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One of the benefits of finding and engaging passive candidates is that you can interact with suitably qualified professionals before they start to consider moving job.
Understanding and engaging your targets is particularly useful if you are seeking niche skills – where the pool of potential talent can be quite limited in scope. In this insight, we’ll explore some ways to find and engage passive candidates.
The candidate experience begins during talent attraction and sourcing, even before a potential candidate applies for a job so your brand must be on point with the right messaging to engage.
As more employers realise the benefits of engaging and finding future talent, having a strategy for connecting with passive candidates will be beneficial. It should include an understanding of your particular audience groups and where to focus your recruitment marketing efforts. It’s unlikely that passive candidates will be trawling job boards; therefore, it is crucial to have a strategy for finding and engaging them.
Here’s how…
Here are points to consider for finding and engaging candidates. Let’s take a look at some approaches that go beyond a LinkedIn message about a ‘potential new opening’.
Previously rejected candidates – use your candidate database to identify relevant candidates who may have withdrew or were rejected at the later stages for a previous role. Job alerts to a skill matched candidate might just create some interest to see what you have on offer.
Career site – does your site have content that will help candidates build a picture of what it’s like to work for you? Does it help candidates understand the type of roles available and communicate your unique employee value proposition? Think of the content throughout the recruitment process.
Have a strong employer brand on employer review sites such as Glassdoor and LinkedIn. Be authentic, personalise your profile for different audiences and check your critical company information – regularly.
Professional sites such as LinkedIn Company Pages and Groups need to be up to date and relevant. Make it easy for people to find you.
Use social media such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to expand your reach and promote your brand. Although social media often doesn’t deliver the desired quantity and quality of candidates, it can help to build brand awareness. Another tip is to ensure you are active with the right hashtags and retweet relevant insights. Check your profile conveys the right tone of voice too.
Review your employee referral scheme – or launch one if you don’t have one. Incentivised schemes work well but equally just asking the question and encouraging employees to refer new hires will also work. Encourage new hires to refer colleagues and friends as part of your onboarding process.
Use your network - Describe the role you are recruiting for and ask for recommendations. The likelihood is that within the network chain, you will know someone perfect for the role.
Your e-recruitment system should provide the ability to identify warm talent and use email and SMS marketing to execute talent nurturing campaigns with relevant candidates and contacts. Don’t spam them and make sure your opportunity is suitable.
Want to know more?
Read about how to build a talent community and download the talent pooling datasheet.
