Incorporating Passive Candidates into Your Recruiting Efforts
The article discusses how, amid a global skilled labor shortage and low unemployment, incorporating passive candidates—those not actively job hunting but open to opportunities—into recruiting strategies can help employers fill difficult vacancies by leveraging nearly 40% of the talent pool who fit this profile.
Incorporating Passive Candidates into Your Recruiting Efforts
Mar 11, 2025
HR and Recruiting Industry Information, Recruiting Best Practices
A shortage of skilled workers, coupled with low unemployment rates, has put extra pressure on hiring managers and recruiters over the last few years. On a global scale, 75 percent of employers report difficulty in finding the necessary talent, with millions of jobs going unfilled. As we move forward in 2025, it’s worth considering how your business can adapt its recruiting strategy to improve outcomes. Learn more about passive candidates and how they can fill those gaps.
What is a Passive Candidate?
A passive candidate is a worker who isn’t actively looking for a different job, but could be open to making a change if the right opportunity presented. According to a study performed in 2023, nearly 40 percent of the talent pool fits this criteria, representing a significant opportunity for employers. Typically, a passive candidate isn’t applying for new roles but could take one on with a little persuasion and appeal.
The Value of Passive Candidates
Passive recruiting focuses on finding and attracting candidates who aren’t actively looking. So you may be wondering, what’s the value?
This type of candidate may bring unique skills that you haven’t found in active applicants. Recruiters and hiring managers can search professional social media profiles for specific qualifications when seeking to fill roles that require specialized skills.
Another advantage of a passive candidate-focused hiring strategy is building a pipeline of candidates. When a role opens that aligns with the skills and qualifications of someone in that pipeline, you don’t have to start from scratch with a new job listing and a wave of applications. Instead, you can reach out directly to someone who you know could be a great fit.
Seeking a passive candidate with skills for the role may also require less training than choosing an applicant who will need to learn the position. You can reduce the time spent on hiring, which saves your company money.
Targeting Passive Candidates in 4 Ways
Since passive candidates are unlikely to be searching job boards for open roles, getting open roles in front of them requires a different approach. Explore six tips to incorporate them into your hiring efforts.
Identify current and future staffing needs
The first step in targeting passive candidates is identifying your company’s staffing needs. This concept includes both current needs and what may come in the future. Conduct a staffing assessment to identify existing and future gaps, then use that information to determine what skills and experience will bring the most value.
Look for candidates through various sources
When you have identified the hiring needs for your company and what the ideal candidate looks like, you can then start searching where that person spends their time. Do they use social media? Are they on a smartphone regularly, or would they be better targeted through more traditional outreach efforts? Maybe your employees already know this individual and could serve as a referral source.
Casting a wider net helps you reach more candidates and build a stronger talent pipeline. Look for creative solutions that help you get in front of people who could be good fits within your company.
Use creativity
Convincing someone to consider a career change, particularly when they haven’t been thinking about it, can be a challenge. Using creative methods and engaging messaging can help your efforts get noticed and increase response rates.
For example, you could put together a message about some of the unique perks or benefits available to employees to encourage people to open it and respond. Consider sponsoring in-person events, like happy hours or open houses, to provide more information about the organization and what makes it a great place to work.
Make the offer appealing
Before reaching out to a passive candidate, make sure the role you’re trying to fill makes sense in their professional trajectory. It’s unlikely that someone will make a significant change in their career for a lateral move (similar title, benefits, pay, etc.). Identify candidates who would be interested in making the change to benefit their professional lives and ensure that any offers extended are appealing and competitive.
Using ApplicantStack in Your Recruiting Strategy
As you consider how to attract talent and support the needs of your business, you may incorporate passive recruiting as part of your strategy. But without the right tools, hiring can take a lot of time, money, and effort. Bottlenecks also make it much more difficult to encourage passive candidates to come onboard.
Create a seamless recruiting process with ApplicantStack, an applicant-tracking system built for today’s employer. Try it for free today!
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