Every industry is feeling the pressure of a tighter jobs market than we have seen for decades. In the digital and tech sectors, which are in the vanguard of economic growth, competition for the best talent is sometimes ruthless. If you want to give yourself the edge over your competitors when recruiting, you need to broaden your focus and give serious consideration to the potential of passive candidates.

Passive candidates are people who are not actively seeking a new position. They may be perfectly content with their current employer; however, their skills make them very valuable prospects for the employer that can attract and nurture their interest. You may not have a job to offer today but your growth plans will involve expanding your workforce in the next months or years. Why wait until the vacancies arise? It is much better to be prepared with a readymade pool of qualified and interested professionals.

75 per cent of the global workforce consists of passive candidates, with only 25 per cent actively seeking to change jobs [1]. You need access to them all. To help, we have compiled a list of the best practices for building your talent acquisition strategy.

Build a continuous candidate pipeline

A pipeline is a pool of candidates with whom a prospective employer forms strong and continuing relationships in the expectation of future employment. The way to fill this pool is through a combination of social searching through platforms such as LinkedIn, participation in networking and industry events, a referral programme involving your existing employees, and conventional recruitment databases.

Identify current and future hiring needs

The size and constitution of your talent pipeline needs to match your future growth and recruitment plans; therefore, it is important to be rigorous in the assessment of the hiring requirements you can reasonably foresee.

Strengthen your employer brand

One of the most reliable ways of attracting the interest of passive candidates is by building a strong employer brand. Your objective should be to position yourself not only as a successful, respected and high-profile brand but also as the employer that everyone in the digital and tech industries wants to work for.

Develop a unique employer value proposition (EVP)

Your EVP consists of all the elements that make employees join and stay. It involves more than simply an attractive and competitive salary and benefits, important though these are. It extends into all aspects of your employees’ experience with your company: its culture, its values, its sense of social responsibility, the life-work balance it offers, and its commitment to issues that go beyond profit and prestige.

Understand the changing expectations of workers

There has been a significant shift in what employees expect from their employers. This would be true even if recruitment were not as competitive as it is today; however, the fact that the balance of the jobs market is currently in favour of the candidate means employers must take even greater notice. Employees, especially those with valuable digital and tech skills, are no longer grateful simply to have a well-paid job. They expect businesses to address environmental concerns and the challenges of social justice, diversity and inclusion. They want remote and hybrid working to be recognised as legitimate arrangements and demand an emphasis on wellbeing. You must be willing to meet these expectations.

Simplify the application process

Too many employers feel that the importance of recruitment should be matched by the complexity of the process. This is a false equation. You should aim to streamline your application process at every stage, limiting the information you request, the number of interviews you conduct, and the type of questions you ask.

Partner with a talent solutions provider

This may be unknown territory for you. If you are used to conventional recruitment methods, it may seem something of a challenge. This is why your best move is to contact rmg digital. We have extensive experience in sourcing passive candidates to make hiring simple when the time comes.

Call us today and discuss your requirements with one of our consultants. Embrace the future of recruitment.

020 3800 1118