Actively recruiting passive candidates can be better that referrals
By Auren Hoffman
Hunting for the ideal job candidate? Ask any hiring managers and they will very likely give you a ranking system for would-be hires. Lower on the list are those actively looking for a job. High on the list are employee referrals.
That's because A-players are often happily employed. So it is hard to find them.
Unfortunately, it can be difficult to elicit employee referrals on a broad enough scale. First, employees know only so many quality candidates. Second, if you have a very rigorous hiring process, employees will be loath to refer people unless they are sure that person would get strong consideration.
What's a hiring manager to do, then? One way to get a steady flow of high-caliber applicants is to actively seek them out. Instead of only relying on employee referrals and active job-seekers, companies should spend more time identifying, nurturing, and recruiting so-called passive candidates, people who are perfectly happy in their current job but would move to a new company if they felt there was higher growth potential. While these candidates might not have the same qualifications as employee referrals, they can be found on a wider scale.
Recruiting "passive" candidates can be an involved and difficult process. Because passive candidates are not looking at job boards such as Craigslist and Monster.com, you need to think of creative ways to reach out to them directly.
Web Recruiting Strategies
My hunch is that at most companies, the mix of job applicants is something like 80% active candidates, 10% passive, and 10% referrals. A better mix would be 30% active, 60% passive, and 10% referrals. Here are some strategies for boosting your pool of passive candidates, using the Web and social media:
· Seek great people. Companies can seek out great people on sites such as LinkedIn, XING, and other professional social networks. These sites house millions of passive candidates and include tools that let would-be employers search for candidates by geography, skills, interests, and a host of other criteria. It may be time-consuming to message each person you consider a good candidate, but it is among the most effective strategies.
· Advertise to candidates. Instead of posting a job announcement that will only get read by active job-seekers, try to find passive candidates while they are surfing the Web. Google famously posted a candidate-seeking math puzzle on a billboard alongside the 101 in the San Francisco Bay Area. Those who don't have tens of thousands of dollars to spend on a billboard can advertise by purchasing keywords that possible candidates might be searching for online. For instance, my company, Rapleaf, is always looking for people who are interested in Hadoop, an open-source software framework that supports applications running across multiple, distributed computers. So we purchase ads that will appear when people search for keywords associated with Hadoop. The approach has helped us find qualified candidates.
· Continually remind great people. Once you find people and drive them to your careers page, you'll want to continue to remind them about your company. That's because most passive candidates who visit your careers page will only be browsing and won't submit a résumé. A great way to continue to remind passive candidates is through retargeted ads-ads that follow the passive candidate wherever she or he goes on the Internet (like on the Huffington Post, Yahoo Finance, and CBS Sports). Rapleaf uses Retargeter.com, which helps you deliver ads to your site visitors as they navigate to other sites. It has huge reach because it works with Yahoo's Right Media, Google's DoubleClick, and Fox Interactive. (full disclosure: I am an investor in Retargeter.com.)
· Encourage others to refer candidates to you. Ask all your employees to put a footer in their e-mails reminding people that their company is hiring. My e-mail signature says "Note: we're hiring amazing engineers, BD people, and a star Ops person ... refer a friend and get fully paid trip to Hawaii for two." Another great tool is to have employees use their status lines on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, and other social networks to let friends know their company is hiring. A great status update might be something like: "I love my job: come work with me" with a link to your careers site.
· Stay in touch with past applicants. You may also want to consider sending occasional newsletters or other communications to people who have applied in the past but, for one reason or another, didn't get the job. They may be just the right fit for a new opening, or they may at least know of a qualified candidate.
Ultimately, a company's best asset is its people, and filling open positions with top-notch people gives your company the best chance to continue to grow and innovate, which is especially important during these down times.
Labels: fluid power employer, fluid power recruiter, hiring, recruiting
Friday, January 29, 2010
Advice: Maintaining Recruiter Relationships
By Alina Dizik, Wall Street Journal
Having good relationships with recruiters can make it easier to find a new role. But keeping in touch with a busy recruiter can be difficult. To continue the relationship, it’s important to convey the value of your experience, say experts.
“It needs to be a win-win relationship from beginning to end,” explains Jason Hersh, managing partner of recruiting firm Klein Hersh International, a member firm of the MRINetwork.
Here, Mr. Hersh gives advice on maintaining recruiter relationships.
How can a candidate begin to build a relationship with an executive recruiter?
Just like approaching an employer, make sure that you aren’t blindly sending resumes to recruiters who don’t work with candidates in your field. Unlike employers, recruiters often share resumes with each other, and a poor approach to a recruiter could have repercussions far beyond just that one submission. Candidates should do some due diligence to find executive recruiters that specialize directly in the industry and/or discipline that he or she currently works in. When a recruiter who specializes in your industry calls, there should be an open conversation regarding insight and referrals, even if the executive isn’t actively looking in the marketplace.
What common mistakes do candidates make when trying to build a relationship with a recruiter?
Sometimes candidates’ expectations on timing can be misaligned, especially if the recruiter doesn’t specialize in their industry or discipline. While you are working closer with a recruiter than you would a hiring manager, don’t cross the line. Don’t contact them just for an update; make sure you have more to contribute to the job search as well.
How important is the rapport that a senior-level job hunter builds with a recruiter?
One primary advantage you have from working with a search consultant is that you will have the opportunity to be more open and honest about your situation and seek advice for how to present it to employers. A recruiter will be able to help you better explain touchy subjects, like being laid off, leaving a job or extended unemployment.
What are some ways that candidates should continue to be on a recruiter’s radar without being bothersome?
Once there is an expectation that the recruiter and candidate can be a resource for each other, an email or a phone call on a monthly basis while actively searching is a good way to stay on the radar. When something important happens in a candidate’s career—especially if they are employed—like receiving a promotion or industry award, passing on that information is a great way to keep in touch with a recruiter.
What can candidates do to be a good resource for recruiters?
When candidates hear about opportunities in the marketplace, they should run these positions by their search consultant first prior to sending [materials] directly into the company. This will give the search consultant (who most likely will have a relationship with the company) an opportunity to qualify and capture insight and share detailed information and feedback with the candidate.
Having good relationships with recruiters can make it easier to find a new role. But keeping in touch with a busy recruiter can be difficult. To continue the relationship, it’s important to convey the value of your experience, say experts.
“It needs to be a win-win relationship from beginning to end,” explains Jason Hersh, managing partner of recruiting firm Klein Hersh International, a member firm of the MRINetwork.
Here, Mr. Hersh gives advice on maintaining recruiter relationships.
How can a candidate begin to build a relationship with an executive recruiter?
Just like approaching an employer, make sure that you aren’t blindly sending resumes to recruiters who don’t work with candidates in your field. Unlike employers, recruiters often share resumes with each other, and a poor approach to a recruiter could have repercussions far beyond just that one submission. Candidates should do some due diligence to find executive recruiters that specialize directly in the industry and/or discipline that he or she currently works in. When a recruiter who specializes in your industry calls, there should be an open conversation regarding insight and referrals, even if the executive isn’t actively looking in the marketplace.
What common mistakes do candidates make when trying to build a relationship with a recruiter?
Sometimes candidates’ expectations on timing can be misaligned, especially if the recruiter doesn’t specialize in their industry or discipline. While you are working closer with a recruiter than you would a hiring manager, don’t cross the line. Don’t contact them just for an update; make sure you have more to contribute to the job search as well.
How important is the rapport that a senior-level job hunter builds with a recruiter?
One primary advantage you have from working with a search consultant is that you will have the opportunity to be more open and honest about your situation and seek advice for how to present it to employers. A recruiter will be able to help you better explain touchy subjects, like being laid off, leaving a job or extended unemployment.
What are some ways that candidates should continue to be on a recruiter’s radar without being bothersome?
Once there is an expectation that the recruiter and candidate can be a resource for each other, an email or a phone call on a monthly basis while actively searching is a good way to stay on the radar. When something important happens in a candidate’s career—especially if they are employed—like receiving a promotion or industry award, passing on that information is a great way to keep in touch with a recruiter.
What can candidates do to be a good resource for recruiters?
When candidates hear about opportunities in the marketplace, they should run these positions by their search consultant first prior to sending [materials] directly into the company. This will give the search consultant (who most likely will have a relationship with the company) an opportunity to qualify and capture insight and share detailed information and feedback with the candidate.
Labels: fluid power recruiter, job seeker