Why targeting passive candidates is essential in 2023
It is a very interesting talent market right now. Canada is supposedly in a recession, yet every major industry is still experiencing a total shortage of labour. Unemployment is matching its lowest level on record and there is a plethora of unfilled positions in all industries where companies are unable to hire because of skill shortages.
For a company that is looking to attract and hire top talent, they must work much harder than they have in the past. This means they need to target the passive candidate market.
What is a passive candidate?
As background, a passive candidate is someone who is NOT actively searching for a new position, where an active candidate is someone who frequents job boards regularly, completes job applications and uses social media to find opportunities. Active candidates are either looking for better opportunities or they are unemployed. Psychologically speaking, they are either anxious, expectant, or excited to find a new job depending on their circumstances.
Passive candidates do not frequent job boards. They are engaged with their work mandates, they tend to be top industry performers such as Presidents Club winners, and they are usually highly thought of by their organizations.
What type of candidate is your organization interviewing?
I often hear from senior executives that they are both surprised and disappointed when they learn that their current search firm or internal recruitment department has only introduced them to candidates who have responded to a job advertisement or to a corporate website posting. For companies to be able to thrive in an increasingly competitive and global economy, companies need to be speaking to the best talent in their industry.
When a head-hunter approaches a prospective passive candidate, they can usually expect a cool response, and often no response at all. This is usually the reason why so many companies and human resources teams avoid targeting passive candidates altogether. A cold call to this type of candidate is often met with the same scepticism as a cold call to purchase duct cleaning services.
How do you engage a passive candidate?
When targeting passive candidates, a recruiter is never in control of the process, and that is why many companies decide to only focus on active candidates. When dealing with passive candidates, it can be an uphill battle, and one where a thin-skinned recruiter can quickly develop a bruised ego.
Building rapport with a passive candidate takes persistence, empathy intuition, instinct, and advanced communication skills to quickly present a win/win proposition. If a corporate recruiter lacks these skills, they might be better off engaging a reputable head-hunter to represent their company in the marketplace. It is essential that companies hire the best talent in the industry, and not just the best talent that has applied to a job.
Why should a company partner with someone who targets passive candidates?
A reputable head-hunter can:
1. Allow a company to delegate the recruitment function as recruitment is consistently ranked as the most dreaded function within the human resources department (Recruitment is actually a sales function, NOT a compliance function)
2. Fill a void for of open position that has been vacant for too long because of a lack of qualified candidates
3. Can accelerate the hiring process for companies who tend to pay their employees at below the industry market rate
4. Survey the landscape of the industry and help a company prioritize salary to what is indeed an essential candidate skill, vs. what is a “nice to have” skill
5. Relieve the pressure for an H.R. department who is under scrutiny from a hiring manager to fill a long vacant position asap
6. Target passive candidates who operate in extremely niche areas that hold desirable technical expertise
7. Conduct a confidential search for a company who plans on replacing/upgrading a current employee’s skill level
8. Find the desired skill set of someone who doesn’t need to be trained by a company that might lack employee training resources and/or time
9. Target someone working for a competitor who would not otherwise approach the company
10. Manage a critical human resources function so that the human resources team can focus their attention on other critical department initiatives
11. Target passive candidates who are otherwise ignored when companies use non-head-hunting strategies (This is a surprisingly a high percentage of companies)
12. A good head-hunter has a high level of market intelligence which can be valuable to both human resource departments and hiring managers
13. Can reduce company hiring expenses because tenured passive candidates are often earning less than the market rate vs. active candidates
14. Companies can develop a long wish list of qualities desired for a hire, and then delegate the entire list to the head-hunter for them to deliver
15. Candidates experience more dialogue and trust when working with a reputable head-hunter who is not confined to a corporate agenda/message
16. A good head-hunter will manage the entire process from the introduction of the candidate, through the interviewing, profiling, testing, interview scheduling and salary negotiation with the candidate
If you are interested in learning more about Recruit King and the services that we offer our clients, let’s connect: