How to effectively source and engage passive candidates

In the competitive landscape of talent acquisition, the ability to attract passive candidates can be a game-changer for organizations seeking top-tier talent. In this blog, Aniday will explore how to effectively source and engage passive candidates, and effective strategies to engage these elusive professionals.

What is a Passive Candidate?

Passive candidates refer to employed individuals who are not actively pursuing new job opportunities. These professionals are not browsing job boards or submitting resumes but can be highly valuable additions to your team due to their skills and experience.

What to Consider When Sourcing Passive Candidates

Before diving into strategies, it's crucial to understand the mindset of passive candidates. They are likely content in their current roles, so any outreach must be compelling enough to spark their interest. Consider the following:

• Company Reputation: A positive employer brand significantly impacts a passive candidate's willingness to explore opportunities. Ensure your organization's reputation aligns with attracting top talent.

• Career Growth Opportunities: Passive candidates are often swayed by the potential for career growth and development. Clearly communicate pathways for advancement within your organization.

• Work-Life Balance: Emphasize a healthy work-life balance and any unique perks your company offers.

How to Successfully Source and Engage Passive Candidates

Passive candidates often find satisfaction in their current roles, making the task of luring them to your company more challenging compared to active candidates. However, their contentment does not imply a lack of openness to better opportunities.

1. Harnessing the Power of AI Tools for Sourcing, Screening, and Matching

In the quest to swiftly identify top passive candidates, artificial intelligence (AI) tools have become indispensable. These tools encompass candidate sourcing, screening, and matching capabilities, enhancing a recruiter's efficiency. When selecting an AI-enabled recruitment solution for engaging passive candidates, ensure it can:

• Swiftly locate internal candidates through AI-powered matching.

• Harvest resumes from popular job boards using AI-powered technology.

• Utilize AI-powered Symantec search to find internal candidates.

• Apply custom algorithms to intelligently match jobs with candidates and vice versa.

• Identify similar candidates through AI-based matching.

• Uncover internal candidates previously considered for similar roles.

• Pull relevant job matches from external sources using AI ranking and matching.

2. Utilizing Social Platforms to Identify Passive Candidates

The most effective way to discover passive candidates is through social media platforms. Joining relevant communities and engaging with potential candidates on these platforms can unearth ideal fits for your open positions.

• LinkedIn: Utilize advanced search features and keyword searches to identify candidates by industry or related companies.

• Facebook: Leverage targeted search features to find high-quality candidates, especially those who might not be responsive on LinkedIn.

• Twitter: Employ marketing-specific keywords and hashtags to identify passive candidates on Twitter.

Integration with recruiting solutions is crucial for effective use of these platforms. For instance, integrating the Oorwin ATS with LinkedIn has proven successful for clients worldwide.

3. Focus on Building Trust

Recruiters often expect candidates to tailor their CVs for specific roles, but trust-building should be a two-way street. Devote efforts to understanding a passive candidate's skills, interests, and professional development goals. Pose questions that delve into their career aspirations:

• What elements of your current role bring you the most satisfaction?

• Do you feel adequately valued in your current position?

• Describe your interactions with your manager.

• What are your short and long-term career goals?

4. Entice Passive Candidates

Engaging passive candidates requires showcasing the tangible benefits they would gain by joining your team. Since these individuals may already be comfortable in their current positions, gently communicate how the new role aligns with their interests. Highlighting your company's culture can further entice candidates to explore new opportunities:

• Showcase company culture through videos, social media, articles, or podcasts.

• Emphasize civic responsibility, such as sponsoring charity events or environmental initiatives.

• Highlight your commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, a factor crucial to many candidates.

5. Use a CRM

Navigating the challenge of finding and hiring passive candidates becomes more manageable with the aid of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software system. This tool tracks all contact information and conversation notes related to passive candidates, preventing duplication of efforts and ensuring no potential leads are overlooked. Moreover, it provides insights into which passive candidates might consider new opportunities in the future.

Crafting Compelling Email Content to Effectively Engage Passive Candidates

When developing compelling email content to engage passive candidates, three fundamental pillars play a crucial role: subject lines, templates, and personalization.

1. Subject Lines

Crafting a concise and impactful email subject line is crucial when reaching out to passive candidates. With limited space on both mobile and desktop, aim for 30 to 50 characters to ensure clarity. 

Experiment with different options in your outreach, and tools like Greenhouse Sourcing Automation and Interseller can help analyze performance, with a benchmark of 50% or higher considered satisfactory for open rates.

2. Templates

Efficiency and impact are at the forefront of successful outreach, necessitating the creation of well-crafted email templates adaptable to various campaigns. Establishing a template library is foundational, providing you with ready-to-use building blocks containing key phrases that can be updated and refreshed effortlessly when executing multiple outreach campaigns.

Templates not only save time by eliminating the need to compose emails from scratch but also enable the implementation of repeatable processes. This, in turn, allows you to concentrate on the core task of sourcing exceptional talent.

4. Personalization

While templates contribute to time-saving and process repeatability, injecting personalized elements into your messages demonstrates to passive candidates the effort you've invested in researching them. It indicates that your emails are thoughtfully tailored to their specific interests.

Incorporate personalization by addressing candidates using their preferred name, highlighting shared interests or commonalities, or acknowledging their professional achievements. Taking the time to craft personalized messages that resonate with prospects is a strategic approach that enhances the effectiveness of your email campaign. This thoughtful effort is more likely to yield positive results in engaging passive candidates and fostering meaningful connections.

In conclusion, sourcing and engaging passive candidates requires a strategic and personalized approach. By leveraging AI tools, social platforms, and effective email content, you can build relationships with top-tier professionals who may not have been actively seeking new opportunities. 

For the blog post, Aniday has explored how to effectively source and engage passive candidates. Remember, patience and authenticity are key in cultivating relationships with passive candidates that can lead to successful hires and long-term partnerships.