Finding Passive Job Candidates

Ever heard of a passive job candidate?  Me either.  But if you are a hiring manager, listen up.  According to Auren Hoffman over at RapLeaf (in an article he wrote for BusinessWeek), passive job candidates are second only to employee referrals in terms of finding quality, hirable candidates for open positions.  Passive candidates are people who are happy at their current jobs, but would move to a new company if they were offered more growth potential (or more $$).

So in a world where employee referrals are sometimes hard to come by, seeking out passive job candidates may be the best way to find the right person for the job.

Hoffman outlines five web recruiting strategies for passive job candidates.  I do my best to paraphrase them below, but check out the full article for all the details.

Find them:  Scour LinkedIn, Facebook, your high school’s “Most Likely to Succeed” senior superlative winners for qualified candidates and send them a message about the job opening.

Place targeted advertising: Find passive job candidates where they typically surf the web.  Specifically if they visit sites that are relevant to the job description and place ads for the job on these sites.

Remind them:  Retarget ads if necessary.  Make sure great candidates remember your company and know that you are hiring.

Encourage referrals:  Not your typical referrals, but make sure current employees include a footer in their emails or update their Facebook statuses with a message about job openings at your company.

Stay in touch with past applicants:  Past applicants may be a good fit for a new job opening or they might know someone in the biz who is looking for a job.  Sending occasional newsletters or other communications may be a way to do this.

All valid strategies. And it seems that as people invest more time into maintaining their profiles in social media, it will be easier to search for and find the perfect candidate for the job, even if they aren’t even looking for it themselves.  But as a soon-to-be active job seeker, I must say that there is also nothing wrong with doing things the old-fashioned way and giving those that are not currently employed a shot too.

Finally, I would only recommend contacting past job applicants if you are seriously considering them for a new position.  Sending them newsletters about your wonderful company is kind of like rubbing salt in the wound of rejection, but maybe that’s just me.