Despite all the tech layoffs that seemed to grab headlines earlier this year, the official unemployment rate is still under 4%, and hiring appears to be on the upswing. That means over 96% of the workforce is employed, making passive talent sourcing an essential aspect of your recruiting strategy, and really the only way to ensure you're getting the right applicants into your funnel.
75% of people in the workforce are not actively looking for a job, but most would be open to seeing opportunities that would be a strong fit for their career aspirations. Passive sourcing in recruiting is the strategy of proactively targeting and engaging professionals who are not actively looking for a new job (but may be open to new opportunities). Passive candidates can include people who are satisfied in their current job, but still open to learning about other opportunities, and may considering making a move if the right one presents itself. It can also include individuals who may be underutilized in their current role.
1. Invest in sourcing automation tools
2. Run passive email campaigns
3. Utilize social media platforms
Automation tools are the future of passive sourcing in recruitment. Picture this: you are looking for a Product Manager with a strong technical background who has experience at a scaling FinTech startup. You could go to LinkedIn, enter a ton of different filtering criteria or a long Boolean search, and try to build your list. Then as pages of results appear with different degrees of relevance, you review every profile, pick the ones you like, and reach out to each with a message. This can take days, if not weeks of time, and with inMail response rates at 10-25% it can be hard to build your funnel with this approach.
Tools like SquarePeg automate and improve upon this process by taking your job description (or if you don't have it yet, then 1-2 sentences about what you are looking for) and building out a set of targeting criteria for you, including relevant skills, job titles, work experience, and career progression.
SquarePeg can then match that against a database of millions of potential candidates to identify a highly targeted list.
Other automation tools can sit on top of your LinkedIn as a Chrome plug-in but may require several more steps to select the right profiles for your list.
Automation tools often integrate with existing HR and applicant tracking systems, streamlining data management and enhancing the overall HR tech stack.
Automating the recruitment process can lead to significant improvements in efficiency, accuracy, and the overall quality of hire, benefiting both employers and job seekers.
Now that you have your list built, the key is to stand out to your target candidate with clear messaging as to why they should consider your job. Most people will be working somewhere else, so they need to see a clear argument as to why their career will be more fruitful if they jump ship and join your organization. Is there upward mobility? A cool tech stack? The ability to build something from the ground up? Candidates care about the opportunities they will get to upskill, work with smart/driven people, and the company's mission and culture. Figure out what makes your job and company unique, and pen it into a short but powerful message.
Cold email typically has low open and response rates (3%!) so there are a few critical ways to improve your odds. Select a tool that can help you get to the inbox. If candidates never see your message, it won't matter how brilliant your pitch is. SquarePeg boasts open rates of close to 70% for campaigns, by warming up domains and building credibility with email providers. Sending recruiting messages from your work email (especially if it's Gmail) can result in your email or domain getting blocked so be careful if you go the DIY route.
One consideration when running your own outreach campaigns to passive candidates is the number of emails that you are able to send from your work email each day. With most email providers, it is important to only send between 30-50 emails per day in order to maintain the deliverability of your email address and company domain.
When sourcing passive candidates via SquarePeg, you will be able to send emails through our email infrastructure which is already warmed up and has a high reputation. This means you will have the ability to reach higher volumes of candidates each day while getting higher open rates, a win-win.
Write a subject line and opening sentence that stands out. Short, personalized subject lines (< 5 words) perform best, and candidates prefer emails that get straight to the point. The first sentence matters because that's included in the email preview, and some people may choose to delete a message purely on the preview.
SquarePeg and many other sourcing tools allow you to A/B test subjects or can provide great benchmark data on high-performing subject lines. They will also allow you to add personalization like a candidate's first name.
Make sure your email content is short, compelling, personalized, and clearly states the reason why that candidate should consider the job. Emails that end with a question often perform better. You have only a few seconds to grab the attention and interest of the candidate, which is why SquarePeg provides default email messaging for employers to use (which they can tweak where necessary).
It's important to respond quickly to emails. If you don't, candidates quickly lose interest. SquarePeg's automated messaging can respond for you, so you don't have to spend half a day responding.
Lastly, you'll want to monitor your open rate, click-through rate, and reply rates. SquarePeg shares these campaign stats. More importantly, you'll want to track how many of those people land on your job description (and convert - but that's for another blog post). These stats are critical to attracting top talent, and most ATS systems don't provide them.
Post all open jobs, or that your company is hiring, on social media.
Use hashtags to target specific audiences, this will help your posts show up on various feeds and expand your reach.
Share employer brand content. Many job seekers consult social media to identify any red flags. Post pictures of your team, and testimonials from staff members, and display your company's culture to attract top candidates.
Want to begin sourcing passive candidates?
Discover the power of tools like SquarePeg that automate manual recruiting processes, offer highly targeted passive email campaigns, and provide exposure to your jobs via social media and a variety of job boards, helping you attract the best candidates through passive sourcing. Schedule a demo today to see SquarePeg in action.
The majority of the labor market is employed, making passive sourcing an essential strategy in today's competitive talent market. Investing in recruiting automation tools, running passive email campaigns, and utilizing social media are the top strategies to begin passively sourcing candidates and attracting top-tier talent.