Search of the Passive Candidate

There's a popular trend when it comes to sourcing for industry job candidates. More and more hiring managers are in search of what has been dubbed, “The Passive Candidate”.
Passive candidates are defined as candidates who are satisfied with their current position and are accomplishing great things. They are not actively seeking a new opportunity and job hunting consumes 0% of their time. Most of them don't even have a resume. So why the current fascination to reach out and attract this elusive group?

One reason is that in today's marketplace, often there are jobs we need to fill that require exceptional people with different skill sets than what exist in the active job pool. Resumes currently in a database or candidates posted on an Internet job board can't fit the bill.

Another reason is that many hiring authorities feel that passive candidates represent some of the best talent in the workforce. They are worth the hunt. In addition, there seems to be a mystique that surrounds the passive candidate. Perhaps it lies in the challenge of how to lure them away or the “wanting what you can't have” aspect. Whatever the case, companies are devoting considerable amounts of time and resources to vie for their attention and interest.

With the recruitment of passive candidates on the rise, below are some suggestions on how to get the attention of a group that represents the path of most resistance:

• Use referral programs . Ask your best people to identify the best people they've worked with in the past. Referrals are the number one way to identify them as well as establish contact. Determine their interest level and if they are what you need. If you don't have a match, ask them for other respected names.

• Create an enticing work description . You need to pique the interest of a candidate who is not looking for a position but may be interested in an excellent career opportunity. This means you must say the right thing and create a description that has a WOW factor.

• Identify their pain . Diligent and high caliber workers often don't even know they have pain regarding their employment or employer. Educate them on where they are with respect to the skill sets and compensation of others in their same industry. Educate them on new emerging technologies and industries in their niche. This type of information can lead to a light bulb moment.

• Shift your focus from “What can you do for me?” to “What can we do for you?” Show them how your company recognizes top performers and promotes them. Discuss the benefits of your company culture and managerial style. Offer excellent training programs, incentives, higher earning power, etc.

• Contact reputable search firms. Respected and ethical search firms specializing in your industry will have the latest resources and tools specifically designed to target passive candidates. Their industry connections and process can save you time and money.

For Passive Candidates Google is one of the best source.

Networking is the best way to search Passive Candidates, through ERE, LinkedIn, Twitter, Talentbar, Facebook, and many more. You can also connect with forums , blogs, discussions etc…
The trend to recruit the passive candidate will continue well into the future. While hiring passive candidates may seem desirable, it presents a challenge. The big picture is that hiring managers will need to shift to innovative sourcing which means more time, training, and resources. However, many recruiting experts feel that going in search of the passive candidate is worth it.

Why do Recruitment Consultants lack a professional approach?

This could be a purely Indian phenomenon OR perhaps a very universal one. It is for you to dip back into your experience with this crucial career link and decide. But, based on my experience, here are the Ten Commandments that I feel consultants should adhere to. Of course, as is the case with everything, this is not true of all but perhaps most.
Hence, before any salvos are sent in my direction I apologize to the ones who do and urge the others who don't.
1. We will provide feedback to the candidate even if he or she is not short-listed.
2. We will engage in a healthy discussion regarding the reasons for the candidate to be not short-listed, as it will help us and the candidate in understanding the business requirement.
3. We will adhere to a sense of decorum or maintain a business protocol while communicating with a candidate.
4. We will not jump to first names without having built a relationship or having sought permission from the candidate. This is particularly sore when a fresh consultant starts addressing a senior candidate by the first name.
5. We will not interject our conversation with such inane words as "huhn," "Ya" and the like and continue adhering to the business lingo.
6. We will not force the candidate to meet the company till we are sure of the assignment. Many a times a candidate is sent to the company only to be told that he or she would not fit the role.
7. We will communicate the brief from the company very very clearly to the candidate and avoid any confusion.
8. If two or three people from our company call the same candidate then the brief conveyed to the candidate will be the same and devoid of any dichotomies.
9. We will also understand the need of the candidate, as for us he or she is the other important business link out of the two pertinent in our line of business.
10. We will take all the above suggestions in the right spirit and make the recruiting business a highly professional, healthy, and happy one.

Latest Trends and Major HR Challenges in Recruitment

The following trends are being seen in recruitment:

OUTSOURCING
The outsourcing firms help the organization by the initial screening of the candidates according to the needs of the organization and creating a suitable pool of talent for the final selection by the organization. Outsourcing firms develop their human resource pool by employing people for them and make available personnel to various companies as per their needs. In turn, the outsourcing firms or the intermediaries charge the organizations for their services.

Advantages of outsourcing are:
Company need not plan for human resources much in advance.Value creation, operational flexibility and competitive advantage Turning the management's focus to strategic level processes of HRMCompany is free from salary negotiations, weeding the unsuitable resumes/candidates.Company can save a lot of its resources and time

POACHING/RAIDING “Buying talent” (rather than developing it) is the latest mantra being followed by the organizations today.
Poaching means employing a competent and experienced person already working with another reputed company in the same or different industry; the organization might be a competitor in the industry. A company can attract talent from another firm by offering attractive pay packages and other terms and conditions, better than the current employer of the candidate. But it is seen as an unethical practice and not openly talked about. Indian software and the retail sector are the sectors facing the most severe brunt of poaching today. It has become a challenge for human resource managers to face and tackle poaching, as it weakens the competitive strength of the firm.

E- Recruitment
Many big organizations use Internet as a source of recruitment. E- recruitment is the use of technology to assist the recruitment process. They advertise job vacancies through worldwide web. The job seekers send their applications or curriculum vitae i.e. CV through e mail using the Internet. Alternatively job seekers place their CV’s in worldwide web, which can be drawn by prospective employees depending upon their requirements.

Advantages of E-Recruitment are:
1) Low cost.
2) No intermediaries
3) Reduction in time for recruitment.
4) Recruitment of right type of people.
5) Efficiency of recruitment process.

HR CHALLENGES IN RECRUITMENT:

The HR professionals – handling the recruitment function of the organization- are constantly facing new challenges. The biggest challenge for such professionals is to source or recruit the best people or potential candidate for the organization.
In the last few years, the job market has undergone some fundamental changes in terms of technologies, sources of recruitment, competition in the market etc. In an already saturated job market, where the practices like poaching and raiding are gaining momentum, HR professionals are constantly facing new challenges in one of their most important function- recruitment. They have to face and conquer various challenges to find the best candidates for their organizations.

The major challenges faced by the HR in recruitment are:
Adaptability to globalization – The HR professionals are expected and required to keep in tune with the changing times, i.e. the changes taking place across the globe. HR should maintain the timeliness of the process.
Lack of motivation – Recruitment is considered to be a thankless job. Even if the organization is achieving results, HR department or professionals are not thanked for recruiting the right employees and performers.
Process analysis – The immediacy and speed of the recruitment process are the main concerns of the HR in recruitment. The process should be flexible, adaptive and responsive to the immediate requirements. The recruitment process should also be cost effective.
Strategic prioritization – The emerging new systems are both an opportunity as well as a challenge for the HR professionals. Therefore, reviewing staffing needs and prioritizing the tasks to meet the changes in the market has become a challenge for the recruitment professionals.
Attracting highly talented ones - The number of highly talented professionals is less. All the big MNC's are trying to attract these people with high salaries, perks, incentives etc. There is a tough competition among these companies to get these candidates on their roles.
These days, its not just salaries which will pull the candidate in but various factors like brand, culture, location ,job security, reputation of the company etc play a major role in recruiting a talented professional.

Companies Start Recruiting Through Social Media Websites!

Companies in India, especially all IT companies, have started recruiting through social media networks and blogs. Earlier we had blogged about social media sites being a threat to job portals. This is a very good trend coming up as recruiters get a chance to make a background check of the person they are recruiting. Websites like Orkut, Facebook and other social media websites are the new haunting places for HR Teams these days to scout for talent that can deliver very good results.

Social media sites are places where professionals are looking forward to build relationships with other professionals. There are many communities on both facebook and orkut which professionals join in order to increase their knowledge of their respective fields. Many professionals exchange a lot of crucial notes on these communities which helps them build a reputation of their own. This certainly leads to recruiting from these social networking sites.

There are even specialized professional networks like LinkedIn , ERE and Ryze which cater to the needs of professionals only. These professionals mainly register these sites in order to already keep in touch with past as well as present colleagues. Thus, this is clearly an opportunity for HR agencies and HR teams to collect relevant data, reputation and other crucial data relating to the prospect in question through contacting the colleagues connected to the prospect on the site.

Nowadays, even senior professionals are catching up fast on the blogging scene and writing content that develops a rapport with a lot of visitors. These senior professionals write on blogs to develop a reputation for themselves and establish themselves as experts in their respective areas of work. This way they are attracting companies to recruit them by initiating them to read the quality of content that is put up on their blog.