• A Talent Pool is not a piece of technology or data in a database. It is a web of human relationships developed to ensure the availability of the labor required to maintain and grow an organization.
   
• A Talent Pool is not an online social software tool. These things (blogs, networks, advertisements, databases) can be used to buttress and support the web of human relationships.
   
• A Talent Pool does not exist in "cyberspace". "Meatspace", the world of our daily tangible interactions, is where potential employees work, dream, hope and live their lives.
   
• Talent Pools are not (primarily) ownership vehicles. They are places where value flows from the employer to the potential employee. The potential employee is better off because of their membership in the pool.
   
• Value is not another word for job listing. Value is better understood as cash or cash equivalents. White Papers, Training, Networking Opportunities, Technical Information, Advancement Aids, Parties, Vacations, Discounts. For a talent pool to work, real value must flow towards the Potential Employee.
   
• A Talent Pool  is not a guarantee. It is a risk management tool. By developing value-positive relationships with a web of Potential Employees, clear risks (staffing/manpower shortages) can be readily managed.
   
• A Talent Pool  is not an endless escapade. A requirements document, budgets, planning and measurement can all be executed in the management of a talent pool. The right size is "the number of relationships required to 'relatively' guarantee the availability of the right talent at the right time in the right place. Some Talent Pools only have one member.
   
• There is no standard formula for the execution of a Talent Pool. The approaches that work are tailored to the market realities and demographics of the  particular execution.

You may find our white paper, Roses in the Thornbushes,  illuminating.

Tomorrow: The Risks