Forgive the reference to the inhalation of carcinogenic materials via the use of a wood and plastic utensil but it acts as a useful introduction to the discussion. According to the ever reliable Wikipedia, the word ‘pipe’ could equally apply to a ‘hollow cylinder for the conveyance of materials’, ‘a type of metal casting defect’, a financial deal involving ‘private investment in public equity’, ‘an official announcement via a ship’s communication system’, ‘a small town in Wisconsin’ and for everybody who loves ‘The Great British Bake Off’ – ‘the decorative application of icing to a cake’.
Incredible how the English language can make such efficient use of one word to convey meaning in multiple contexts. We in the Talent Acquisition / Recruitment / Sourcing / Search / Resourcing / Staffing / HR community have a rather different approach. Sometimes it seems we prefer the complete reverse – ‘why use one word to explain many things when you can use a whole load of different words to describe exactly the same activity’.
So welcome the ‘Talent Pipe’. Not to be confused with the ‘Talent Pool’ or the ‘Talent Bank’ – and certainly very different from your ‘Talent Network’ or ‘Talent Community’. What’s next – regionalisation? Do organisations in Scotland have a ‘Talent Loch’ or in Cumbria a ‘Talent Tarn’. Will size become an issue? Are we due a ‘Talent Lake’? I believe we already have ‘Talent Puddles’. How about we go sector specific with retailers having a ‘Talent Store’, technology firms a ‘Talent Cache’, brokers a ‘Talent Stock’ and utility companies a ‘Talent Reservoir’?
Personally I’m a fan of the ‘pipe’ – or more specifically – the ‘Talent Pipeline’. Without pushing the wordplay too far, a ‘pool’ can easily become stagnant – and this is the criticism often levelled by disappointed resourcing professionals. A ‘pipeline’ on the other hand implies fluidity, the movement of people progressively along a journey – from awareness to action. It’s not a new idea. The wonderful Wikipedia tells me that the AIDA (Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action) was first suggested by E. St. Elmo Lewis in 1898 to describe the four cognitive phases that buyers follow when accepting a new idea or purchasing a new product. While this stuff has been known to the folks in Recruitment Marketing for many a long year, perhaps with the arrival of the Talent Pipeline we finally have a term that can become a universally accepted descriptor for the activity of ‘building interactive relationships with great people who one day might become the best hire you ever made’.
Well that’s what I think anyway. And if you don’t like it – in the nicest possible way – ‘please place it within a briar combustion bowl and set it ablaze’.