As no surprise to many, the topic of “passive candidates” continues to be a recruiting hot button.  Although this candidate has always existed, the trend to find and hire this type of candidate started just a few years ago and has grown to become a strategy that most organizations have incorporated in their recruiting initiatives.  Passive candidates have proved to bring a level of experience, knowledge, and loyalty that active candidates do not always demonstrate.  Unfortunately, passive candidates make up about 80% of the workforce [Bureau of Labor Statistics].  Finding them is difficult, and finding the ones that fit the required criteria for your position is even harder.  Once you find the professionals that may be a fit for your position, the challenge continues as you have to persuade them to be interested.  As you are trying to hire this talent, it is important to first understand the type of candidate you are dealing with.  It takes clear understanding and a strategic approach to accomplish your goal of attracting and hiring this valuable talent.  Let’s look at the characteristics of the passive candidate and how they are polar opposites of an active candidate:

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The Motivational Differences between Active and Passive Candidates:
    

Most companies have established a recruiting process that works successfully for hiring active candidates.  Some companies have tried to hire passive candidates utilizing this same process…and have quickly failed because they didn’t first understand the characteristics of the type of talent they were dealing with.  Secondly, they didn’t train their staff appropriately or determine if their current staff has the skill-set to attract this talent.  Thirdly, they didn’t implement the necessary recruiting/hiring process changes to hire passives. 

Here are some important statistics that pertain to active and passive candidates:

1. Only 16% of the labor pool is actively looking for new job opportunities at any given time.  [US Bureau of Labor Statistics] 
2. Companies spend an average of 80% of their recruiting time and budget on traditional recruiting activities.
3. The internet is a wonderful tool, but it’s not a panacea.  Recent studies suggest there are 294,000 recruiters logged into Monster every minute of every day.
4. Very Passive Candidates are 50% more likely to stay at their new employer than active candidates. [Recruiting Roundtable: “Building Talent Pipelines” survey]
5. Passive Candidates last an average of 43 months with an employer; Active Candidates last an average of 15 months. 

There is no question that passive candidates are valuable and the facts prove that.  But attaining the talent is a challenge.

If you are in need of training, process recommendations, or additional education and information on this “hot” talent, contact Qualigence today at 877.817.6861.

Below are links to articles relating to passive candidates and/or recruiting trends.

http://www.aimglobal.org/members/news/templates/CareerCenter.asp?articleid=495&zoneid=40

http://www.recruitingtrends.com/online/thoughtleadership/416-1.html

http://www.boston.com/jobs/on_staffing/031907.shtml