Passive Candidates: How to Identify and Re-Engage Them in Your CRM

The candidate shortage was the number one obstacle recruiters had to overcome in 2021 and this year is no different. As the candidate-driven market stretches on, the demand for talent remains high, making this a hugely profitable time – but only if you've got candidates to fill your clients' roles!

To combat the shortage, 54% of agencies surveyed said they intend to reengage passive candidates from their existing database this year.

This is something that Firefish love to hear, as while some recruiters are stuck thinking their CRM is just a place full of data, every good CRM is bubbling with potential placements – you just have to find them and put in the work! Here’s how to identify those promising passive candidates in five simple steps…

Step 1: Cleanse your database

Hanging onto dead candidate data is really counterproductive but how often do you take time to cleanse your database?

If you’re set on reengaging your network of candidates, the last thing you need is to waste time and effort trying to reengage dead data – it'll never bring you a return for your efforts and will only get in the way!  

Cleansing your data will ensure your CRM is up to date, making it even easier to identify the most promising passive candidates.

Cleanse your database of candidates who are:

• Fully unengaged
• Non-compliant
• Duplicated records
• No longer relevant

Clearing out all of the above using bulk archive/delete functionality, will automatically remove dead data from all your searches, Talent Pools, potential matches and more.

Step 2: Identify the opportunities in your candidate base

Now you’ve removed any time-wasting data, you can identify who your promising passive candidates are.

The Firefish candidate tracking system makes this super simple as it tracks the way candidates engage (or don’t!) with your automated job alerts.

Using a colour-coded system, it differentiates your candidates by engagement indicators. This makes it easy to see exactly which candidates are engaging with your job alerts and which are colder and will need more convincing.

Here’s how this looks for Firefish Professional and Enterprise users…

It’s clear to see from this example that there are several promising candidates (green and orange) and some that are much colder and will take more work (blue and red).

Step 3: Tailor your approach 

When you’re trying to warm up and reengage passive candidates, it's never going to be a case of ‘one message fits all’. Your job is to inspire candidates to be open to moving roles. To be successful at this, you need to tailor your outreach to each activity level:

• Green– The most promising candidates in your database, they’ve started an application form or two but never submitted it. They’re likely to be open to conversations about moving roles and with so much information on this candidate coming through your tracking system you have everything you need to make a warm call. Pick up the phone and reignite that connection.   
• Orange– These candidates are actively clicking through to your website and reading job ads, but nothing more. They’re quickly becoming more passive. Pick up the phone, or reach out via email and check-in. While these jobs aren't working for them, taking time to get to know exactly what this kind of candidate wants is crucial to re-engaging them.
• Blue – These candidates read job alerts but never click – are your alerts relevant to their current situation? How's your candidate's journey fairing? With work, they'll be reengaged but right now they aren’t the big winners in your database. 
• Red– The job alerts land in their inboxes, but never get opened. These candidates are heavily unengaged and will take a lot of re-engagement.

Any good CRM tracks and identifies passive candidates for you, saving you admin time and helping you cut through the noise so you can focus on the most promising candidates in your database.

From there, follow the money and put in the work to build relationships that transform your passive candidates into ones that are excited about the jobs you have on.

By treating each segment (or fish!) differently, you can get to know their circumstances and motivations. That way, you'll have more collateral to go off each time you reach out. It's all about making connections and building relationships with these candidates.  

Step 4: Schedule in your follow-ups

When it comes to engaging, or re-engaging candidates, consistency is key! After you’ve made initial contact don’t drop the ball. Firefish allows you to set up follow-up dates that pull into your recruiter dashboard, so you’ll never miss a beat. 

Step 5: Keep nurturing the relationship 

The hardest part is over, you’ve re-engaged some candidates, now it’s time to nurture them by engaging with them over and over. 

Keep the momentum going by sharing valuable intel that proves to them you’re the recruiter who can help them find their next role. If you’ve put any effort into establishing yourself as a recruiter worth knowing with a strong personal brand, you’ll really shine through at this stage. 

Ready to turn on your candidate engagement engine and make 25% more placements? Book a Demo.