Passive Candidates: Exploiting Recruitment Potentials

Approaching passive candidates is often an untapped goldmine when searching for new employees.💰 Despite perceived doubts about being able to poach employees from another company, this recruitment method often leads not only to faster job placements but also to more qualified employees with years of experience and know-how.💡

Active vs. Passive Candidates: Differences & Definition

But what exactly are passive candidates? Passive candidates include all employed individuals who are currently in a job but would consider changing jobs under the right circumstances. Potential reasons could be higher pay, a better work-life balance, or simply the desire for change and a new perspective.

Active candidates, on the other hand, are potential applicants who, for instance, are job searching after completing their studies, training, or after a (planned) resignation – currently not in any employment or considering resigning from their current position for various reasons.👋 They account for only about 5 percent🤯 of the employable market – the rest are employees already working.

Passive Candidates Hold Recruitment Potential

But where exactly do passive candidates hold potential in recruiting? Indeed, there are significantly more of them among the employable population. But is that really the case? How many employees actually consider changing employers or could at least imagine leaving their company under the right conditions? More than you might think: Over ¾ of all employees could imagine establishing themselves at another company long-term if offered the right incentives! 📈

37% are even immediately ready for a career change – that's four percentage points more than the previous year. Among those aged 30 to 39, nearly half (48%) are open to a new job.

In addition to a significantly broader target group, there are also other potentials and benefits for companies that approach passive candidates in hiring, rather than just waiting for applications from active candidates.

Passive candidates...

... often bring years of industry and professional experience.

... don't need to embellish their applications and are therefore often more honest.

... require less time for onboarding and adapt more quickly.

... generally do their work very reliably and professionally.

... can often advance faster.

For the recruiting company, however, passive candidates also present challenges because...

... active sourcing is more time-consuming and labor-intensive.

... they often have higher demands on employers and advancement opportunities.

... they often start with higher salaries.

The most important tips for reaching passive candidates

But how do you best reach passive candidates? With the elimination of online job boards, there seem to be fewer opportunities to approach these candidates, right? Not necessarily, as social media, social business platforms, or your own career page also offer potential for active sourcing and the marketing of job ads! If you follow our 4 simple tips, you will be able to successfully find, approach, and convince passive candidates of your company!💪

Tip 1: Think long term

While active candidates want to find a job as quickly as possible and are hired by companies for precisely this reason, passive candidates are real exceptional talents who want to be found and convinced before they commit to changing employers.

If you have found a potential candidate with the best qualifications, you should stay in touch long-term and be patient; maybe the talent isn't ready this year, but will be next year to start at your company. You should be able to react intuitively and spontaneously to such situations while keeping in touch with the person through regular, unobtrusive contact.💭

Tip 2: Organize & manage passive candidates

Companies engaged in active sourcing inevitably build up a pool of passive candidates over time – after all, a preliminary rejection doesn't necessarily mean a lifetime rejection. To keep track of all the passive candidates you've approached so far, you should acquire a certain level of organization. 🗃

For example, you could divide applicant or candidate pools by level of interest; groups could include those who haven't yet responded, those who have already shown interest, those who were uncertain, and those who definitively declined. This facilitates contact and creates clarity.

Tip 3: Stay diversely present

To reach passive candidates and stay top-of-mind, you should market your employer brand on as many platforms and channels as possible – after all, searching for passive candidates is nothing more than advertising.

Communicate the advantages you offer your employees clearly and distinctly compared to other employers. A broad range of platforms, such as your own career page, a corporate account on social media, or a business profile on LinkedIn and XING can significantly contribute to your reach and recognition as an employer.📲

The social media recruiting tool kroot offers you the ideal way to quickly and easily advertise open positions on social networks and strategically strengthen your employer brand. Book a free strategy consultation now and develop an ideal social media recruiting solution for your company with the expert team at kroot.

Tip 4: Communicate transparently

If you, as an employer, want to approach passive candidates in a particularly approachable manner, you should disclose as much as possible about yourself, your company values, the environment and the team, the work tasks, and possibly even an expected salary. After all, passive candidates often already know their industry very well and are therefore looking for specific information that could make them consider changing employers.🔍

So communicate your advantages or your status quo as an employer openly, comprehensively, and completely transparently, without fibbing or portraying yourself as an especially attractive employer. Particularly passive candidates have their contacts in the industry and can quickly recognize when information on your company profiles or employer ads does not correspond to the truth. 🤥