As a hiring manager in the brewing industry, at times you may find it challenging to fill an open role as quickly as you would like to. If you don’t know anyone within your immediate network who would be suitable for your open role, you will have to post a job ad and go through the traditional recruitment process. Often, this will result in finding an ideal hire, but it takes considerable time.

Is there anything else you can do to make the process quicker? The best thing to do is to continuously build a network of skilled professionals within your industry that you can reach out to when you have a hiring need. Having a list of professionals in your network who may be suitable to join your organization is called a talent pipeline. Talent pipelines are extremely useful to build because they allow you to easily tap into a rich resource of skilled professionals to quickly fill openings in your organization.

How do you build and maintain a skilled network or talent pipeline? Read on to find out the top three ways.

1. Attend networking events and keep in touch with contacts.

In the brewing industry, there are often events that you can attend to learn more about best practices and trends in brewing operations and techniques, while meeting new people. For example, the Craft Brewers Conference, would be a great example of an event to attend where you will meet like-minded professionals, who share similar passions and skillsets. Handing out business cards, and collecting cards of those who spark your interest, will allow you to accumulate a few key contacts, for when the time comes to grow your team.

2. Stay in touch with previously interviewed candidates who were shortlisted.

This is something that is often overlooked by recruiters and hiring managers. When you complete a hiring process for an open role, don’t forget about the other short-listed candidates who were considered your second or third choices. Those are often viable candidates that you simply couldn’t hire because you only had the budget for one position at the time of interviewing. If you keep in contact with the short-listed candidates from previous competitions, then next time you need to hire for a similar position, it may be as simple as reaching out to previous applicants to discuss your newly available position.

3. Build your network online through growing an audience with social media.

Its also important to keep your brewery’s brand relevant and top of mind with prospective job applicants. Whether your brewery is small or large, having an online presence for the purpose of recruitment is crucial. Keeping active on social media, including LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook, will help build a captive audience of those in the brewing industry or looking to join the industry. When you have an open role, posting it to these social channels will properly target your role to those interested specifically in your brand who are most likely to apply.

By following these few tips, its easy to see the value in building a network full of prospective candidates. Taking the time to keep in touch with those you meet at conferences and those previously interviewed, as well as keeping active on social media, are three simple techniques to ensure you will have a captive audience of interested applicants next time you have a job to fill at your brewery.

By Christine Juszczak