Pipeline recruiting is the practice of building relationships with potential candidates ahead of a specific vacancy, so that when the req opens there is somewhere to start. For a small desk it is genuinely valuable and it goes wrong in two predictable ways, both of which are visible in the arithmetic. The first is treating it as a substitute for advertising rather than a supplement: on the worked example a hire takes 50 applicants at the desk's own conversion rates, and a pipeline of a dozen warm names does not replace that unless those names convert enormously better, which they sometimes do and often do not. The second is not measuring it, so nobody notices when the pipeline stops producing hires and it quietly becomes a mailing list. This page sets out how to run pipeline recruiting so it stays honest: what to record, what to measure, and what a working pipeline actually looks like in numbers rather than in intentions.
Record it like a pipeline, not like a mailing list
Each person needs a source, a date of last contact, and a note of what role they would fit. Without a date you cannot tell warm from stale, and stale is the normal state of any list that is not actively maintained by somebody whose job it is.
Measure conversion separately
Track hires that came from the pipeline against hires that came from advertising, and their conversion rates. If pipeline candidates do not convert better than cold applicants, the pipeline is costing hours and returning nothing, and it is much better to know that.
Be honest about decay
People change jobs, move and lose interest. A name added eighteen months ago and not contacted since is a cold approach with extra steps. Most small desks are better off keeping a short live pipeline than a long dead one they feel good about.
Questions people ask about pipeline recruiting
How is this different from sourcing?
Sourcing is finding candidates for a role that is open now. Pipeline recruiting is doing it before the role exists, which is why it needs a reason to keep in touch and a record with dates.
Does it work for a small employer?
For repeated roles, often yes. For roles you fill once, rarely: the effort is spent against a vacancy that may never open, and the agency fee sheet on this site is the better comparison for those.
What should I track?
Contacts, last contact date, pipeline-sourced hires and their conversion rate. Four things, and between them they answer whether the practice is actually paying for the hours it takes.