Passive candidates - a huge resource you need to tap

Posted by HRGO Recruitment on 25 Jan 2022

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Passive candidates may not have been on your radar in the past . But they're a potentially high value resource you need to consider. Because in this tricky recruitment market you can take comfort from one fact. Your next hire might not be actively looking for a new job. But that’s only because they haven’t been approached yet.

One recent survey found that a massive 45% of UK employees are passively open to new opportunities. That’s a huge pool of potential future job applicants who might be interested in joining your team. And it's good news in a candidate-led market where there are currently more vacancies than applicants.

Passive candidates are classed as people who are already in work, and not actively looking for a new job. They may not be refreshing their job apps, or changing their LinkedIn status to #OpenToWork. But that doesn’t mean they’re not interested in moving for the right opportunity.

So how can businesses who have open roles to fill get on the radar of the right passive candidates?

Make your employer brand more attractive

Being able to show off a positive, attractive employer brand can be a powerful tool when it comes to recruiting and retaining great staff.

At HR GO, we know that more and more applicants want to work for companies that align with their personal values. And that goes for passive candidates if they ever do check you out, too.

Decide on what makes your organisation a desirable place to be a part of. Maybe it’s your generous workplace benefits, flexible working as standard, or exceptional training and career progression. Whatever it is, bake in positive messages about what it’s like to work in your company to your website presence, social media channels and marketing collateral at every turn.

Embrace ‘boomerang employees’

There’s a lot of talk of ‘boomerang employees’ at the moment. These are former members of staff who leave for pastures new before returning to their old job.

Tools like LinkedIn have made it easy for ex colleagues to keep in touch in a professional capacity for years or even decades. So, if you still have a good relationship with leavers and now have a role you think they’d be perfect for, why not ask them if they’d think of coming back?

Even if they seem content in their new role, they may be interested to hear of your new project and any new perks you can give them. That might include more money, enhanced training, a beefed-up job description, more kudos or lifestyle benefits you know they’d respond to.

Check out our blog from July 2021: 'With skill shortages, should you hire an ex-employee?' for things to consider when employing past employees.

Draw on employee networks

Most of us implicitly trust our friends' recommendations. So, capitalise on this by asking your employees to spread the word on your roles. Ask them to get in touch with friends and contacts currently in other relevant jobs to see if they’d be interested. As they already work in the organisation, they can vouch first-hand for you as an employer.

Some employers run formal referral schemes, but you can get great results informally too. Just make sure employees understand the type of person you’re looking for. And let them know what they will receive if someone they recommend gets hired.

Trust the experts

Let’s face it: wooing passive candidates is hard work. Reaching out to people who are already employed to persuade them to interview for your role can be costly in terms of time and resources.

But recruitment agencies have the know-how to make this approach work and turn cold leads into accepted job offers. Some of the tools we use at HR GO include:

• Sector-specific extensive databases of pre-qualified skilled candidates who may have applied for roles elsewhere, so they’re well known to us. If they’re a good match for a vacancy, we’ll get in touch with them.
• Search licences for the top job boards so our consultants can scour peoples’ CVs for the keywords important to your role.
• Specialist social media recruitment tools to highlight contacts who might be a perfect fit for the job.

Recruiting candidates who aren’t looking to move

In a challenging recruitment climate, it’s all about casting your recruitment net as wide as possible. You never know where your next stellar employee will come from, so isn’t it worth including passive candidates in your strategy? Talk to our National Sales Team. Our friendly experts are here to help.