Recruiting Insights: Is Building a Passive Candidate Pipeline Counterproductive?

May 14, 2013

Building a passive candidate pipeline can be a great way to cut down on your time to hire, but does engaging passive candidates before you have a position to fill also carry a risk?

If you find yourself working internally in a recruiting function or even as a hiring manager, you may find a trend of hiring similar or identical roles year over year.
Once the initial hire has been made for these roles it may take less time to find candidates with a similar, closely aligned skill set. This is most likely for several reasons:

  • The initial hire may have a network to reach out to and refer qualified applicants. If a referral is hired, they may have additional qualified referrals for the role, creating an domino-like effect.
  • You have spent time understanding the marketplace and overall landscape of hiring for this role, therefore you know what to expect.
  • You can refer back to a target company list, or other resources you have spent time putting together to aid in recruiting for the role.
  • You recognize the necessary hard and soft skills it requires to be successful in the role and how to screen for them.

Another strategy that can be helpful when hiring for multiples of roles during the year is to build a pipeline of candidates.

Pros and Cons of Building a Passive Candidate Pipeline

Building a pipeline of candidates means you are reaching out to and networking with qualified candidates for a role that may not necessarily be open at the moment, but will be opened over the next several months. This way, when the position is ready to be recruited for, you have a list of candidates who are ready to interview, rather than starting from scratch.

Pro: Reducing Time to Hire

This can be a smart recruiting strategy to implement in order to build out your candidate options and cut down on time it takes to fill a position.

Con: Engaging Passive Candidates May Turn Them into Active Job Seekers

As Glen Cathey writes in a post for his blog, once you reach out to a passive, currently employed candidate, there’s always a risk that the gears may start turning and they may begin checking out other opportunities.
By speaking with you and learning about another exciting position, it is likely the candidate will begin contemplating what other interesting opportunities are out there waiting for them. Not only will they be more open to recruiters reaching out to them, they might even start to actively seek employment on their own by applying.
By the time the position opens up at your company, it’s possible this formerly “passive” candidate you thoughtfully engaged with and carefully placed into your pipeline will have accepted another position.

Staying Connected with Candidates and Keeping Your Pipeline Up to Date

To combat this, be mindful of this candidate behavior. Consistently check in with candidates in your pipeline to inquire about any other interview activity. You cannot prevent a candidate from seeking out other opportunities, of course, but it is best to be aware ahead of time when you’re about to lose a candidate in your pipeline so you can gather information on the details and make updates and fill his or her space, accordingly.

Do you think building a passive candidate pipeline is counterproductive? Or are there ways to maintain it more effectively?

 

Recruiting Lead - Software

<strong>Katy Smigowski</strong> is the Recruiting Lead-Software at <a href="https://www.fitbit.com/">Fitbit</a>, where she is directly managing sourcing team, recruiting process and recruiting strategy dedicated to driving software hiring in our Boston office. Prior to Fitbit, she was a Talent Specialist at OpenView responsible for recruiting initiatives for both the firm and its portfolio companies.