The last thing I want to hire is a passive person! I can’t stand passive people! But of course, what we mean by passive candidates is those that are not job-seeking right now. 80% of the candidate market consists of passive candidates, so tap into this talent pool with these strategies.
Instead of spending the majority of time screening applications from active job seekers, you now need to spend time and money hunting for first-rate talent. Did you know 84% of people would consider leaving their current organisation if an organisation with an excellent reputation offered them a job? Where does your ideal candidate sit in the current market? It’s likely quality applicants don’t have trouble landing a job and are already employed (i.e. they lie within the passive candidate pool).
Passive candidates are currently in a role and are not actively searching job boards. Some of these people could make a great addition to your existing teams… if only you could get your fantastic job opportunity under their nose!
They’re bound to be flattered right? Everyone likes to be approached—who knows, it might even be the highlight of their decade—and they’ll tell all their friends they’ve been headhunted. If everyone was able to do this effectively, Seek might go out of business!
It’s important to be aware that your conversion rate for passive candidates isn’t going to be as high, because with active job seekers, those who are visiting job boards and actively looking for a new position, half the battle is already won in that they are already looking to move. It’s still crucial getting your opportunity in front of passive candidates, particularly in today’s candidate-driven market. Here are some ways to do it.
Optimise your employer brand
You need to ensure every piece of exposure that passive candidates have to you and your organisation is optimised to present your employer brand in the best possible light.
Really put some thought into their recruitment journey from that first point of contact, whether it be a personal message or phone call. Perfect your elevator pitch. Ensure every piece of copy they read, every method by which they apply or submit an application, and then every part of their face-to-face interaction throughout their journey is well-planned, on brand and impressive!
In recruitment, you are marketing to candidates as much as they’re marketing themselves to you, but marketing your organisation is even more of a necessity if they’re a passive candidate and you’re approaching them.
Use a landing page
In attracting passive candidates, you still need a position description, as you need to be able to direct your candidates somewhere. This could be a copy of your recruitment advertisement on a job board that you’re using to attract active job seekers, or it could be a landing page with a position description. You should also create a good elevator pitch about your opportunity, that is, a really succinct paragraph that outlines the aim of the role and the value proposition to the candidate.
Use LinkedIn
LinkedIn is great because it allows you to search for people who are already a similar role. Identify your talent competitors, search for people in the role you want to fill, and consider a direct approach by sending them a LinkedIn message.
You can also pick up the phone and give them a ring. There’s nothing like a personal phone call. Very few people will be offended by such an approach, and provided you do it with charm and respect, they can only be flattered. Use your elevator pitch in your conversation.
Be aware, if you phone them during business hours, they might not be able to talk then and there. Simply introduce yourself and be clear in your communication. For example, you might like to say something like:
“Hi [name], my name is [name, position title], I’m phoning from [organisation name] about a current role we have available. From your LinkedIn profile, I believe that it suits your skills and interests. I know you might not be a position to talk right now. Is there an alternative time and number I can reach you on, or is now a good time to talk?”
Create a strong internal referral system
When you’re recruiting for a role, tell everyone in your organisation to promote it to their contacts, friends and family if they think they are a great fit. Imagine how many people you can reach if every person in your organisation taps into their personal networks.
Make it easy for them to do this. Provide them with a few lines of language and a link to your application or landing page. Ask them to post it on LinkedIn or email it. Invite people to phone you or reach you on LinkedIn if they want to learn more about the role.
Promote to your customers
Some industries, for example, retail and hospitality, can promote roles to customers. What’s great about promoting to customers is that they’re already familiar with and enjoy your brand. Advertise in your store and through EDM if you have an email marketing list.
Social media marketing
These days, everyone is on their phones; in fact, more than 60% of people apply for roles on their phones. So it’s great to meet candidates where they’re at and be on the social platforms people are using regularly.
There are multiple types of advertising you can do through social media, particularly on Facebook’s and Instagram’s advertisement network. Use off-page advertising on Facebook to target a wider audience and use detailed targeting to find people based on demographics and activity.
Use messaging and imagery that is appealing to your target audience. This is another strategy where a recruitment specialist with expertise in this area can assist you.
Digital HeadHunting
Digital HeadHunting, when done with expertise, is highly effective. Engaging a recruitment specialist will give you access to a range of recruitment databases that are otherwise both expensive to purchase yourself and time-consuming to search. Also, you also need to be skilled in the parameters you are searching, as you can miss a lot of great talent, which is another great reason to outsource this process. Start by establishing your top criteria and “must-haves” and then your “nice-to-haves”.
Talk to your specialist about your opportunity and ideal candidate, and from this information, they will be able to establish search parameters based on your requirements (for example, by qualifications, industry-type, skills, etc.) and dive into passive candidate pools through targeted database searches to attract top candidates to your organisation and vacancy.
When they locate suitable profiles, the messaging in their first contact is important, as it has a huge impact on your response rate. Messaging must be highly personalised, detailing what it is you saw in their profile that makes them a great match for a position. Show that someone has actually taken the time to read their profile. Keep your communication personal, not just a blanket copy/paste job description. Make it short and sweet and end with a call to action.
Keep candidate care front of mind
Remember, if you’re reaching out to personally contact passive candidates, it can be rude to reach out and have them respond, only for you not to contact them again or give them any feedback. If you’ve reached out to candidates personally, always give them the courtesy of an interview, and provide them with feedback afterwards, even if they haven’t been successful in the role.
Often, if you have communicated with candidates well and they are unsuccessful, they will thank you for the opportunity in connecting with them and conducting an interview. Provided you do your due diligence in candidate care, you will maintain good relationships and bolster your employer brand.
Be mindful about psychological contracts, the mutual understanding between two people at the commencement of an engagement. Establish expectations and responsibilities from the outset, so everyone knows who is responsible for what. The more accurately you can establish mutual understandings, the better your relationships will be.
Passive candidates who have been headhunted may require tailored treatment different to active job seekers, as it’s all about who initiated the approach. If a candidate was on a career path and not actively looking for a new role, then you have approached them and taken them off that trajectory, you are engaging in a different psychological contract than if they were actively job-seeking and reached out to you. They might have higher expectations!
Recruiting passive candidates requires excellent planning and execution, but you absolutely must do it. Passive candidates are a crucial part of today’s talent pipeline; use these methods it in combination with your comprehensive recruitment strategy to attract both active and passive candidates.
Which of the above passive candidate attraction strategies are you using? Let us know in the comments.