As a Founder of a company myself, I know that finding and attracting passive talent can be challenging. I believe that passive candidates are stronger candidates and make better hires. Our firm is typically hired by organizations who need us to locate passive talent for their team. Passive candidates already have a job, showing that they are highly qualified and in demand. It’s important for employers or hiring managers to be able to clearly articulate the reasons why their opportunity is superior in some way to the position the potential employee currently serves in. The issues in finding passive talent for employers are prevalent. I hear about them on a daily basis. Studies indicate that a large numbers of employees that claim they are satisfied in their current role, would be willing to entertain new opportunities if approached with.
The reasons why this is so challenging are:
Time: Since hiring managers are experts in their field, they often lack the time and resources to locate top passive talent. The hunt for passive talent is time consuming and the tools to perform the searches are expensive. This is why many employers work with third party recruiters because the time commitment involved is daunting.
The know-how: Oftentimes, the hiring manager is a subject matter expert in their field. They are not trained as a recruiter and if they do not have the benefit of an internal HR and recruiting team, they must handle the hiring process while maintaining their current responsibilities. Unless there is a dedicated recruiter on the team, the HR professionals job spans many responsibilities other than recruiting. Even HR professionals find this difficult since their time is fragmented among other HR related responsibilities.
Why a recruiter can reach your passive talent pool quicker: Aside from an inordinate amount of time required to locate and reach passive talent, employers are faced with the challenge of how they feel about extracting talent directly from another organization. Therefore, employers tend to post their open roles in hopes that the right person will apply. Passive candidates typically do not apply for open positions. It can put their current job in jeopardy.
Recruiters are able to serve as the confidential intermediary representing an opportunity while insulating their client from the appearance of poaching candidates from similar organizations. Hiring managers working closely with third party recruiters often have the most success. Providing their chosen recruiter with all of the key competencies of the role, compensation, as well as all relevant aspects of the role is critical to the recruiter’s success. The recruiter can best represent your organization and is in a better position to outline the value proposition for the passive talent.
As with any profession, as a recruiter, I have spent many decades honing these skill. Recruiters are experts at building large networks of highly skilled, passive talent that they can more easily tap into and have existing relationships with. A recruiter’s calls Some passive talent would be frightened to receive a direct call from a competitor of their employer, for fear that their current employer would think that they were seeking a new role. Passive talent is the most desired talent to both recruiters as well as the organization. Processes, tools, abilities, and wide networks are extremely instrumental in the ability to deliver this type of talent in a reasonable amount of time.
Kimberly A. Patrick is a passionate serial entrepreneur with 20 years of experience building companies from the ground floor. Kim and her team at Talent Matched have filled hundreds of roles with highly skilled, passive talent. Kim spends her days with her 2 year old little girl and running her business. To learn more about their process, you can contact us!