Which is the very first step of any recruitment process? Job description? Resume hunting? No, the answer is much simpler. Every recruitment starts with the realization that you “need” to hire more talented people in your team. However, if you are looking to hire for the best and the most talented candidates, it is quite a humongous task. That is because the best of the candidates are happily working in a company which aligns to their skills and sentiment. Well, yes, there is a high chance that your perfect fit is a passive candidate.

Who are passive candidates?

As opposed to Continuous candidates, these are the people who are not actively looking for a job. You need to grab their attention somehow, and if you succeed in doing so, they will surprise you with the results, both in terms of skills and dedication.

According to a research by the CEB Recruiting Leadership Council Global Labour Market Briefing in April 2014, a huge percentage i.e 49.5% of workers are passive candidates. Only 1 in 5 (21.8%) consider themselves to be active candidates.

Why hire passive candidates?

A term which is haunting the majority of recruiters in 2017 is “retention”. According to a report by Bureau of Labor Statistics, almost one quarter (33.4 million) of US employees voluntarily quit their jobs in one year. This is the number in the US alone. Since voluntary turnover can bring down the morale of the other employees effectively, it is very important for business to increase their retention rate,

Searching and recruiting passive candidates is tough, but on the brighter side, they have a higher retention rate which is a crucial factor for any business. These are the people who will be with you in the long run and will not activate their job-hunting button whenever something goes astray. They have a higher productivity and will contribute to the success of the overall team.

How to find them?

It involves a lot of time in finding the passive candidates, nurturing them and building relationships with them. Most of the executives do not have the time to do so and that’s where recruitment agencies come into the picture. They are connected to several passive candidates and are aware of their career aspirations. They have been nurturing these candidates for months, maybe even for years. They can filter out the resumes for you and save your time. Hackerearth is a startup which introduces you to great candidates through online technical challenges. Belong is another startup which sources passive candidates with the help of machine learning.

Apart from this, every recruiter/hiring manager should be actively connected amongst their network. Here are some hacks for doing that:

1. LinkedIn - World’s largest Professional Network

The title truly does justice to the brand image which LinkedIn has built. You can connect to the relevant people of your domain through this network. You can send a connection request, participate in conversations and comment on the articles you find interesting. It is a very good platform for staying up to date with your specific industry trends and news.

2. Build a Brand Image

Your brand image should have something extra that holds the potential to attract the pool of talented candidates. Besides a lucrative salary, there may be other factors that you may require to showcase. Let’s take Google for an example. Google is famous for its awe-inspiring workspace and this very element is lucrative enough to attract most of the potential talents. You could also include these attractive elements in your advertisement campaigns in order to stand out from the others.

The very first thing that a candidate will do is to google your company and for that you need to build credibility and reputation on various social media channels. Of course, you don’t want to lose out on the potential candidates. This is really important for a relatively new company.

3. Referrals

It has been seen that the retention rate of the referral candidates is higher as compared to the direct hires. This is because when one of your employees refers a friend or a relative, the trust factor immediately builds up. Moreover, your employees will also have connections with people who have been trained and employed in the same field as they.

To encourage referrals, you need to gift your employees as well. For example, Ericsson rewards its employees with INR 25000 for every successful referral.

These are the ways you can source quality people.The next part would be interviewing these candidates, which is a completely different story. Startups like Aircto helps you in taking care of the entire technical interview process as well. Thus, you get a hassle-free recruitment.

So, what do you think of these approaches to onboard passive candidates? Will you like to share your own experience.? Feel free to comment.