Passive talent – that is candidates who are not actively looking for a new role – have long been thought of as more valuable than active jobseekers. But why? What makes passive candidates so valuable to your talent strategy? In this article we explore the key reasons why they should be at the heart of your recruitment activities.
Improve retention
Since they are already happily employed, passive candidates are more selective about the jobs they consider and value other factors beyond salary such as work-life balance and career growth opportunities. The considered nature of the decision means they are more likely to be moving to a role that is a good long term fit for them. Contrast this with active candidates who are more motivated to change roles due to unhappiness in their current role or potential financial pressures. Therefore passive hires are likely to stay in roles for longer – in fact 86% of hires made through the Acolyte platform, which focuses on passive candidates, are still in role after 2 years.
Take greater control of the candidate experience.
Top talent is less tolerant than ever before of lengthy job applications and a poor hiring journey. Focussing on passive talent streamlines the total number of candidates and allows your internal recruitment team to deliver a more personalised candidate experience.
Reduce time wasted sifting through unsuitable candidates.
Many internal recruiters get burdened by spending hours sifting through resumes to find the candidates that fit their requirements. It can be a needle in a haystack scenario. With passive candidates - you’re able to prioritize the best candidates who meet your skills, location, and experience requirements.
Begin building your candidate database for future roles.
Every passive candidate you engage is valuable – after all there is a reason your chose to reach out to them even if they aren’t the best fit right now. Instead of them being lost and having to start from scratch when re-hiring, they all can sit in your own candidate database. This enables you to backfill roles from talent on tap. Future proofing your talent function.
Develop your own talent benchmarking
Engaging passive candidates and filling roles will generate your own talent data and provide you with benchmarks for everything along your talent funnel. Before a hiring campaign starts, you’ll know exactly how many candidates you will likely need to engage to fill the vacancy.
Reduce advertising costs.
By cherry picking the right talent that you want to speak to, you are eliminating the need to advertise. This creates savings that can be redeployed to help with your hardest-to-fill roles.
Better talent provides a competitive advantage
Top talent tends to stay in role longer as they are recognised and rewarded by their current employer. This is why passive talent has a strong correlation with high performing individuals. This is evidenced by recent research that shows passive talent is 120% more likely to make an impact on your organisation and 17% less likely to need additional skills training.
Learn more about passive talent
Want to learn more about the importance of passive talent to your talent strategies?
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