How can you engage passive candidates, and get them interested about a new position?
When candidates are not actively looking for a new position, and others are idly scrolling through job postings, it can be quite challenging to gain their interest about your job postings, even if the position is great. A lot of candidates may even bypass your job postings, either on purpose or without even knowing they are missing something wonderful.
Somewhere out there, there is a passive candidate who isn’t looking for a job, but is perfect for your company. It is up to you as a recruiter to tap into these people and motivate them to join your Company!
Write a Great Job Description
One of the main reason Companies are losing out on candidates is through bad job descriptions. If a job sounds boring, stagnant, or like something with few benefits, candidates will not be interested whether they are actively looking, or you are reaching out to them.
Create a dynamic job description that highlights all of the unique and exciting parts of the position and you will see a shift from passive candidates to active candidates!
Do Some Proactive Recruiting
You most likely not going to find the passive candidates by searching the job boards rather you need to do some detective work first in order to find them; using your internal database or social media sites like LinkedIn and/or Facebook find candidates with similar job title and experience, learn about them and their current company.
Try to join their network via your shared contacts or your common interests. Now, put yourself in their shoes, knowing what you know about them ask yourself if you were them what would take to jump ship and be interested on the new position. This should give your enough ammunition to compose an introductory email in order to start the communication about the new position.
Personalize Your Introductory Email
If you send out a generic email or message, people will often ignore it without even really looking at it, especially if they are not jumping for a new job opportunity in the first place. Find out what makes them tick. Then use that information to contact them with a personalized pitch.
For instance, you may find out that a passive candidate is doing research in a specific field — bring that up and tie it into what your position offers, and they will be far more interested in your offer.
Use Your Network
Networking is key for recruiters, especially when it comes to engaging passive candidates. If you can show that you have shared contacts, and use your network to leverage interest from the candidate, they will be far more likely to pay attention to you, and what you have to offer.
Appeal With More Than Just Money
A high-paying job is great, but if candidates are comfortable where they are, it may not be enough to make them jump into a new position. Whether you are writing a job description, or reaching out with a message, talk up benefits, atmosphere, and more.