talent Pools

Once you’ve spotted those early signals, move to a broader view in Job Insights.

Here, you can use filters for time periods, locations, departments, and more to compare your hiring performance for jobs with Talent Pools versus without. Look for differences in time to hire, time to fill, and the open duration of jobs overall pre- and post-Talent Pools.

If a Pool isn’t giving you results, don’t scrap it. Take a closer look at what’s behind the data and make small, practical changes that help it perform better next time.

1. Check your tagging

Inconsistent or missing tags are usually the first reason a Pool underperforms.
Start by reviewing your tagging framework document to make sure everyone on your team is using the same tag set. 

If you’ve made any updates or introduced new tags, share them right away so everyone’s aligned.

Next, open the Tag Management tab and look for duplicates or slight variations that might be splitting your data. You might need to merge or remove any redundant tags. 

To do this, head to the All Candidates tab, and filter the candidates by the tag you want to remove or merge. 

Next, select each candidate and click Tag, this will enable you to add the correct tag in bulk. 

You can then go back to Tag Management and delete the irrelevant tag without impacting your Talent Pools.

2. Review engagement

If your messages aren’t getting replies or reapplications, look at timing and tone. 

The best nurtures are short and relevant. A quick update or a new opportunity often performs better than a generic check-in.

3. Clean up your candidates

Remove old records or contacts who’ve moved on. Keeping a smaller, higher-quality Pool always beats holding onto a large, unfiltered one. When your data is clean, reports tell a clearer story and your outreach performs better.

4. Reassign ownership if needed

If no one is responsible for keeping a Pool updated, it will quickly go stale. Make sure every Pool has a named owner and a backup. A quick weekly or monthly check-in is enough to keep things running smoothly.

5. Keep an eye on patterns

If one Pool consistently produces hires and another never converts, compare their setup. Are the tags, conditions, or nurture steps the same? Small differences in process often explain big differences in outcome.

Once you’ve made your updates, give it a few weeks before reviewing the same charts again. Most Pools only need a few tweaks to get back on track.

You’ve built your first Pools, organized your tags, and learned how to measure what’s working. From here, the goal is simple: keep improving. 

Use what’s working, refine what’s not, and just keep building on the foundation you’ve already created.

Talent Pools work best when they’re maintained little and often. A quick check of your reports, a small refresh of your messaging, and a short review of your ownership structure can make a big difference. Use what’s working, refine what’s not, and keep building on the foundation you’ve already created.

Over time, this turns your system into something your whole team can trust.