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Tips for Engaging Passive Candidates

by Liz Carey

HHZ5NPNR1TGood recruiters know it’s insufficient to just post a job and blast candidates on social media.  They know there’s much more to recruitment, including finding passive candidates – those that are currently employed and not necessarily looking to change jobs.

How do you approach passive candidates? It’s important to really cater your initial contact with a passive candidate to sound both professional and genuine. You want to capture the candidate’s attention, but not in a spammy way.

It’s essential to stress the perks of the role you’re working on – after all, the candidate is likely comfortable in his or her current role, so you have to “sell” the reason they should change. Sometimes, it’s not all about the money. Really customize your email or message to draw in their attention with benefits like opportunity for growth, relocation package, or a really unique or flexible work environment/culture.

When you reach out to a candidate via social media, it can seem a little impersonal, so it’s important to focus on the candidate. Do your homework – dig into their background and find out their interests, and see if you can work that into your description about what makes the role perfect for them. A simple but personalized message shows that you aren’t just sending out automated responses to everyone on LinkedIn.

Make sure you explain who you are, who you’re with/what you do, and that you’re clear about the role. Sometimes recruiters try to make emails too brief so as to not overwhelm the candidate in the initial outreach, but it’s important you include enough information and detail to be informative and transparent about the role and your mission.

Always, always, include a “call to action” of a date and time you’re available to chat – even better, use a free email scheduler like youcanbook.me to allow candidates to choose the time that works best for them.

How do you engage passive candidates? What have you found that works or doesn’t work? Do you have a specific template that you use?

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Tags: passive candidates | Posted in: Social Media for Recruiters

2 Replies to “Tips for Engaging Passive Candidates”

  • Tyler Platt says:
    21-June-2016 at 4:16 PM

    Our entire process is focused on engaging passive or less interested candidates. When you have less than 30 seconds to get someone’s attention, a 1000 word job description with 24 bullet points falls short. Put a job description into about 100 words stating a clear objective. (Ex: The process engineer will need to improve our production output at the Ohio manufacturing facility for our Firebright HD 3500 regulator.) If you do this before you start your search then you will find it easier to discuss this job with both active and passive candidates. It’s about the quality of your hire more than whether they are active or passive. However, conversations with candidates that are working are valuable for many reasons. Genuine and professional communication is GREAT advice, Liz. Thank you for the post and for a chance to share. @blueboxpros #beyondjobboards

    • Liz Carey says:
      21-June-2016 at 4:36 PM

      Great points, Tyler! It’s absolutely all about the quality of the hire. And you are dead-on with your job description advice… it’s so important to get to the point and cater to the candidate, rather than copy and pasting the whole req from a client. Thanks for reading!

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