How to Discover Those "Hidden Candidates"

By Jezabel Southard

Posted on May 10, 2013

When you post a job opening or search for a candidate, you’ll often look at “active” job seekers – those who are out there proactively seeking a position to match their skills and experience. While active job seekers are a great addition to your talent pool, an organization misses a chance to maximize its talent pool and find top talent if it doesn’t consider “passive” job seekers.

These “hidden candidates” are oftentimes happy in their current role and are not actively searching for a new position. But passive candidates are many times the industry’s leading talent and can offer huge benefits for your company. However, because they are not looking for a new career opportunity, it can be a struggle to identify these top candidates.

So, how can hiring managers discover hidden candidates?  Consider the following tips:

• Fire up your network.  Becoming active in local and professional organizations can help you increase your connections, improving your chances of finding the talent you need. Don’t forget to network within your organization as well; an employee who is leaving a position or who does similar work to the position you’re trying to fill may know others in the field who would do outstanding work.
• Brand your organization.  Integrate traditional marketing, community presence, and industry activity to raise awareness of your organization and its brand. Even the most active job seeker can’t consider submitting a resume if they aren’t aware of your organization’s presence, purpose, and image.
• Go online.  Social media sites offer a great chance to post updates on hiring. Even a basic message indicating your company is looking to fill a specific position can get the attention of passive job seekers. If you’re not actively filling a specific position, use LinkedIn and industry association websites to connect with talented individuals in your industry and keep your organization uppermost in their minds.
• Use your staffing firm.  Your staffing partner has access to some of the best talent in your field, whether those individuals are actively looking for a new position or are merely keeping their eyes open for the next step on their career journey. Working with your staffing partner to clarify the skills, experience, values, and work ethic you’re looking for will improve the quality of your candidate pool.

At TERRA Staffing, our commitment to talent satisfaction shows. Through our large candidate network, we have access to the industry’s leading talent and strive to match these passive candidates to the right position. Contact us today to learn how our connections to both active and passive job seekers can help you find and keep the people you need!

Categories: HR and Management Advice, Staffing Tips & Recruiting Trends

Tags: discovering passive job seekers, effective strategies for recruiting job seekers, finding hidden talent, how to recruit top talent, passive job candidates recruiting strategies, portland OR employment firms, portland OR recruiting specialists, portland recruiting experts, portland staffing experts, recruiting passive job candidates, recruiting passive job seekers

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