Panels for a position

Senna

Not sure how common this is, but I interview twice for an American IT company, one role is process based and I have relevant qualifications. Other role is basic technical role and I'm currently studying p/t for a IT degree.
I've been placed on a panel for both roles, basically told me interview went well, we hope to have a position for you soon, confirmed by email.
Employee there that I know tells me this is what they do, the create panels for future roles so that when someone leave they don't have to rush to find someone, they just go to the panel and take someone from it.
Is this done commonly, I know it is in public sector but does it happen a lot in private sector or maybe more in IT industry?

seamus

I've certainly heard of it, but more for contractor positions or really junior positions rather than general full-time positions. Reasoning being that experienced hires are more likely to have moved onto another job by the time you get around to ringing them, but contractors or juniors will often be available.

Perhaps what this company in particular are doing is pre-empting the hiring processes in the company. So when a department wants an open role, there'll be all sorts of meetings and meetings about meetings and sign-offs to be obtained before they can actually go ahead and do it. So you could have a 4-week delay between identifying the need for an open role and actually getting the go-ahead to hire. Start interviewing them and it could be 8 weeks before you get someone in.
But when you have a HR department there, the cost of interviewing is relatively small. So you line up a few good candidates and stick them on the panel. When final approval for the open headcount comes through, you just ring them up and offer them the job.