How Passive Candidates Get You More Offers Than Active Job-seekers

Unlike active candidates, passive candidates are the most sought after resources in the job industry as they are known for their stability, contribution and performance in their respective company. However, in this day and age, novice recruitment professionals aren’t in a position to source passive candidates for niche requirements.

As experienced recruiters we know for a fact that treating passive job-seekers as active applicants is a waste of resource and energy. These candidates just might not respond to mails and job related calls.

One of the common mistakes new recruiters do while passive candidates is by bombarding them with numerous e-mails and calls every week. Most of these emails and calls are generic, with titles such as, “Exciting opportunity for Pega Developers. Call Me!” and the attached Job Descriptions (JDs) are monotonous and listed with end number of requirements.

Why would any successful talent, who is currently not looking for a job, even go through your email or perhaps attend your call? Thus, it is essential for any novice recruiter to seek advice from experts and do their homework before approaching passive candidates.

• If so, how should one approach such candidates?

Before approaching passive job candidates; it is a must to know about them and their availability in the market. A passive job candidate is someone who is being considered for a job but they aren’t voluntarily looking for a job change. They are fondly known for their stability at workplace and expertise in their existing skills. Passive candidates might not be actively looking for a job change but might consider an opportunity if at all they stumble upon something highly interesting than their current job.

Coming back to our question on approaching passive candidates. According to experts, recruiters must personalise and customise their message in order to improve their key response rate. They can start by personalising emails and even phone calls which is critical to lure passive job candidates. A recruiter can convert passive job candidates by offering the right amount of information which is researched and well-curated.

Recruiters often make mistakes while sourcing passive candidates. Their over-dependency on job portals blur their ability to source candid profiles on alternate mediums. Besides, recruiters consider job-portals the only haven to seek good candidates.

• Qualities a recruiter should have while sourcing passive candidates?

– A recruiter should have a good command over communication and must know in detail about the skill they are about to impart to the candidate.

– Apart from good communication, a recruiter

– To source passive job-seekers, a recruiter should make use of search engine features such as “Advanced Search”, “Boolean Search” and “Customised Search”

– Seeking passive job-seekers is a time-consuming process and it is required for a recruiter to remain patient while sourcing such candidates.

– The rejection ratio for passive candidates is almost zero, thus there are chances of recruiters able to close the deal.

Where to find passive job-seekers?

As mentioned earlier, many recruiters are in the habit of treating passive job-seekers as active candidates. This results in the loss of talent as passive candidates require more attention and detail while pitching a job. Furthermore, their over-dependency on job portals acts as an impediment to sourcing quality passive candidates. A recruiter should expand their searching options and inculcate the ability to spot genuine and unique talent.

A recruiter while sourcing for passive candidates can consult:

Social media

Social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Quora are considered an ideal place for sourcing passive job-seekers. Recruiters can find end number of references through the answers they give and the number of likes/responses given to a post on social media.

Technology forums

Many recruiters aren’t aware of the fact that several technology forums such as Github and Reddit instigate open technical/job-related discussions for professionals. This could be a good chance for recruiters to tap the best talent.  Though the profiles of users are kept private and anonymous, a recruiter should walk another mile by putting in extra effort to connect with candidates and get their details.

Personal references and conferences

Lastly, conferences and networking events can help recruiters to get in touch with team leads and candidates themselves. Conferences not only assist recruiters to find candidates but also clients. It is a good method of branding company services and activities.

Personal references through clients or any other external resource are reliable methods of seeking passive candidates. Further, profiles that come through references are quick and easy to process.

The job market, these days, demands for passive candidates because of their stability in work, dedication and professionalism. Seeking passive job-seekers is a hefty task as it involves time, patience and recruiter dedication. A company that recruits only passive candidates can prove to be an excellent example set in the job market as the rejection ratio is close to nil. Thus, as recruiters, its best to invest more time and energy on passive job-seekers than active candidates because it enhances brand image and generates a substantial amount of revenue to the company.