Searching for job opportunities

Step 1: Determine and improve the organization's employment brand.

An employment brand is a term used to define a company's reputation as an employer. Passive job searchers are often drawn to companies that have employment brands that correspond with their own aims and beliefs. Employers known for their support of community involvement and "giving back" through employee volunteering and company events are examples of strong employment brands; employee ownership in the organization to create unified investment in organizational growth; a fun, free-thinking workplace dedicated to innovation and collaborative contributions; and a commitment to professional development and growth to invest in long-term employment and leadership opportunities are examples of strong employment brands.

Regardless of the brand, once it has been developed and formed, try to enhance it so that passive job searchers know your company is a wonderful place to work. Determine where your brand is not being regarded as strongly as you would want or where it is not as readily available, and attempt to enhance those areas. Consider the following questions: How is the organization perceived in the community? What about social media? By stakeholders, including prospective employees? Is it regarded as a desirable employer? On websites such as Glassdoor, Salary, and CareerBuilder, what are current and past workers saying about working here?

If your employer brand might use some help, try the following steps:

Sponsor or cosponsor community activities to become a good community member.

Allow workers to volunteer their time at work for community causes.

Apply for local and regional HR awards that indicate that your company is a preferred employer.

Invest in a social media professional who can help you build your employer brand.

Use advertising to promote both employment brand efforts and product branding.

Step 2: Determine existing and forecast workforce requirements.

You must understand your organization's present and prospective workforce requirements in order to target the ideal passive job searchers. Conduct a personnel evaluation to identify present and prospective workforce shortfalls, including knowledge and skills. This study will aid in determining which passive job searchers should be addressed and what connections should be established for future opportunities.

Consider the following procedures to analyze any skill shortages in your present workforce:

Identify what talents your company now requires by creating job profiles that take into account your business's purpose, vision, and objectives. Once those abilities have been identified, rank them in order of importance depending on your organization's objectives.

Conduct an assessment of the competencies of your present personnel. These data may be acquired by analyzing performance evaluations, administering skills analysis questionnaires, and conducting interviews with workers, supervisors, and managers. As in the previous stage, rate those talents in order of importance, from high to low.

Examine the outcomes. Compare the results from the previous two phases; the disparities discovered will identify existing skill gaps.

If future skill requirements are known, use the same analysis to assist you select potential applicants.

It is critical to assess predicted staffing demands in order to target passive job searchers for future openings. Projected staffing requirements may be forecasted by examining your organization's typical turnover rates, but a more accurate estimate will take into account anticipated retirements and future employment growth based on the organization's strategic strategy. If the strategic plan calls for an expansion in one area of the organization (for example, more sophisticated use of big data) and a contraction in another (for example, reduced production of a specific good or service), you can expect to need more people with technical and analytical skills and fewer line employees.

Step 3: Find passive job seekers.

Search where those applicants look and go where they go, both physically and online, to locate or source passive employment candidates. If you're searching for someone who can analyze big data, for example, contact big data groups such as the Data Science Association or the Association of Big Data Professionals, browse their job boards, and attend networking events and conferences. Direct mail marketing, telerecruiting, and direct recruitment are other methods for locating passive job searchers (contacting potential job candidates personally). Other firms establish talent communities—social media platforms where a network of individuals (for example, alumni workers) may exchange information—to assist source and build connections with passive job searchers.

Other methods for locating passive job searchers include:

Social networking sites. Social networking platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and professional or organization network sites, as well as job boards like CareerBuilder and Monster, are excellent landing spots for recruiters and passive job searchers alike.

LinkedIn is the most popular social networking platform for passive recruitment. Indeed, it provides "Recruiter Lite" and "Recruiter Corporate" subscriptions to assist recruiters in sourcing candidates. Use LinkedIn's "advanced people search" function to input your criteria for the right applicant for a position that is or will be available at your firm. For more detailed search tactics, see the SHRM article Locate the Right Talent with Basic Boolean Search Tips.

Employers with Facebook accounts may share good corporate news, which can assist build your employment brand. You might also post job vacancies on your Facebook page and, if willing, invite existing workers to share them. Because news spreads rapidly on social media, this might significantly boost your reach to potential applicants.

Smartphones are used for mobile recruitment. If you haven't already, now is the time to make your organization's career website and job ads mobile-friendly, as well as to include mobile-enabled job applications. Work with your IT department to discover more about the project's scope, expenses, and timescales. You may also compare your career website to other websites in your field by using your smartphone to view them.

Employee referral schemes Employee recommendations continue to be a popular method of identifying passive job searchers, so if you haven't updated or examined your employee referral program in a few years, it may be time to do so. By visiting your rivals' career websites and social media pages, you may compare your program to other successful employee referral programs. When benchmarking, consult with other HR experts in your sector about ways to enhance your employee referral program and monitor metrics to determine the program's efficacy. Employers are increasingly incorporating social media platforms like as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook into their employee recommendation programs. You may publish job openings on social media networks and urge workers to share them on their personal profiles. Some businesses encourage online employee referral communities and have dedicated administrators who monitor the sites, directing referrals to resources and answering queries in real time.

Blogs. Many businesses are now turning to blogs to find passive job searchers. You may write about issues that people in your business are interested in, but not necessarily about your organization, since people may interact with content more than corporate news and updates.

The trick to detecting passive job applicants is to think outside the box. Companies are increasingly producing films describing what it's like to work for them. Others put advertisements on internet radio stations such as Pandora since that is where their prospective job applicants spend their time. Retailers with in-store Wi-Fi utilize it to reach out to passive job prospects. When clients check in to use a store's free Wi-Fi, employment notifications display that link to the company's job portal. Companies have also been known to employ television commercials, billboards, and even posters to find passive job searchers.

Step 4: Find and engage passive job seekers

To keep passive job searchers engaged, you must maintain a connection with them.

Keep in mind that passive job searchers are often content with their existing position and will not jump ship without careful deliberation. Relationship development is thus essential when attempting to engage passive job searchers.

That friendship must be developed gradually. Don't put too much pressure on passive job searchers to act rapidly. Engage them in real dialogue to begin growing the friendship (whether that is through phone calls, social media, blogging, e-mails, etc.). Inquire about their short- and long-term professional objectives. Send them customized white papers or other content-rich material in their areas of expertise to keep them interested and open to further contact. Maintain communication and engagement with them via tailored contacts until a suitable employment position becomes available. Establish genuine connections with passive job searchers and recognize that this is a long-term commitment.

Sending passive job searchers recruitment marketing materials by e-mail is another approach to strengthen that connection. This will assist them in learning more about the organization, and by delivering it electronically, you will discover who opens the e-mail blasts and what each receiver clicks on. You may also collect information on who is not opening messages, who unsubscribes, and so forth. These insights may assist you discover more about which prospects are more willing to be hired and which are not, as well as which marketing strategies are effective and which are not.

Understanding what passive job searchers want to know is another method to strengthen that connection. They want to learn about the corporate culture, employee experience, and work. Passive job searchers will most likely glance to Glassdoor and similar sites to see what current and past workers are saying about the firm. Consider hosting live events, such as open homes or happy hours, and inviting sourced passive job candidates to learn more about your company.

Step 5: Simplify the application process and customize it to passive job searchers.

The last barrier to attracting passive job searchers is persuading them to apply for the position. Consider making the application procedure simple to access and finish. According to SHRM's Recruiting Checklist for Quality Hires, the greatest performers are often passive job searchers who lack the enthusiasm or time to go through a time-consuming application procedure. Passive job searchers may be discouraged from completing online applications that involve excessive click-throughs or are not suitable for mobile access.

Finally, if you get to the interview stage, avoid the following mistakes when dealing with passive job seekers:

Do not ask them as though they are actively looking for work. Do not inquire, "Why should I engage you?" This may deter inactive job searchers.

Expect them to have done significant study on your organization—remember, you came to them, not they came to you.

Don't attempt to entice them with a comparable position. Attract them with a job that provides more responsibility or the chance to learn new skills and talents. remove the third bullet