| Newsletter: Jan 2003
The Value of the Passive Candidate
by Jack Young
You’ve set up your website, posted job openings on expensive
subscription Internet job boards, and then you wait for the right
candidate to respond. Meanwhile, you are being inundated with, and
let’s not forget paying for, resumes of candidates whose work
histories don’t resemble the ideal person you had in mind.
The trouble is, the most persistent responders to job ads and Internet
postings are “active candidates” – often these
candidates are either unemployed or disgruntled job seekers who
are desperate for ANY job with ANY company.
Most recruiters are not even aware that there is another pool of
candidates to pull from. They are so intent on pushing paper that
they never even realize there might be better way to consistently
find and place highly qualified candidates. The fact is that the
largest talent pool available is a group commonly known as “passive
candidates”. Passive candidates are defined as candidates
that are currently employed and not actively seeking new job opportunities.
These are the “hidden” gems whose names will not be
found on online databases or resume banks at Internet job sites.
They are the qualified candidates that you want to speak with. Why?
Because passive candidates, are often, the most successful in their
chosen fields. Just because these talented people may not be ACTIVELY
looking for a job does not mean they are not PASSIVELY interested
in hearing about your opportunity. The truly exceptional employee
is most often too busy performing an outstanding job for his/her
employer, not actively looking for another job.
Unfortunately, the best candidates are called passive for a reason.
They are content in their jobs and not looking, otherwise they’d
be knocking at your door. The problem is that most staffing professionals
lack the time and knowledge necessary to mine the gems found in
the passive candidate market. However, once found the passive candidate
can be motivated by a larger goal, whether that goal be an increased
professional challenge, a higher compensation package, a shorter
commute or a more conducive lifestyle. This is the hook that will
land them at your client.
When effectively approached, the passive candidate will admit that
while he is not “actively looking”, he is keeping his
ears open to enticing opportunities. Many passive candidates understand
that they have nothing to lose by investing a few minutes to listen.
The most savvy of these passive job seekers know that, at the very
least, they may have the opportunity to make a solid contact for
future professional networking purposes. These savvy ones know the
value of always listening, even if they don’t act on all opportunities
presented to them. Because the passive candidate is under no pressure
to find a new job, he is frequently more candid and forthright and
less inclined to waste his time or yours. In addition, a subtle
benefit from speaking with a passive candidate is that they can
be an excellent source of referrals, especially if a good rapport
is built. Obviously, an active job seeker would be less inclined
to offer a referral of someone who might then become a competitor
for the same job.
The simple fact that a candidate is labeled a passive candidate
does not automatically make them a better candidate than the average
active candidate. That’s where true headhunting and candidate
research methods need to be effectively employed to make sure that
the correct candidates are identified at the onset of the search.
A good passive candidate research associate or firm should be able
to identify 20 potentially qualified candidates within a few days,
depending on the complexity of the search criteria and the availability
of target companies within the given geographic region. All that
remains to do after these candidates are identified is to make sure
that they meet the minimum skill set requirements of the client.
The benefit of using passive candidate research is that it can
yield very specific candidates with specific skill sets from very
specific target companies. Doing a little research up front affords
you the opportunity to talk to candidates that are better qualified
for the position you are recruiting for, not to mention their referrals.
No form of advertising, whether it is done on job boards, the Internet,
or in the newspaper classifieds can produced these candidates. Common
sense dictates that if a recruiter spends more time talking to qualified
candidates and less time searching through resumes of candidates
that may or may not qualified, odds are they’d make more hires
every month. Recruiting is a numbers game; why not stack the odds
in your favor?
Now that you have been introduced to the passive candidate, stop
plowing through countless resumes from active candidates that hopefully
meet your search criteria and start calling on the passive candidate
market. Through out your career as a top recruiter, placing the
best candidates in the market will always pay the best dividends
Copyright © 2003, HTC Research Corp., Inc. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed
without prior written authorization.
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