Sourcing a passive candidate is not an easy task, which is why our clients rely on our on demand recruiting model to find the right talent.
What’s more difficult is to screen them and engage in a conversation.
How to find passive candidates?
Meet them online
- Use Twitter and Facebook: The number of users of Twitter and Facebook counts in billions. You can use advanced hash tag search on these platforms to look for passive candidates. You can find a content manager with a hash tag #contentmanager or #SEO. Follow them on twitter and reach through it. Prefer those who have an insight about topics and answer questions. Also, you can follow the companies that are doing better and connect with their employees. Facebook can also help to find matching profiles. Target people who are into a job for some time and open new opportunities for them.
- Try more targeted social media: Involving more upon social media stumble your chances of getting success. Websites like Snapchat, reddit and instagram are not popular for passive hire hunting unlike LinkedIn or Xing. But that also means a low competition on these websites. Though, users on this website do not like aggressive recruiting but you can initiate the process carefully.
- Check out portfolio/ work sample sites: Online sourcing allows you to see candidate’s work on portfolio websites. Github is a good choice if you are looking for a developer and Behance, Dribble and carbonmade are ideal sites if you are looking for designers. You can host a coding challenge on this website and check out the talent.
- Try sourcing tool: Sourcing talent from online communities allows you to see the environment and prospect of candidates in which they are living and working. It allows a personalized communication and brings more information.
- Meeting passive candidates in person: Meeting someone face to face is equally significant even in the era of social media. It builds trust and rapport. You can attend conferences and events that allow you to meet many passive candidates. There are many websites that provide you a list of people who are attending the event. Having an idea about who is attending the event lets you prepare for it and conversations flow easily. You can yourself arrange such kind of events. Meeting people in person increases the chances of finding an efficient candidate.
- Meet passive candidates through connections: It is often said that best employees can be found through reference only. These people rarely quit and work responsibly. You can ask your current employees for referrals. Send specific emails regarding the role you are asking for. Your network is the first place you should look for.
- Meet through past hiring processes: You can use your database and call for previously rejected candidates. Such people can be the best employees in the future. Your ATS provides you with the data of a good number of employees instantly. There are many candidates who get rejected at the last stage of the hiring process.
- Meet through tools and services: Manual searches are not enough if you want the best results. Do check websites that offer a good database with millions of resumes at your fingertips.
How to Screen Passive candidates?
You can screen passive candidates in a similar way you screen active candidates.
- Have a clear understanding of your objectives: Stick to your must-have qualifications list and keep a list of your required general qualities in your mind.
- Check out passive candidate’s social media account: A look on their accounts will help you to understand those candidates in a better way.
- Keep an open mind about their online presence: Hire for attitude and not for their skills as skills can be easily taught.
How to recruit passive candidates?
Passive candidates are those who are not looking for a job but a good opportunity might attract them.
- Approach them carefully: When you approach these candidates through social media be careful about the message you draft, and they may not like it.
- Send personalized sourcing emails: You can write them a personalized email with a great content. Talk about their wishes and interests and give them enough details to make them curious.
- Communicate what passive candidates want to know: Approach passive candidates with the information that is useful to them. Only a clear picture of what you are going to offer can help them prepare their mind.