Recruiting is an intensive process. You have to sift through applications, interview strong candidates, and reach out to people you think would be a good fit.
With an ongoing labor shortage, sourcing qualified candidates is more important than ever. Your traditional recruitment strategies might not be attracting enough applicants, or the people who do apply don’t fit your needs. But there are plenty of other candidates out there — if you know where to look.
Much of the labor market is made up of passive job seekers, also known as passive candidates: people who already have a job and aren’t actively looking for another one, but are open to new opportunities if they get the right offer.
Including passive job seekers in your hiring strategy might require adjusting your approach to recruitment. But you could find candidates who are worth the extra effort.
What are passive candidates?
Passive candidates, or passive job seekers, are workers who are fairly happy in their current positions. They’re not actively scouring job boards, sending out resumes, or contacting recruiters. But they’re keeping their options open, and they’re willing to change jobs if they find an opportunity that’s better than their current role.
According to a 2021 study, active job seekers, those applying for jobs regularly, account for around 33% of the workforce, while a further 37% are passive.
If your recruiting strategy only reaches active candidates, you’re reaching a third of the workforce. Including passive seekers in your hiring process more than doubles the talent pool you’re drawing from, and it can help you find high-quality personnel with more work experience.
But the passive job market cuts both ways. If around 37% of employees overall are passive job seekers, that means that many of your employees might be open to leaving.
Although adjusting your recruiting strategy can help you take advantage of the market, you should also channel some energy into your current workforce so they have reasons to stay with you.
To protect your own employees against poaching from other companies, keep them engaged, offer strong compensation and benefits, and consult with them regularly about what they need from you as an employer. If you keep your current staff happy, they won’t feel tempted when external recruiters come knocking.
Active vs passive job candidates
Because they’re already employed and won’t be checking open positions every day, passive candidates are usually harder to reach. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. Learning the differences between active and passive job seekers can help you discover why each type of candidate is valuable and how to find them.
These differences include:
- Goals: While active candidates want a role that fits them well, they might be under more time pressure than passive candidates. They’re often unemployed or just entering the job market, and they’re more likely to need work in the short term. Passive candidates already have jobs, so they can be more strategic and think about their professional development goals.
- Work experience: Passive candidates are already employed, meaning they have valuable work experience and on-the-job skills. Active candidates are fresh and eager to start working, and they could also have the experience you’re looking for.
- Availability and receptiveness: Active candidates spend lots of time searching for jobs, so they’re more likely to be interested in hearing from recruiters and available for interviews on short notice. Passive candidates might be less likely to respond to messages, especially if they don’t feel like your employee value proposition (EVP) is strong enough.
Advantages of hiring passive job seekers
Passive job seekers can become strong assets once you hire them. The advantages of reaching out to passive candidates include:
- You’ll have less competition: Since they aren’t overtly open to work, passive job seekers are less likely to have multiple employers courting them at the same time.
- They’re more accepting of long hiring processes: Passive candidates aren’t as desperate to change jobs, so they’re more likely to be patient with an extended interview timeline.
- You can target certain types of employees: If the job you’re hiring for requires a niche skill set, you can reach out to people who you know have the experience you need.
Disadvantages of hiring passive job seekers
Although these candidates might have more experience, they could complicate the hiring process. The disadvantages of hiring passive job seekers include:
- You may have to offer extra compensation: Passive job seekers are usually happy in their current jobs, so you have to show that you’re worth their while. That might mean upping the salary or employee benefits to incentivize the switch.
- There can be a delayed return on investment: The hiring process for passive candidates might be slower than for active ones. It takes time to show them why they should work for you, and they might want to negotiate. For that reason, active hires might be a better choice when you need to fill a position urgently.
- Hiring requires more effort: Hiring passive candidates means you have to search for appropriate people, reach out, wait to hear back, and then work hard to sell the career opportunity. This takes more time and effort than simply publishing a position on a job posting site.
- It can damage your relationships with other companies: If you headhunt an employee from a competitor or partner, that organization might be reluctant to work with you moving forward.
How to recruit passive job seekers
On the whole, recruiting passive job seekers is worth the extra effort, especially for niche roles and as part of a long-term recruitment and growth strategy. But use passive recruitment to complement, rather than replace, traditional strategies to keep your options open.
Recruiting passive candidates differs from recruiting active ones in two main ways. First, you need to figure out how to find passive candidates, as they likely aren’t coming to you as traditional candidates do. Second, you have to understand how to engage passive candidates in a friendly way without being too pushy or persistent.
To recruit passive job seekers efficiently, follow these steps:
1. Develop a big-picture hiring strategy
If you want to fill a role by next week, passive candidates probably aren’t the best choice. They take time and energy to hire. Targeting passive candidates is best when part of an overarching talent acquisition strategy that aligns with the long-term goals of the company.
To create a long-term staffing strategy, arrange a meeting between senior executives and members of the human resources management team to map the organization’s goals onto future staffing. Together, they can decide how to recruit passive candidates down the road.
2. Build your brand
Building your company culture and brand identity plays a key role in enticing passive candidates to work for you. If they’re already content with their current position and want to see what’s out there, you’ll need a strong EVP to show them that you’re a better option.
In the context of recruitment, building your brand isn’t just about showing off your products and services — it’s about building your employer brand, or how your company markets itself to job seekers. This is known as recruitment marketing.
Recruitment marketing includes common marketing strategies like social media posts, ads, and in-person networking events that tell people you’re hiring.
But it also covers aspects of full-cycle recruiting like improving your candidate experience and monitoring reviews in online communities like Glassdoor, Indeed, and CareerBuilder. That way, passive candidates have a clearer picture of why they should work for you.
3. Identify the right talent pools
Finding the right passive job seekers for a particular position depends on the role. If you’re looking for a software developer, targeting online communities like Stack Overflow and GitHub is a good option because they reach a niche audience. And when filling executive positions, many companies prefer to leverage the professional networks of current executives.
General places to look for passive candidates include:
- Social media: On LinkedIn, you can find candidates by doing an advanced people search or buying a recruiter subscription. If your business is active on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, include posts about open positions alongside your other posts.
Try not to go overboard. You don’t want your social media accounts to look like recruiting tools.
- Past applicants: Look through your applicant tracking system to find people who made it through to a late interview round but didn’t get hired.
These people are already interested in working for you, and you know they’re strong options — they just weren’t the right fit because of timing or circumstance. Try reaching out to previous applicants and asking if they’re interested in a new opening.
- Employee referral programs: Ask your current employees to reach out to people in their professional network and refer those who are interested.
Referred candidates perform better, stay longer, and take less time to hire. To get the most out of a referral program, regularly communicate with your staff to let them know which roles you’re hiring for and how they can refer candidates.
4. Make contact
Sending cold emails and messages can be intimidating, but keep in mind that the vast majority of potential candidates do want to hear from you: a study by LinkedIn found that 90% of people want recruiters to contact them about job opportunities.
When you cold connect, personalize your email or message so the recipient knows you’re genuinely interested in them. For example, you could reference relevant aspects of their employment history or issues they’ve posted about, explaining why this makes them an ideal candidate for your organization.
Include roles and responsibilities, the salary range, and information about you as an employer. You can also link out to the job post so your message isn’t too long.
Passive job candidates might be more likely to respond well if you highlight aspects of the company culture and core values, such as employee wellness programs, a focus on sustainability or giving back to the community, and regular opportunities for career growth.
They might also be interested in options for remote or hybrid work, so indicate whether you can offer a flexible environment.
The first contact with passive job seekers opens the door to a relationship. Remember, these workers aren’t motivated to leave their current employer immediately, so you want to build the relationship in a relaxed way. Show that you understand their career goals and address any concerns they have about taking on a new role.
5. Adapt the interview process
Passive candidates might not want to jump through hoops in a complicated interview process. That means you’ll need to be more flexible than usual. Offer to schedule video interviews outside of working hours or invite them out for coffee at a time that works for them.
You’ll also need to modify the interview questions you ask. Asking these candidates why they want to work at your company or why you should hire them isn’t as relevant because you’re the one who reached out first.
Instead, ask them what they think of the company so far, or draw on creative interview questions like “What was your best day at work this year?” or “If you became the CEO of this company, what might you change?”
Make the passive job market work for you
Pursuing passive job seekers helps you find the best candidates, and approaching top talent directly simplifies the application process and builds a strong foundation for success. With the right outreach and recruitment strategies, you’ll be on your way to a stronger workforce with high-quality staff that make your company a better place to work.
