I work with a small local computer IT service business.  They provide
PC techs that maintain, troubleshoot, and upgrade our computers and
network.
 
They recently had one of their top techs quit.  Instead of immediately
hiring a replacement, we were kicking around the following idea.
 
 
The Concept: 
 
The idea is that the company would put together a pool of about 4-14
local college students who would then work for us almost as though
they were working for a temp agency. They would handle the weekly
scheduled maintenance visits for a given client(s), occasional
installs for new clients, and eventually build enough of rapport and
comfort level with a given client that they could be the “on-call”
tech to handle emergencies via pager notification.
 
There would be a database listing each person and their skills, i.e.
NT Server troubleshooting proficiency or router config skills, and
their availability based upon their class schedule and other
commitments.
 
Each student would be “certified” for different areas after they were
able to show proficiency in them.   Each would have a rating, and that
rating would rise as they added to their skills or over time.  As
their rating grew, so would the hourly rate that they got paid.
 
A student would be selected for a job based on their availability and
whether or not their skills pertained to the job in question.
 
We kind of pictured it like this.  One of the permanent employee techs
would pick a student with skills in troubleshooting Windows 95 and go
down to Bob Print Store.   The permanent employee would assign the
student small tasks to make his visit go faster.   If they worked out
well (are bright, have the skills need, are interested and
enthusiastic), he would bring them back again and again.  He would
train them in the company’s processes and procedures, and act a bit as
a mentor to raise their skills.
 
When the client became 100% comfortable with the student, the
permanent employee would only show up every other visit, and only for
the first hour.  The student would carry a pager and start to become
the primary emergency “on-call” tech for that given client.  They
would get a small monthly retainer for being the primary on-call
person.  The permanent employee would become the backup “on-call”
tech.
 
To keep in close touch with everything the company is doing, the pool
of students would be required to attend one of two weekly staff
meetings, would be required to keep up on posting and other news on
the company’s intranet.
 
There are a lot of details to be worked out. 
 
6. What would the company need to guarantee each student in terms of
hours?
7. How would they manage the pool and coordinate schedules and
logistics?
8. Will training and testing become a big time drain? 
9. Does the company need to devise a system of checks and balances? 
 
 
The question I need your research on is this. 
 
Is there a precedence (or a real-world example) of this type of thing?
  Perhaps Dell, EDS, CenterBeam, Edison, or someone has done something
similar?  Is there another service company that has something that
would be somewhat similar?  A gym offering Massage Therapists perhaps
(not a great example).

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Request for Question Clarification by rico-ga on 21 Sep 2002 07:36 PDT

A specific documented equivalent situation is probably going to be
hard to find, sherpaj, but I think essentially what you're asking for
are the pros/cons of hiring/managing contractors both from the
employer and contractor viewpoint.  When I was reading over your
question, it occurred to me that a perfect example of the "Talent
Pool" concept is Google Answers itself. Your questions 6-9 are all
questions GA and its contractors have had to define to some extent --
and in some cases are still in the process of defining.

Just a thought, and best of luck.

regards,

rico

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Clarification of Question by sherpaj-ga on 21 Sep 2002 17:28 PDT

Ya you are right.  Google Answers is a good example.  I need more
examples!  Maybe even some background on some of the examples.  How
did they handle training and mentoring?  How did they promote?  Etc.

Greetings!  I can point you to a few places but my searches have
yielded nothing concrete on how to form and manage a talent pool. 
Please review these links:

Managing the Talent Pool (About.com - be prepared for pop-ups)
http://management.about.com/library/weekly/aa092397.htm

Talent Development
http://www.fastcompany.com/online/resources/talent.html

I note you refer to the employees as college students, so I am
assuming that at graduation, they will either be hired on full time by
your company, or they will find alternative work.   Do you have any
ideas about employee retention, and what the company's goals would be?

I was also wondering if your area has "co-op" programs at the local
colleges.  This program has been offered to second, third, fourth year
students in local colleges and universities in my area.  Basically,
the professor finds students and employers and matches them up.  The
student of course is working in their chosen field, so if they are
taking a B.Sc in Computer Technology, they of course would want work
in that field.  Pay is sometimes split between the student and the
college, and usually government funded.  These programs are for marks,
so there is a certain amount of "supervision" that is conducted by the
professor and college/university.  Maybe you should try forming one of
these joint-ventures with your local colleges, they may be happy to
help you run a program that will provide their students with necessay
and valuable practical experience.  Many students are ultimately hired
on by their co-op employer.

I did not find management models in the manner you describe, but see
certain traits of the Quality Circle and Total Quality Management
models in your description.  Those have more to do with employees and
management co-operating to make a better workplace, including work and
job sharing.

My business supplies Murder Mystery entertainment and corporate
training exercises. We use a talent pool of trained actors whom we
have carefully selected and trained, which enables us to "match" the
client and the team of actors very carefully. The most important
things we find which help us attract and keep quality people are:

1) paying them properly and promptly
2) making it clear that saying "No, thank you" to a particular job is
OK, and will not count against them.
3) keeping a friendly personal relationship with each of them.
4) sending them a weekly callsheet (list of gigs, client meetings and
rehearsals) even when they are not personally involved. (This was
recently introduced and has been easily the most succesful attempt at
making people feel part of a comapany.)

Most annoying thing they do? Saying, "Yes, but...." instead of "yes"
or "no".

Our pool is 16 regulars, plus 4 or 5 specialists whom we call on from
time to time. That's a comfortable size to maintain without becoming
too impersonal. But your link person is very important; casual people
need to feel valued for themselves and for their skills in this
on-call situation.

You're unlikely to get people to weekly meetings unless you are paying
them for the meetings.

This is purely personal experience, so I hope this is useful.