How to Build Your Startup Hiring Pipeline from Scratch

Dover

June 27, 2025

5 mins

Hiring_Pipeline
Hiring_Pipeline
Hiring_Pipeline

Tech startups can fail at hiring because they wait until it's too late. Dover's recruiters see this constantly .You need a senior engineer now, but your search starts from zero. Months pass. The role stays empty.

The fix? Build your hiring pipeline before you need it. A startup hiring pipeline lets you attract and assess talent continuously, so when roles open, you're ready to move fast. Here's how to build yours:

TLDR:

  • Executive hires take an average of 6 months to fill, making proactive pipeline building critical

  • A hiring pipeline reduces time from 4+ months to under 30 days

  • Start with workforce planning 6-12 months ahead and set up a proper recruiting foundation

  • Use multiple sourcing channels, including referrals, job boards, and professional networks

  • Put in place structured evaluation processes and nurture long-term candidate relationships

  • Consider fractional recruiters when scaling beyond your internal capacity

  • Track key metrics like time-to-hire and cost-per-hire to optimize your process


Tech startups can fail at hiring because they wait until it's too late. Dover's recruiters see this constantly .You need a senior engineer now, but your search starts from zero. Months pass. The role stays empty.

The fix? Build your hiring pipeline before you need it. A startup hiring pipeline lets you attract and assess talent continuously, so when roles open, you're ready to move fast. Here's how to build yours:

TLDR:

  • Executive hires take an average of 6 months to fill, making proactive pipeline building critical

  • A hiring pipeline reduces time from 4+ months to under 30 days

  • Start with workforce planning 6-12 months ahead and set up a proper recruiting foundation

  • Use multiple sourcing channels, including referrals, job boards, and professional networks

  • Put in place structured evaluation processes and nurture long-term candidate relationships

  • Consider fractional recruiters when scaling beyond your internal capacity

  • Track key metrics like time-to-hire and cost-per-hire to optimize your process


Understanding the Current Startup Hiring Scene

Understanding the Current Startup Hiring Scene

Hiring for startups in 2025 is no joke; the competition is high. Executive hires take six months to fill on average, with early-stage companies facing challenges around:

  • Compensation expectations and budget constraints

  • Talent shortage vs the competition for skilled candidates

  • Remote work expanded the talent pool, but also increased competition

The traditional approach of posting a job when you need someone doesn't work anymore. By the time you realize you need a new hire, write the job description, and start interviewing, you're already months behind. This is where a proactive hiring pipeline becomes your competitive advantage. Instead of reactive hiring, you're creating a smarter approach that anticipates your hiring needs, helps you build relationships with potential candidates before you need them, and moves the pipeline quickly when the right opportunity comes up.

What is a Startup Hiring Pipeline and Why You Need One

What is a Startup Hiring Pipeline and Why You Need One

A hiring pipeline is an organized approach to identify, attract, and nurture potential candidates before you have open positions. Think of it as building relationships with talent you might want to hire in the future, rather than scrambling to find people when you desperately need them.



A strong hiring pipeline framework can reduce your time-to-hire. Instead of starting from zero when a position opens, you already have qualified candidates who know your company, understand your mission, and are interested in joining your team.

For startups, this approach fits well as the hiring needs are always changing. You might go months without hiring, then suddenly need to double your engineering team after a funding round. A hiring pipeline makes sure you're ready for both scenarios. Here's the reality that most startups face: only 30% of companies can fill a vacant role within 30 days, while 70% take up to four months.



Dover's free ATS, designed for startups, serves as the foundational tool for pipeline management. It centralizes all your candidate data, tracks interactions over time, and helps you keep relationships with potential hires even when you don't have immediate openings.

Now, let's help you build a hiring pipeline to suit your startup needs.

Step 1: Define Your Hiring Strategy and Future Needs

Step 1: Define Your Hiring Strategy and Future Needs

Building a successful hiring pipeline starts with understanding what roles you'll need 6-12 months from now. This isn't about crystal ball predictions, but about focusing on strategic planning based on your growth path and goals.

Start by mapping out your expected growth phases:

  • If you're planning to raise a Series A in 3 months, what roles will you need to fill with that funding?

  • If you're launching a new product, what skills will your team need that you don't currently have?

  • What kind of recruiting approach fulfills your hiring needs?

Consider both technical and non-technical roles in your planning. Many startups focus on engineering hires, but forget about the sales, marketing, and operations roles that become just as important as you scale. A balanced approach to pipeline building makes sure you're prepared for all types of hiring needs.

Create a simple roadmap that outlines:

  • Roles you'll definitely need in the next 6 months

  • Roles you'll likely need in the next 6-12 months

  • Skills that will become important as you scale

  • Leadership positions you'll need to fill as you grow

Dover's platform helps startups organize and plan their strategy with clear pipeline stages. Creating hiring rubrics for each anticipated role gives you consistency in your process and helps you find the right candidates.

Step 2: Set Up Your Recruiting Infrastructure

Your recruiting foundation makes pipeline management possible. Without the right tools and processes, even the best sourcing efforts will fall apart. A powerful applicant tracking system (ATS) can simplify talent pipeline management by centralizing candidate data, automating communication, and tracking key metrics. Dover's free ATS is built for startup needs. Dover's system takes a more balanced approach. It's not crazy complicated like those big enterprise tools, but it's also not some bare-bones solution that can't do what you need.

Dover brings together your entire hiring process into one place. From early candidate contact through final offer, everything is tracked and organized. This is important when you're maintaining relationships with candidates over months.

Infrastructure Component

Why It Matters

Dover Solution

Centralized candidate database

Track interactions over time

Free ATS with unlimited storage (no hidden costs or feature limitations)

Automated communication

Maintain regular touchpoints

Built-in email templates and scheduling

Pipeline stage tracking

Monitor candidate progression

Customizable pipeline stages

Team collaboration

Keep everyone aligned

Shared candidate profiles and notes

Integrated sourcing tools

Reach more candidates faster

Free sourcing tool (post on 70+ job boards, capture emails, and ATS sync)

Best practices suggest keeping your pipeline to 12 stages or less. Consistent processes will help keep your hiring team on track. Dover's platform follows this structure while remaining flexible.

Step 3: Build Your Candidate Sourcing Strategy

Successful candidate sourcing for startups calls for a multi-channel approach. You can't rely on job postings alone; the best candidates are often passive and need to be actively recruited.

Research shows that most startup hires come from friends, friends of friends, or ex-colleagues. This makes sense, good people know good people. Personal recommendations carry major weight in hiring choices.

Here's a complete sourcing strategy that works for startups:

  • Employee referrals: Your current team's network

  • Professional networking: Industry events, conferences, and meetups

  • Social media: LinkedIn, Twitter, and industry-specific platforms

  • Job board posting: Cast a wide net with strategic job postings

  • Direct outreach: Identifying and reaching out to passive candidates

  • University partnerships: Building relationships with relevant academic programs

Dover's integrated sourcing tools make this multi-channel approach simple. The free Chrome extension for LinkedIn can find candidate email contacts and send personalized outreach in no time.

Our platform's one-click job board posting allows you to post on 70+ job boards with a single submission. Instead of manually posting to Indeed, LinkedIn, AngelList, and dozens of other sites, you can send out your job posting everywhere at once.

Dover's employee referrals system lets you request referrals from your team, investors, or friends with zero setup. You can then track those referred candidates from introduction all the way through hire, giving you visibility into your most effective sourcing channels.


Step 4: Create Compelling Job Descriptions and Employer Branding

Your employer brand is what attracts candidates to your pipeline in the first place. Research shows that only 28% of HR professionals have an employer branding strategy, with 40% lacking a formal strategy entirely. This represents a huge chance for startups willing to invest in their employer reputation.

For early-stage companies, as you grow, your employees become your brand signal. The people you hire and how they talk about working at your company influence whether top candidates want to join your pipeline. This is why maintaining a positive company culture and employee experience is directly tied to your recruiting success.

Your job descriptions are often the first touchpoint candidates have. They need to be compelling, clear, and authentic.

Startup job descriptions should include:

  • Clear role expectations and growth opportunities

  • Honest assessment of the startup environment and challenges

  • Specific technical requirements and nice-to-haves

  • Company mission and values alignment

  • Compensation range and equity information

  • Remote work policies and team structure

Dover's job posting features help startups create professional, convincing job descriptions that reach the right candidates. We have templates and best practices designed for startup hiring needs. Read more about writing clear and compelling job descriptions to attract passive candidates.

Step 5: Implement a Candidate Screening and Evaluation Process

Without screening criteria, you'll end up wasting tons of time on people who aren't even close to what you need, and you might accidentally pass over some really solid candidates who just happen to be awkward in interviews.

When you're screening candidates, you want to get a feel for both their technical chops and whether they'll actually fit in with your team. Chatting with people during interviews gives you real insight into what they can actually do, how their brain works, and if they'll love working in your startup's unique vibe.

You will also need some structure in how you assess everyone. Otherwise, you might end up comparing apples to oranges, especially when you're interviewing people months apart for similar roles. Having consistent criteria helps you make fair comparisons and better decisions about who to bring on board.

Your evaluation process should include multiple touchpoints:

  • Initial resume screening (automated where possible)

  • Phone or video screening call

  • Technical assessment or work sample

  • Team interviews with multiple stakeholders

  • Final interview with decision makers

  • Reference checks for final candidates

Dover's AI-powered candidate scoring identifies the most qualified candidates and ranks applicants based on custom criteria you define. This saves a lot of time in the early screening phase and makes sure you're focusing on the most promising candidates first.

Without screening criteria, you'll end up wasting tons of time on people who aren't even close to what you need, and you might accidentally pass over some really solid candidates who just happen to be awkward in interviews.

When you're screening candidates, you want to get a feel for both their technical chops and whether they'll actually fit in with your team. Chatting with people during interviews gives you real insight into what they can actually do, how their brain works, and if they'll love working in your startup's unique vibe.

You will also need some structure in how you assess everyone. Otherwise, you might end up comparing apples to oranges, especially when you're interviewing people months apart for similar roles. Having consistent criteria helps you make fair comparisons and better decisions about who to bring on board.

Your evaluation process should include multiple touchpoints:

  • Initial resume screening (automated where possible)

  • Phone or video screening call

  • Technical assessment or work sample

  • Team interviews with multiple stakeholders

  • Final interview with decision makers

  • Reference checks for final candidates

Dover's AI-powered candidate scoring identifies the most qualified candidates and ranks applicants based on custom criteria you define. This saves a lot of time in the early screening phase and makes sure you're focusing on the most promising candidates first.

Without screening criteria, you'll end up wasting tons of time on people who aren't even close to what you need, and you might accidentally pass over some really solid candidates who just happen to be awkward in interviews.

When you're screening candidates, you want to get a feel for both their technical chops and whether they'll actually fit in with your team. Chatting with people during interviews gives you real insight into what they can actually do, how their brain works, and if they'll love working in your startup's unique vibe.

You will also need some structure in how you assess everyone. Otherwise, you might end up comparing apples to oranges, especially when you're interviewing people months apart for similar roles. Having consistent criteria helps you make fair comparisons and better decisions about who to bring on board.

Your evaluation process should include multiple touchpoints:

  • Initial resume screening (automated where possible)

  • Phone or video screening call

  • Technical assessment or work sample

  • Team interviews with multiple stakeholders

  • Final interview with decision makers

  • Reference checks for final candidates

Dover's AI-powered candidate scoring identifies the most qualified candidates and ranks applicants based on custom criteria you define. This saves a lot of time in the early screening phase and makes sure you're focusing on the most promising candidates first.

Step 6: Nurture Long-term Candidate Relationships

Many great candidates aren't available when you first meet them, but situations change over time. The candidate who wasn't interested six months ago might be ready for a new opportunity now. That's where nurturing relationships with such candidates makes sure you're top-of-mind when they're ready to make a move.

Effective candidate nurturing involves:

  • Keeping regular contact with passive candidates through different approaches (sharing company updates, industry insights, or checking in from time to time)

  • Stay consistent in your nurturing efforts (Monthly or quarterly check-ins with your top pipeline candidates)

  • Distributing surveys to collect feedback on your candidate experience

Dover's platform lets you manage candidate relationships through automated communication and complete candidate tracking. You can set reminders to follow up with promising candidates, track all interactions over time, and keep organized notes about each person's interests and availability.

Dover can improve your candidate experience through smooth communication, clear process expectations, and professional follow-up. The candidates you don't hire can become valuable referral sources or future applicants if they have a positive experience with your process. People appreciate transparency and responsiveness, even when the answer is no.

Many great candidates aren't available when you first meet them, but situations change over time. The candidate who wasn't interested six months ago might be ready for a new opportunity now. That's where nurturing relationships with such candidates makes sure you're top-of-mind when they're ready to make a move.

Effective candidate nurturing involves:

  • Keeping regular contact with passive candidates through different approaches (sharing company updates, industry insights, or checking in from time to time)

  • Stay consistent in your nurturing efforts (Monthly or quarterly check-ins with your top pipeline candidates)

  • Distributing surveys to collect feedback on your candidate experience

Dover's platform lets you manage candidate relationships through automated communication and complete candidate tracking. You can set reminders to follow up with promising candidates, track all interactions over time, and keep organized notes about each person's interests and availability.

Dover can improve your candidate experience through smooth communication, clear process expectations, and professional follow-up. The candidates you don't hire can become valuable referral sources or future applicants if they have a positive experience with your process. People appreciate transparency and responsiveness, even when the answer is no.

Many great candidates aren't available when you first meet them, but situations change over time. The candidate who wasn't interested six months ago might be ready for a new opportunity now. That's where nurturing relationships with such candidates makes sure you're top-of-mind when they're ready to make a move.

Effective candidate nurturing involves:

  • Keeping regular contact with passive candidates through different approaches (sharing company updates, industry insights, or checking in from time to time)

  • Stay consistent in your nurturing efforts (Monthly or quarterly check-ins with your top pipeline candidates)

  • Distributing surveys to collect feedback on your candidate experience

Dover's platform lets you manage candidate relationships through automated communication and complete candidate tracking. You can set reminders to follow up with promising candidates, track all interactions over time, and keep organized notes about each person's interests and availability.

Dover can improve your candidate experience through smooth communication, clear process expectations, and professional follow-up. The candidates you don't hire can become valuable referral sources or future applicants if they have a positive experience with your process. People appreciate transparency and responsiveness, even when the answer is no.

When to Scale: Using Fractional Recruiters for Pipeline Growth

Startup hiring is all over the place. One month you just closed a funding round and you're scrambling to build out your team fast. You need what feels like two full-time recruiters working around the clock for months. Then suddenly? Your hiring slows way down and you barely have enough work to keep half a recruiter busy.

This up-and-down nature of hiring is exactly why the fractional recruiting approach works

Traditional recruiting agencies want you locked into these long-term contracts with minimum commitments that just don't make sense for startups. And hiring a full-time recruiter? That gets pricey fast, especially when you hit those quiet periods where there's not much hiring happening.

Fractional recruiters offer a solution that scales with your actual needs. You can hire experienced recruiters on an hourly basis, paying only when you need their help. Dover's fractional recruiter marketplace connects startups with vetted recruiting professionals who understand startup hiring challenges.

Fractional recruiters can help with:

  • Pipeline development and candidate sourcing

  • Initial screening and qualification calls

  • Specialized recruiting for hard-to-fill roles

  • Recruiting process optimization and training

  • Temporary capacity during high-volume hiring periods

The key advantage is flexibility. You can scale your recruiting capacity up or down based on needs rather than making long-term commitments that may not align with your hiring reality.

Measuring and Optimizing Your Hiring Pipeline Performance

Pipeline frameworks can save you money by cutting down your time-to-fill and cost-per-hire, but only if you're actually paying attention to the right data and acting on what it tells you.

So what should you be tracking? The big three are time-to-hire, cost per hire, and how many of your new hires stick around. These numbers will show you exactly where your process is breaking down so you can fix it.

Don't stop there. Think about the bigger picture too. What's it costing you to have positions sitting empty? How much more productive are your best hires? And are certain recruiting channels bringing you people who stay longer?

Dover's analytics dashboard makes all this easier. You can see which sourcing channels are actually bringing you quality candidates, track how long people are getting stuck at each stage, and spot exactly where things are slowing down in your process.


Metric

What It Measures

Why It Matters

Time-to-hire

Days from job posting to offer acceptance

Speed of your hiring process

Cost-per-hire

Total recruiting costs divided by the number of hires

How well you spend your money

Source effectiveness

Which channels produce the best candidates

Where to focus sourcing efforts

Pipeline conversion rates

Percentage of candidates advancing through each stage

Process bottlenecks and improvements

Candidate satisfaction

Feedback scores from your hiring process

Experience quality and brand impact


When you're thinking about quality of hire, you'll want to look at how people perform and stick around over time. It's worth doing regular check-ins on your pipeline to spot what's working and what isn't. If you dig into your key numbers each month, you'll start seeing patterns that can help you figure out better ways to find candidates, improve your process, and decide where to put your resources.


Common Pipeline Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Many startups overcomplicate their pipeline process with unnecessary stages or by splitting recruiting tasks into too many steps. The goal is speed and effectiveness, not growing complexity.

Poor hiring practices can lead to wasted resources, lower productivity, and higher turnover. Businesses are spending more on hiring than ever while doing a worse job of it, often because they haven't set up clear criteria.

Common pipeline mistakes include:

  • Starting pipeline building too late in your growth cycle

  • Focusing only on immediate hiring needs instead of future planning

  • Neglecting candidate relationship management and follow-up

  • Not staying consistent with how you judge candidates for similar jobs

  • Failing to track and analyze pipeline performance data

  • Over-relying on a single sourcing channel instead of expanding

Another common mistake is underestimating the time investment required for successful pipeline management. Building relationships with candidates, maintaining regular communication, and tracking interactions all require consistent effort over a period of time.

Dover's structured approach helps startups avoid these mistakes best practices built into the platform. The system guides you toward productive pipeline management while preventing the most common pitfalls.

Startup hiring is all over the place. One month you just closed a funding round and you're scrambling to build out your team fast. You need what feels like two full-time recruiters working around the clock for months. Then suddenly? Your hiring slows way down and you barely have enough work to keep half a recruiter busy.

This up-and-down nature of hiring is exactly why the fractional recruiting approach works

Traditional recruiting agencies want you locked into these long-term contracts with minimum commitments that just don't make sense for startups. And hiring a full-time recruiter? That gets pricey fast, especially when you hit those quiet periods where there's not much hiring happening.

Fractional recruiters offer a solution that scales with your actual needs. You can hire experienced recruiters on an hourly basis, paying only when you need their help. Dover's fractional recruiter marketplace connects startups with vetted recruiting professionals who understand startup hiring challenges.

Fractional recruiters can help with:

  • Pipeline development and candidate sourcing

  • Initial screening and qualification calls

  • Specialized recruiting for hard-to-fill roles

  • Recruiting process optimization and training

  • Temporary capacity during high-volume hiring periods

The key advantage is flexibility. You can scale your recruiting capacity up or down based on needs rather than making long-term commitments that may not align with your hiring reality.

Measuring and Optimizing Your Hiring Pipeline Performance

Pipeline frameworks can save you money by cutting down your time-to-fill and cost-per-hire, but only if you're actually paying attention to the right data and acting on what it tells you.

So what should you be tracking? The big three are time-to-hire, cost per hire, and how many of your new hires stick around. These numbers will show you exactly where your process is breaking down so you can fix it.

Don't stop there. Think about the bigger picture too. What's it costing you to have positions sitting empty? How much more productive are your best hires? And are certain recruiting channels bringing you people who stay longer?

Dover's analytics dashboard makes all this easier. You can see which sourcing channels are actually bringing you quality candidates, track how long people are getting stuck at each stage, and spot exactly where things are slowing down in your process.


Metric

What It Measures

Why It Matters

Time-to-hire

Days from job posting to offer acceptance

Speed of your hiring process

Cost-per-hire

Total recruiting costs divided by the number of hires

How well you spend your money

Source effectiveness

Which channels produce the best candidates

Where to focus sourcing efforts

Pipeline conversion rates

Percentage of candidates advancing through each stage

Process bottlenecks and improvements

Candidate satisfaction

Feedback scores from your hiring process

Experience quality and brand impact


When you're thinking about quality of hire, you'll want to look at how people perform and stick around over time. It's worth doing regular check-ins on your pipeline to spot what's working and what isn't. If you dig into your key numbers each month, you'll start seeing patterns that can help you figure out better ways to find candidates, improve your process, and decide where to put your resources.


Common Pipeline Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Many startups overcomplicate their pipeline process with unnecessary stages or by splitting recruiting tasks into too many steps. The goal is speed and effectiveness, not growing complexity.

Poor hiring practices can lead to wasted resources, lower productivity, and higher turnover. Businesses are spending more on hiring than ever while doing a worse job of it, often because they haven't set up clear criteria.

Common pipeline mistakes include:

  • Starting pipeline building too late in your growth cycle

  • Focusing only on immediate hiring needs instead of future planning

  • Neglecting candidate relationship management and follow-up

  • Not staying consistent with how you judge candidates for similar jobs

  • Failing to track and analyze pipeline performance data

  • Over-relying on a single sourcing channel instead of expanding

Another common mistake is underestimating the time investment required for successful pipeline management. Building relationships with candidates, maintaining regular communication, and tracking interactions all require consistent effort over a period of time.

Dover's structured approach helps startups avoid these mistakes best practices built into the platform. The system guides you toward productive pipeline management while preventing the most common pitfalls.

Startup hiring is all over the place. One month you just closed a funding round and you're scrambling to build out your team fast. You need what feels like two full-time recruiters working around the clock for months. Then suddenly? Your hiring slows way down and you barely have enough work to keep half a recruiter busy.

This up-and-down nature of hiring is exactly why the fractional recruiting approach works

Traditional recruiting agencies want you locked into these long-term contracts with minimum commitments that just don't make sense for startups. And hiring a full-time recruiter? That gets pricey fast, especially when you hit those quiet periods where there's not much hiring happening.

Fractional recruiters offer a solution that scales with your actual needs. You can hire experienced recruiters on an hourly basis, paying only when you need their help. Dover's fractional recruiter marketplace connects startups with vetted recruiting professionals who understand startup hiring challenges.

Fractional recruiters can help with:

  • Pipeline development and candidate sourcing

  • Initial screening and qualification calls

  • Specialized recruiting for hard-to-fill roles

  • Recruiting process optimization and training

  • Temporary capacity during high-volume hiring periods

The key advantage is flexibility. You can scale your recruiting capacity up or down based on needs rather than making long-term commitments that may not align with your hiring reality.

Measuring and Optimizing Your Hiring Pipeline Performance

Pipeline frameworks can save you money by cutting down your time-to-fill and cost-per-hire, but only if you're actually paying attention to the right data and acting on what it tells you.

So what should you be tracking? The big three are time-to-hire, cost per hire, and how many of your new hires stick around. These numbers will show you exactly where your process is breaking down so you can fix it.

Don't stop there. Think about the bigger picture too. What's it costing you to have positions sitting empty? How much more productive are your best hires? And are certain recruiting channels bringing you people who stay longer?

Dover's analytics dashboard makes all this easier. You can see which sourcing channels are actually bringing you quality candidates, track how long people are getting stuck at each stage, and spot exactly where things are slowing down in your process.


Metric

What It Measures

Why It Matters

Time-to-hire

Days from job posting to offer acceptance

Speed of your hiring process

Cost-per-hire

Total recruiting costs divided by the number of hires

How well you spend your money

Source effectiveness

Which channels produce the best candidates

Where to focus sourcing efforts

Pipeline conversion rates

Percentage of candidates advancing through each stage

Process bottlenecks and improvements

Candidate satisfaction

Feedback scores from your hiring process

Experience quality and brand impact


When you're thinking about quality of hire, you'll want to look at how people perform and stick around over time. It's worth doing regular check-ins on your pipeline to spot what's working and what isn't. If you dig into your key numbers each month, you'll start seeing patterns that can help you figure out better ways to find candidates, improve your process, and decide where to put your resources.


Common Pipeline Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Many startups overcomplicate their pipeline process with unnecessary stages or by splitting recruiting tasks into too many steps. The goal is speed and effectiveness, not growing complexity.

Poor hiring practices can lead to wasted resources, lower productivity, and higher turnover. Businesses are spending more on hiring than ever while doing a worse job of it, often because they haven't set up clear criteria.

Common pipeline mistakes include:

  • Starting pipeline building too late in your growth cycle

  • Focusing only on immediate hiring needs instead of future planning

  • Neglecting candidate relationship management and follow-up

  • Not staying consistent with how you judge candidates for similar jobs

  • Failing to track and analyze pipeline performance data

  • Over-relying on a single sourcing channel instead of expanding

Another common mistake is underestimating the time investment required for successful pipeline management. Building relationships with candidates, maintaining regular communication, and tracking interactions all require consistent effort over a period of time.

Dover's structured approach helps startups avoid these mistakes best practices built into the platform. The system guides you toward productive pipeline management while preventing the most common pitfalls.

FAQ

How long does it take to build an effective hiring pipeline?

Building a basic hiring pipeline takes 2-3 months of steady work to get the basics in place. But if you want something really solid with great candidate relationships? That's closer to 6-12 months. The secret is getting started early and keeping up with your sourcing and relationship-building on a regular basis.

What's the ideal size for a startup hiring pipeline?

Try to keep 3-5 qualified candidates per role you're planning to fill in your pipeline. For example, if you're a startup looking to hire 10 people over the next year, you'll want to stay connected with about 30-50 potential candidates across all the different roles and experience levels you're targeting.

How often should I communicate with pipeline candidates?

Touch base with your top pipeline candidates every 4-6 weeks with relevant content or updates. This keeps relationships warm without being overwhelming. Less promising candidates can be contacted quarterly or when relevant opportunities come up.

When should I consider using a fractional recruiter?

Consider fractional recruiting when you need to hire more than 3-4 people in a quarter, when you're hiring for specialized roles outside your network, or when your internal team doesn't have bandwidth for sourcing and screening.

How long does it take to build an effective hiring pipeline?

Building a basic hiring pipeline takes 2-3 months of steady work to get the basics in place. But if you want something really solid with great candidate relationships? That's closer to 6-12 months. The secret is getting started early and keeping up with your sourcing and relationship-building on a regular basis.

What's the ideal size for a startup hiring pipeline?

Try to keep 3-5 qualified candidates per role you're planning to fill in your pipeline. For example, if you're a startup looking to hire 10 people over the next year, you'll want to stay connected with about 30-50 potential candidates across all the different roles and experience levels you're targeting.

How often should I communicate with pipeline candidates?

Touch base with your top pipeline candidates every 4-6 weeks with relevant content or updates. This keeps relationships warm without being overwhelming. Less promising candidates can be contacted quarterly or when relevant opportunities come up.

When should I consider using a fractional recruiter?

Consider fractional recruiting when you need to hire more than 3-4 people in a quarter, when you're hiring for specialized roles outside your network, or when your internal team doesn't have bandwidth for sourcing and screening.

How long does it take to build an effective hiring pipeline?

Building a basic hiring pipeline takes 2-3 months of steady work to get the basics in place. But if you want something really solid with great candidate relationships? That's closer to 6-12 months. The secret is getting started early and keeping up with your sourcing and relationship-building on a regular basis.

What's the ideal size for a startup hiring pipeline?

Try to keep 3-5 qualified candidates per role you're planning to fill in your pipeline. For example, if you're a startup looking to hire 10 people over the next year, you'll want to stay connected with about 30-50 potential candidates across all the different roles and experience levels you're targeting.

How often should I communicate with pipeline candidates?

Touch base with your top pipeline candidates every 4-6 weeks with relevant content or updates. This keeps relationships warm without being overwhelming. Less promising candidates can be contacted quarterly or when relevant opportunities come up.

When should I consider using a fractional recruiter?

Consider fractional recruiting when you need to hire more than 3-4 people in a quarter, when you're hiring for specialized roles outside your network, or when your internal team doesn't have bandwidth for sourcing and screening.

Conclusion: Building Your Hiring Pipeline with the Right Tools and Partners

Building a hiring pipeline from scratch requires strategic planning, the right tools, and consistent execution over time. Focus on these key steps for creating an organized approach, and you are already a step ahead:

  • Defining your future needs

  • Setting up proper infrastructure

  • Developing sourcing strategies

  • Nurturing candidate relationships

The most successful startups start building their hiring pipelines early, before they desperately need to hire. They invest in proper tools and processes, maintain candidate relationships, and track their performance to continuously improve.

Dover provides the complete solution you need to build and maintain an effective hiring pipeline from scratch. Our free ATS gives you the foundational tools for pipeline management, while our fractional recruiter marketplace helps you scale up your hiring when your internal team just can't keep up with demand.

Building a hiring pipeline from scratch requires strategic planning, the right tools, and consistent execution over time. Focus on these key steps for creating an organized approach, and you are already a step ahead:

  • Defining your future needs

  • Setting up proper infrastructure

  • Developing sourcing strategies

  • Nurturing candidate relationships

The most successful startups start building their hiring pipelines early, before they desperately need to hire. They invest in proper tools and processes, maintain candidate relationships, and track their performance to continuously improve.

Dover provides the complete solution you need to build and maintain an effective hiring pipeline from scratch. Our free ATS gives you the foundational tools for pipeline management, while our fractional recruiter marketplace helps you scale up your hiring when your internal team just can't keep up with demand.

Building a hiring pipeline from scratch requires strategic planning, the right tools, and consistent execution over time. Focus on these key steps for creating an organized approach, and you are already a step ahead:

  • Defining your future needs

  • Setting up proper infrastructure

  • Developing sourcing strategies

  • Nurturing candidate relationships

The most successful startups start building their hiring pipelines early, before they desperately need to hire. They invest in proper tools and processes, maintain candidate relationships, and track their performance to continuously improve.

Dover provides the complete solution you need to build and maintain an effective hiring pipeline from scratch. Our free ATS gives you the foundational tools for pipeline management, while our fractional recruiter marketplace helps you scale up your hiring when your internal team just can't keep up with demand.

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Kickstart recruiting with Dover's Recruiting Partners
Kickstart recruiting with Dover's Recruiting Partners
Kickstart recruiting with Dover's Recruiting Partners