What is the Talent Pool?
The Talent Pool is VendorDesk's central candidate database. Every candidate your agency has ever sourced — whether added manually, imported from Excel, submitted by a sub-vendor, or received via email inbox — lives here. Unlike the pipeline (which tracks candidates against a specific requirement), the Talent Pool is a global roster you own and can reuse.
From the Talent Pool you can search by name, role, or skill; filter by status; submit any candidate directly to an open requirement; and attach individual resumes or upload them in bulk. It's the single source of truth for your candidate inventory.
Importing Candidates from Excel
If you already have a candidate roster in Excel or Google Sheets, the bulk import wizard lets you bring your entire database into VendorDesk in four steps — no reformatting required.
Go to Talent Pool → Import from Excel and follow the wizard:
Excel Column Reference
Use these exact column headers in your import file. Required columns must be filled for each row; optional columns can be left blank.
| Column Header | Required? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Required | Full name of the candidate |
| Required | Used for de-duplication. Must be a valid email address. | |
| Phone | Optional | 10-digit mobile number |
| Role | Optional | Job title / designation (e.g. "Java Developer") |
| Experience | Optional | Years of experience as a number (e.g. "5") |
| Skills | Optional | Comma-separated skill tags (e.g. "Java, Spring Boot, AWS") |
| Current CTC | Optional | In lakhs per annum (e.g. "8.5") |
| Expected CTC | Optional | In lakhs per annum |
| Notice Period | Optional | In days (e.g. "30", "60", "90") |
| Location | Optional | Current city of the candidate |
| Notes | Optional | Any internal notes about the candidate |
Adding Candidates One at a Time
For individual candidates, click Add Candidate in the Talent Pool header. Fill in the candidate's name, email, role and any other details — all fields except Name and Email are optional. You can also set who referred the candidate (useful for tracking internal referrals).
Once saved, the candidate appears immediately in the pool and can be submitted to any open requirement right away.
Attaching Resumes in Bulk
You can attach PDF resumes to multiple candidates at once using the Attach Resumes wizard — no need to open each candidate profile individually.
Searching and Filtering Your Talent Pool
Use the search bar to find candidates by name, role, or skill keyword. Combine it with the status filter to narrow results further.
The "Referred by Me" filter shows only candidates you personally added or referred — useful for recruiters who want to track their own sourcing contribution. You can also sort by date added, name, or experience level.
Redeploying Candidates to New Requirements
A candidate who was placed six months ago for one client can be redeployed to a new requirement for another client — without re-entering any data. The Talent Pool makes this seamless.
All previous history — past submissions, stage notes, placement records — is preserved on the candidate's profile. You always have full context before submitting.
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