Re-live those dead candidates now. The power of the database

Its a really common thing. You work with a really great candidate, you place them into a great job.

Yippee.

You do all the good stuff – the congratulations lunch, the follow up calls, you make them non-active on the database and your job is done.

Right?

WRONG

Of course this person should then become a client and you should work to continue to build the relationship into a really great one for the future. A client for life, if you do it all right.

But, how many of these placed candidates simply get lost into the system. Placed, deaded (nasty term isn’t it), forgotten.

If your database is like any other, then it is likely to be full of amazing information, as well as many, many great candidates not actively looking (well thats what you think).

The shelf life of any job these days is only around 3 years. A year to get your feet under the table, a year to make a difference, and a year to move up or on.

3 years is not a long time, and in the recruitment world it goes in the blinking of an eye. But the truth of this 3 year cycle is that most people who are career orientated are probably starting to think about their next move only 2 years into a role.

Sure that next move may be internally, but then again it may not.

So before you spend resources advertising, headhunting and searching the social media etc, why not start with what you have already got?

It would be silly not to, right?

Comment by Jen Dewar on May 7, 2013 at 12:59pm

I believe most staffing agencies have a policy against recruiting candidates they've placed so as not to hurt their relationship with their client (who will, theoretically, request many more placements from you). What I'd suggest, however, is setting up some candidate "nurturing" campaigns for all your non-active candidates.

Here's what I'd do:

Start a blog with job seeker and career advice, and blog at least once a week (every day is better, but you may not have time for that). Ask your team, your active candidates, your past candidates, and your clients to contribute unique, valuable content.
Create a few social media accounts to share your content, and other helpful articles/webinars/etc that you come across. Share those channels with your active and non-active candidates so they receive your news and articles when and where they want them.
Create a monthly, or quarterly, newsletter - just for non-active candidates with career advice. Ask them to opt-in, and be consistent with your sends.

These things will keep you top of mind so your candidates contact YOU when they're ready to make a move. Your clients still may not appreciate you sending their employees on interviews, but at least you're covering your butt a little bit.

I hope this helps!

Best,

Jen Picard

Marketing Director, Bright Recruiter

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