Trying to Hire Someone Who Isn’t Actively Job Searching? Here’s How to Grab Their Attention

The labor market is tight right now, and the candidate pool is shrinking by the day. It seems like everyone has a job, and in order to find and recruit good talent you have to figure out a strategy on how to lure them away from their current position. As a business owner, this can be a bit of a conundrum.

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Sometimes we’re reluctant as business leaders – as owners of companies or people who manage portions of businesses, to look at the pool of candidates who already work for other people. You may struggle with how to go about it from a practical sense.

How do you get people to interview if they aren’t even looking? Where do I find them?

Or you may struggle with the tactic from an ethical viewpoint.

David, I would hate to lose one of my key team members to a competitor with such a tactic! 

Think Opportunity Not A Job

The first rule of looking for talent that is already employed has to do with your wording. If you ask a potential candidate if they are interested in a job, they are going to turn you down immediately. They already have a job, and up until five minutes away, they weren’t really looking for another one.

Instead, approach potential candidates asking them if they want to explore an opportunity further. Perhaps have bigger challenges …learn something new…etc. You have to approach the offer in terms of what is in it for the potential candidate. Find out what would get them excited and use that to start the conversation.

Don’t Give Them All The Details

The second rule of recruiting has to do with the amount of information you share in your initial emails with a potential prospect. If you give them all the details, they won’t have a reason to respond back for more information. Instead send them a teaser with just enough information to generate questions. Then when they respond back for more information, get them on the phone and then try to get them excited about the opportunity you have.

Where to Find Potential Prospects

The final piece of the recruiting puzzle has to do with finding candidates in the job pool that you would want to interview. For this you want to look at job boards, message boards, contacts that you have worked with in the past and even your competition. You can also try LinkedIn to find prospects that may currently have a job, but are open to networking and job opportunities. The LinkedIn platform is great for scoping out the competition and finding people that have all the necessary experience and qualifications but aren’t actively looking for a new job at the moment.

Hire a Recruiter

Finding good talent can be a full time job and time sensitive, and if you require a very specific set of skills and experience a recruiter can help get you in the door and find prospects that you might not be able to gain access to on  your own. Let them do the heavy lifting and be available to answer their questions and help them along the way.