Recruiting Passive Candidates

​In today's competitive job market, recruiting top talent has become INCREASINGLY challenging. Often, the most qualified candidates are not actively seeking new opportunities but are instead employed and considered "passive candidates” and as we know from hiring good recruitment talent in the past, the best consultants are not on the market. These individuals can be valuable assets to our organisation, given their proven experience. As a recruiter/talent acquisition, it's crucial to adopt effective strategies to attract and engage passive candidates successfully.

Let’s look at some ways we as internal recruiters/talent can effectively build a strategy for attracting and hiring passive candidates:

Build a Strong Employer Brand:

One of the key factors in attracting passive candidates is having a strong employer brand.

It’s so important we showcase our company's culture, values, and benefits through your website, social media, and online platforms such as LinkedIn or Glassdoor. Highlighting positive employee experiences and growth opportunities will pique the interest of potential recruiters/candidates and increase the likelihood of them considering your agency as their future employer.

Leverage Employee Referrals:

Your current employees can be your best advocates for recruiting passive candidates. Let’s face it – good people know good people!! Implement an employee referral program that rewards your team members to refer skilled individuals they know, trust, and believe would be a great fit for the company. Referrals from within the organization can lead to higher-quality hires and typically, faster recruitment cycles.

Develop a Passive Candidate Sourcing Strategy:

Identify the key platforms and channels where passive candidates might be active or engaged. Places like LinkedIn are often ideal for sourcing passive talent. Engage with these potential candidates through more personal messages that highlight their specific background/experience. You can start to build a relationship over time can lead to future job opportunities and (hopefully) future hiring. I am a huge advocate for building relationships with every candidate you meet with as in my previous hiring success, those we have onboarded into the team have been talent I initially engaged with several years ago.

Offer Attractive Opportunities:

Potential recruiters or candidates who are not actively on the market are less likely to consider a new job unless they see a significant improvement in their role/career. This could look like an enhanced salary, better work-life balance, and improved commission (we could go one). When reaching out, emphasize the exciting challenges and opportunities for growth. Personalise your messages to demonstrate that the role you are offering is a unique and promising opportunity for their career development.

Focus on Personalisation:

Generic messages or job postings are unlikely to capture the attention of passive candidates. Instead, take the time to understand each candidate's background and career goals. By tailoring your outreach to demonstrate that you value and understand their individual contributions it shows that we recognise what they will likely bring to the table. 

Building/Nurturing Relationships:

Building relationships with passive candidates is a gradual process that requires persistence! It’s so important we continuously engage with them through periodic updates on industry trends, company success, and career-focused content. By doing so, you stay on their radar and the likelihood of them considering your agency when they are ready for a career move, will have increased.

Showcase Employee Success Stories:

Sharing success stories of employees who started as passive candidates and now thrive within your organization can be a powerful attraction and recruitment tool. Show off the success of your current team as it not only supports your ‘sell’ on the business but introduces them to real people in the team. Highlight their career progression, achievements, and the impact they've made.

Recruiting passive candidates demands and will always require a strategic approach and a genuine interest in understanding their needs and aspirations. The more we continue to show a genuine interest, the more success we will have in building relationships.

Remember building relationships takes time, but the investment in recruiting passive talent can lead to invaluable contributions and sustained growth for your company in the long run.

Interested in joining C4S? Get in touch withAmy Futcherabout our latest opportunities