'Passive Talent' is a buzz-phrase... unless you're doing these things

A few years ago providing ‘passive talent’ was a solution that recruitment agencies traded on. By ‘passive talent’ I mean candidates who are not actively looking for new employment. Access to ‘passive’ candidates was considered to be a point of difference that recruitment agencies could offer as a value add – that’s largely not the case anymore. 

Access to ‘passive talent’ has largely been democratized due to two key factors:

1. Awareness and increased subscription licences for LinkedIn Recruiter (This platform allows you to send direct messages to people on LinkedIn to whom you are not connected).
2. Shift in strategy to proactive, outbound talent pipelining by internal talent acquisition teams, and recruitment agencies alike.

Both factors are important but the first is most significant. All recruitment agencies and talent acquisition teams largely have the same tools to identify and direct message the same pool of candidates (13,271 candidates for instance if you recruit tech sales professionals). As a result, I believe, talent has switched off from these mediums and become desensitised to this approach.

Sending a LinkedIn message to a candidate listed as ‘open to opportunities’ can hardly be described as a unique service offering yet it tends to be the default position for many recruiters. In turn, there’s been a huge increase in the volume of direct messaging approaches that candidates receive (a minimum of 10 per week often cited in my network).

If you’re a business relying on a talent professional who is only using LinkedIn projects to represent your business, then I’d confidently say you’re not getting access to the best, most relevant talent.

I’d go so far as saying the real ‘passive’ talent is not even acknowledging or paying attention to those methods.

 How can recruitment agencies and talent professionals really attain quality, passive talent for their customers?

• Work your network. Increase time spent talking to candidates in person. That means good data hygiene, recorded conversation notes and contact details. Regularly follow up with your network and provide some value. It might be market information or ultimately making sure they have access to opportunities they're interested in.
• Be great at prospecting. Remember this is why you are remunerated as a salesperson. You should treat passive candidates in the same way you approach prospective customers. Do your research, explain the reason for your call or approach, acknowlegde their time, and present why the opportunity could be compelling; And importantly – chase hard to win their attention offline!
• Find ways to be unique. Work hard to ask for introductions, find telephone numbers and email addresses for a tailored direct approach, build your online brand, be available when it's convenient for them. This means outside of their core work hours!

How can hiring managers help attain passive talent?

Trust your agency and partner with one, or two agencies exclusively. Engaging a handful of agencies to work on a role produces speed at the cost of quality. Speed is a good thing, but not to the detriment of a quality process. What ultimately happens is a handful of agencies scour the immediately available candidate market and cover off as many as possible (so that their competitors can’t). This largely means candidates who are at that time active on the market and able to be presented for an interview without much notice.

Real passive candidates, on the other hand, take time to identify, win engagement with, influence and position for a move. If you really want the best possible quality then give the agency some time and exclusivity, but place an expectation to provide a list of the most relevant candidates for the hire, regardless of whether they are active on the market or not.

 A good recruitment partner will be able to provide a list of quality, relevant talent, identify who is interested, who isn’t and why. A partner who can convert the ‘not interested’ talent into a conversation with you is even better.