Reaching passive candidates – the key to a high quality, diverse candidate pool
These days, it’s not difficult to get lots of applications for your open jobs. Post them to your own website and a job board or two and the job hunters will find them.
The trick is reaching not just lots of candidates, but the one great hire that will make your search a success. And the reason finding that great hire can be so challenging is very simple – great hires aren’t job hunting. They already have jobs.
That’s why your recruiting strategy has to include smart ways to get job information to “passive candidates” – engaged professionals who don’t consider themselves on the job market, but might be intrigued by a new opportunity if they learn about it. Here are a few reasons why they are great applicants:
Skilled. They are continuing to build and utilize their skills, experience and network in their current role.
Transparent. They are less likely to inflate or exaggerate their experience because they are not pressed to get a job.
Interested. They are likely to apply only for the positions that really interest them, helping hiring managers in the conversion process that takes them from applicants to new hires.
Available. They are less likely to apply to multiple jobs simultaneously, lowering the chance that you will lose them to another institution if your team offers them the job.
Keep in mind Inside Higher Ed’s 10 tips for recruiting passive candidates, and surprise yourself with the quality of your next candidate pool.
Network! Don’t think of advertising as your only means for communicating about open jobs. Talk to the great people already working in similar jobs about how they found their jobs. Find out if folks on campus are members of the right professional group or association for the job you’re filling – is there a listserv? An online bulletin board? Get creative.
Advertise your institution, not just your jobs. Your marketing department is always promoting your institution to students and some of the same marketing strategies can ensure that when you have job openings, great candidates will be interested. Be less reactive (starting the recruitment process when the job opens) and more proactive (think of recruiting as an all-the-time activity, like student recruiting).
Advertise beyond the job boards. When it is time to publicize a specific opening, job boards are efficient and economical, but they’re only going to reach job hunters. Look for websites and other outlets that have a draw for professionals who aren’t on the hunt (like Inside Higher Ed)
Put your job announcements to work. Passive candidates won’t dig your posting out of a database – take advantage of tools like Google AdSense, banner advertising and email advertising to get messages in front of them even when they’re not searching.
Write your job postings with passive candidates in mind. Don’t start with responsibilities and qualifications (which are about what you need); instead, highlight the reasons a great hire would really love the job (more on writing effective job postings in our Write Job Postings That Land Great Hires section).
Make sure your own jobs website sells your jobs. The page candidates hit when they click from your postings or your home page to learn about jobs at your school should create an immediate, positive impression of what it’s like to work at your school (more on effective employment websites in the Do’s and Don’ts of Effective Jobs Pages section).
Never miss an opportunity to promote jobs. Make sure the URL for your jobs web page is included in ALL institutional marketing materials (you never know whose parent might turn out to be your next top hire).
Don’t start the application process too quickly. Never assume a candidate has arrived at your site to apply for a job. Always provide them with a quick link to your job application, but also organize the kinds of links that a person who wants to explore your institution will find useful.
Keep your application as simple as possible. It’s easy to get caught up in how easy your Applicant Tracking System can make your data collection and processing and lose sight of the candidate’s experience. Keep your requirements focused on what you really need at each point in the process, not on what your database can collect.
Treat ALL candidates politely. Acknowledge applications, respond to inquiries and let folks know the status of the search and their application. The person who’s not quite right for the job you have open today could be a perfect fit for the one that opens up tomorrow.
With Inside Higher Ed Careers, more than 10% of our readers are actively looking for a job and over 66% of our readers are passive candidates who like to keep an eye on opportunities in their fields. Our readers come from every kind of institution, as well as from a range of academic disciplines and administrative areas, with about 10% of our community working at community colleges. Good luck in attracting this great talent. You are already in a strong position.