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What is it?

Passive Candidate Development is a sourcing strategy used to find quality candidates who are currently employed, not actively looking for a new job and who have a particular desired skill set. Passive search is often used when candidates cannot be found by actively posting a job, hosting a job fair or searching for posted resumes of individuals who are job seeking. This entails identifying a candidate list from competitive companies and proactively calling on those candidates to present the new opportunity.

How is it used?

By directly sourcing management positions from targeted competitors within a similar industry and geography focused areas.

Why would organization use it?

The Department of Labor says that 84 percent of the workforce is made up of Passive Candidates.  With Passive Candidates making up the majority of the work force, it is important for an organization to utilize this recruiting tool.  Using this approach is popular among hiring managers who specifically know what they want in a candidate.

There are many benefits to using this approach.  First being it saves time and money.  It is very costly for a company to take on a new employee that needs extensive training, with this approach minimal training is necessary.  Because the candidate is already an expert in that field, they are highly knowledgeable about that position.  Due to the high cost of training, having to provide minimal training save an organization enormous amounts of money.  Training can be especially time consuming, especially if they are new within that field.  This approach allows an organization to focus on more pressing matters other than training.  Also an organization can be assured the job expectations are being met. Organizations use Passive Candidate Development to fill management positions.  Since they are some of the most important positions within a company, they need to be filled with candidates that will get the job done.

Since the candidates are passive, they are currently not looking for a job, which makes it difficult to identify them.  The candidate will not be utilizing a job board to post their resume or any forms of social media to display their interest in a new position.  Also there are no other available options until you know who the person you are seeking is. Another drawback is making the connection since traditional communication is hindered it is important to use alternative ways.  A lot of RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) companies rely on cold calling, in which scenarios will be created to first find out who the person is as well as make initial contact with them.

Passive Candidate Development will provide an organization with a high caliber of skilled, quality, and qualified candidates.