How to Pull in Passive Candidates with Strategic Sourcing

7 seconds – that’s how long it takes for the average candidate to decide whether a job advert is worth further inspection. Fail to make an impression in this window and your ad will be forgotten as quickly as it was opened.
If it is this hard to gain the attention of an active candidate, it’s all the more difficult if you are hoping to attract passive candidates who are not shutterstock_204307678openly pursuing a new role. In the current climate of widespread skills shortages in key areas, being able to successfully target passive candidates is an increasingly vital aspect of talent acquisition.
The latest State of the American Workplace report from Gallup shows almost seven in 10 US employees are not engaged with their position. However, according to LinkedIn, only around 30 percent of workers across the world are actively looking for a new job.
These figures show that the bulk of the workforce consists of a silent majority of employees who are not proactively searching for a new role, but would be open to the possibility of changing position. What can you do to reach them?

Right message, right place, right time

Reaching out to passive candidates requires more skill, time and effort than any traditional recruiting approach, but it is not impossible, provided you are able to combine smart strategy with a little creative thinking.
There are two key considerations when it comes to attracting passive candidates. Firstly, you must ensure your messaging is on-point. Your communications need to provide an accurate picture of what it’s like to work for your organisation and, most importantly, show candidates what’s in it for them. Remember, passive candidates are not actively looking for a new job, so, if they are going to apply for a position at your company, they’ll need a good reason to do so. Essentially, they need to know how working for your organisation will make them happy.
[bctt tweet=”How to pull in passive candidates with strategic sourcing – right message, right place, right time ” username=”ATCevent”]
The second key consideration is making sure your messaging is displayed to candidates in the right place at the right time. Even a perfect job advert will make little impact if you get this wrong. Doing so could actually have a negative impact on your employer brand. Thanks to social media, word can quickly spread if your messaging has been placed where it’s not wanted.
shutterstock_331548383When trying to reach passive candidates, it’s important not to get hung up on specific platforms and instead think of them all as part of a wider engagement channel. Be it LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter, the important thing to remember is that the places in which people congregate online are essentially communities for like-minded people. As a result, the messaging you push out
must be relevant for this environment.
A perfect example of how this can be done successfully is guerrilla marketing, which involves the use of unconventional methods
to create a targeted campaign that does not require a big budget. The likes of Uber and Dropbox, for instance, have utilised CodeFights, an online community that challenges coders to pit their skills against one another in various challenges. By uploading their own challenges to the platform, the businesses have developed an innovative means of engaging with candidates who have demonstrated the skills that they need.

Push or pull

Years of talent acquisition experience and research into the various channels available, and the ways that candidates use them, has allowed Allegis Global Solutions (AGS) to develop an acute understanding of sourcing and interacting with passive talent. When dealing with this group, it is better to adopt a pull rather than push approach, developing the level of engagement required to convince them that your organisation represents a worthwhile place to work.
[bctt tweet=”Passive candidates are not actively seeking opportunities, don’t try and sway them with direct adverts ” username=”ATCevent”]
Passive candidates are not actively seeking a new opportunity, so will not be swayed by direct adverts. To pull these individuals in, businesses must use candidates’ channels to demonstrate that they understand their needs. Examples of this could be demonstrating expertise in a highly technical community or helping members to expand their networks. Do so in a manner that demonstrates humanity and speaks to the audience rather than down at them and the chances of piquing the interest of passive candidates is greatly increased.
Click here to learn more about how AGS can help you develop a winning recruitment strategy.

This article is sponsored by Allegis Global Solutions.

ATC2016 Banner 650x177

Related articles

Leave a Reply

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

Sign up to our newsletter

Get a weekly digest on the latest in Talent Acquisition.

Deliver this goodness to my inbox!