Talent Management - December 2008 - (Page 18)

recruitment & retention assessment & evaluation compensation & beneﬁts performance management learning & development succession planning a job switch is the company culture and the level of engagement in their current role. Franzoni said recruiters have to offer passive candidates true career improvement. Passive job seekers might consider several factors prior to changing jobs. They may want to join a leader in the industry; move to an organization where they trust, value and agree with leadership; or move to a position where they can make measurable progress in the most successful environment. While professional growth is an incentive to lure passive candidates, Warne said passive job seekers ﬁnd it advantageous to be able to customize a role rather than apply to a speciﬁc job opening. sure they’re well-suited. The hiring decision usually is based on the candidate’s career interests and the organization’s strategic talent needs. Recruiting passive job seekers can pose a few challenges. For instance, Warne said this technique involves a resource-intensive approach. “With passive recruiting, all prospects are not created equal,” she explained. “It takes time to understand the prospect’s career goals, to determine the best person for them to meet with, to prepare the business representative for the discussion and possibly customize a role so you can land the hire.” Experts seem to agree the primary challenge in recruiting passive candidates is ﬁnding them. “They’re not looking for the job. Their resumes probably aren’t online, and you’re not going to ﬁnd them on job boards or in the typical areas,” Ling said. “You would ﬁnd them [on] social networking sites, communities, forums, industry association, organizations, users groups, etc.” Further, Lowisz said the contactto-hire cycle often is longer with passive job candidates because they aren’t looking. Recruiters can make themselves more attractive to potential employees with clear, consistent messaging and strong value propositions about the company. “If you can strike a chord with someone who seems truly happy but you notice the one thing that could be better, then you have a unique hook to capitalize on,” Warne said. Another attractive feature to passive candidates — particularly younger employees — is a healthy work-life balance. Lowisz said many Gen Xers and Yers are willing to take a hit in compensation to get it because they don’t live to work — they work to live. Capitalize on Beneﬁts and Manage the Drawbacks Passive candidates possess the speciﬁc skill set suited for the job opening — that’s one of the primary advantages of this recruiting technique, said Lowisz. They are also easier to retain and have a shorter ramp-up period to assume responsibilities in a new position. December 2008 Another challenge is the cost associated with locating these candidates — whether it’s the amount of time or the cost of using an outside provider. “When you look at the turnover rates and the production that generally comes out of passive candidates — which seems to be higher — it’s [a matter of] do you want to take the cost now or take the cost later having to replace the role?” Lowisz said. Bement said gaining passive job seekers’ interest is even more daunting for recruiters than the search. “If you asked 100 recruiters, 95 of them would tell you that it’s one thing to ﬁnd them, [but] it’s another to have them call you back,” he said. “Today, most top talented professionals have been called more than 30 times by recruiters over the course of their career. They know what those calls are like. So unless there’s a silver bullet in that voice message or the ﬁrst two minutes of that conversation, you’re going to lose them.” While all these factors play a role in advancing or deterring the passive candidate recruiting process, one underlying condition remains. “In general, the market for people with particular skills — certain engineers, certain health care professionals — is getting really intense,” said Cohen. “That’s not news to anybody, but it’s still deﬁnitely a recruiting challenge.” RCM Technologies’ Nielsen said passive candidates will thoroughly investigate the job openings to en- 18 talent management magazine www.talentmgt.com http://www.talentmgt.com

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Talent Management - December 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Human Performance Leading Edge Foundations Recruitment & Retention Assessment & Evaluation Compensation & Benefits Performance Management Learning & Development Succession Planning Insight Dashboard Application Advertiser's Index Editorial Resources Full Potential

Talent Management - December 2008

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