The tightening economy has put the brakes on hiring for many employers, but some professions and skill sets remain highly sought after.
If your company is having trouble finding desirable workers on job boards, it’s probably because they’re happily employed where they are.
“Passive candidates,” the term recruiters use to describe prospects who are not actively seeking a job, are difficult to find and even more difficult to make contact with.
But some HR departments have discovered creative ways to make their pitch resonate.
1. Target:
After job-posting sites turned up few qualified candidates, Aliso Viejo (Calif.) video game startup Red 5 Studios handpicked about 100 dream candidates, spent time learning their backgrounds and interests from social networks and personal blogs, and airmailed each one a personalized iPod, complete with artistic packaging and a recorded message from CEO Mark Kern. More than 90 recipients responded to the pitch, three left their jobs to come on board, and many more potential hires discovered the company through word-of-mouth buzz generated by the search.
2. Speak in Code
People who are proven in their profession are bombarded by messages from recruiters, so it’s important to stand out from the pack. When game maker Electronic Arts (ERTS) needed to staff its Canadian office with ASCII programmers, it worked with the Vancouver office of ad agency TBWA to design a coded message that only potential hires would be able to decipher. This billboard, placed directly in front of the offices of game rival Radical Entertainment, contains the ASCII code for “NOW HIRING.”
3. Join the Conversation
Social media sites let recruiters join in an informal conversation with potential hires. Global auditor Ernst & Young has created groups on Facebook, where current employees share company news and prospective employees sign up for internships and events, and hear about job openings around the world. Professional networking site LinkedIn and fast-paced microblogging site Twitter are also good ways to pass news of a job opening through the ranks of the employed.
4. Employer Branding
Even potential hires who are not actively seeking jobs have probably heard something about your company’s “employer brand.” A company with a good employer brand is one known for hiring the best people and retaining them with competitive pay, comfortable workplaces, and opportunities for advancement. Faced with growing public awareness of the harmful effects of cigarette smoking, Marlboro maker Philip Morris (PM_W) bolstered its employer brand by initiating corporate social responsibility drives and padding up starting salaries, according to Claudia Tattanelli, CEO of Swedish employer branding consultant Universum. As a result, the company placed 29th on BusinessWeek’s list of Best Places to Launch a Career in 2006, and 43rd in 2007.
5. Lighten Up
Don’t know what tone to take with potential candidates? Try humor. At last year’s Flashforward, a trade event for flash programmers, audience members at certain panel discussions found in their seats a recruiting pitch from irreverent ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky: a “Resignation Toolkit,” complete with a form letter of resignation to fill out and hand to their current employer and contacts to set up an interview at the event itself.
6. Intrude
Often, the decision of a passive candidate to interview with a new company is an impulsive one, according to Mike Temkin, vice-president for strategic planning and development at boutique employment advertising agency Shaker. To play on the impulses of a potential hire, he says, “you have to be intrusive. You have to drive the message to them.” Shaker aimed to be intrusive in this recent campaign for Connecticut casino Mohegan Sun, which included sidewalk chalkings in high-traffic spots on college campuses.
7. Be Flexible
Once a passive candidate shows interest, the onus is on the recruiter to make the interviewing and hiring process accommodating. “Unemployed people will go through any hell to get a position. But employed people are busy,” says John Sullivan, a recruiting consultant and professor of management at San Francisco State University. Deloitte & Touche, for example, holds interviews on nights and weekends.
8. Offer a Reward
After finding out firsthand how hard it is to get the best candidates into the interview room, former recruiter Rob Ellis decided to add an incentive: cold hard cash. Google (GOOG), Walt Disney (DIS), and Pepsico (PEP) are just a few of the companies that have begun to pay qualified candidates to come in for an interview through NotchUp, a site co-founded by Ellis. Still in beta testing, the site is a place for would-be hires—80% of whom identify themselves as passive job seekers—to name the dollar amount a company would have to pay to interview them. For an experienced worker making a current salary of $100,000, the site recommends an interview price of around $500.
9. Use Your Big Brass
Larger companies rarely involve their top executives in the hiring process, but when they do it can help add to the allure of a job offer. Bill Crutchfield, chief executive of consumer electronics retailer Crutchfield in Charlottesville, Va., takes a personal stake in the hiring process when his hiring managers tell him a quality candidate is on the fence: He calls them up or has them come into his office. “I do this when we are aggressively recruiting a highly competitive applicant,” says Crutchfield. He says key prospects perk up when he gives them a call, “since applicants for positions other [than] the most senior ones rarely get an opportunity to speak with a CEO during the recruiting process.”
All the best.......:icon1:
From India, Hyderabad
5If your company is having trouble finding desirable workers on job boards, it’s probably because they’re happily employed where they are.
“Passive candidates,” the term recruiters use to describe prospects who are not actively seeking a job, are difficult to find and even more difficult to make contact with.
But some HR departments have discovered creative ways to make their pitch resonate.
1. Target:
After job-posting sites turned up few qualified candidates, Aliso Viejo (Calif.) video game startup Red 5 Studios handpicked about 100 dream candidates, spent time learning their backgrounds and interests from social networks and personal blogs, and airmailed each one a personalized iPod, complete with artistic packaging and a recorded message from CEO Mark Kern. More than 90 recipients responded to the pitch, three left their jobs to come on board, and many more potential hires discovered the company through word-of-mouth buzz generated by the search.
2. Speak in Code
People who are proven in their profession are bombarded by messages from recruiters, so it’s important to stand out from the pack. When game maker Electronic Arts (ERTS) needed to staff its Canadian office with ASCII programmers, it worked with the Vancouver office of ad agency TBWA to design a coded message that only potential hires would be able to decipher. This billboard, placed directly in front of the offices of game rival Radical Entertainment, contains the ASCII code for “NOW HIRING.”
3. Join the Conversation
Social media sites let recruiters join in an informal conversation with potential hires. Global auditor Ernst & Young has created groups on Facebook, where current employees share company news and prospective employees sign up for internships and events, and hear about job openings around the world. Professional networking site LinkedIn and fast-paced microblogging site Twitter are also good ways to pass news of a job opening through the ranks of the employed.
4. Employer Branding
Even potential hires who are not actively seeking jobs have probably heard something about your company’s “employer brand.” A company with a good employer brand is one known for hiring the best people and retaining them with competitive pay, comfortable workplaces, and opportunities for advancement. Faced with growing public awareness of the harmful effects of cigarette smoking, Marlboro maker Philip Morris (PM_W) bolstered its employer brand by initiating corporate social responsibility drives and padding up starting salaries, according to Claudia Tattanelli, CEO of Swedish employer branding consultant Universum. As a result, the company placed 29th on BusinessWeek’s list of Best Places to Launch a Career in 2006, and 43rd in 2007.
5. Lighten Up
Don’t know what tone to take with potential candidates? Try humor. At last year’s Flashforward, a trade event for flash programmers, audience members at certain panel discussions found in their seats a recruiting pitch from irreverent ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky: a “Resignation Toolkit,” complete with a form letter of resignation to fill out and hand to their current employer and contacts to set up an interview at the event itself.
6. Intrude
Often, the decision of a passive candidate to interview with a new company is an impulsive one, according to Mike Temkin, vice-president for strategic planning and development at boutique employment advertising agency Shaker. To play on the impulses of a potential hire, he says, “you have to be intrusive. You have to drive the message to them.” Shaker aimed to be intrusive in this recent campaign for Connecticut casino Mohegan Sun, which included sidewalk chalkings in high-traffic spots on college campuses.
7. Be Flexible
Once a passive candidate shows interest, the onus is on the recruiter to make the interviewing and hiring process accommodating. “Unemployed people will go through any hell to get a position. But employed people are busy,” says John Sullivan, a recruiting consultant and professor of management at San Francisco State University. Deloitte & Touche, for example, holds interviews on nights and weekends.
8. Offer a Reward
After finding out firsthand how hard it is to get the best candidates into the interview room, former recruiter Rob Ellis decided to add an incentive: cold hard cash. Google (GOOG), Walt Disney (DIS), and Pepsico (PEP) are just a few of the companies that have begun to pay qualified candidates to come in for an interview through NotchUp, a site co-founded by Ellis. Still in beta testing, the site is a place for would-be hires—80% of whom identify themselves as passive job seekers—to name the dollar amount a company would have to pay to interview them. For an experienced worker making a current salary of $100,000, the site recommends an interview price of around $500.
9. Use Your Big Brass
Larger companies rarely involve their top executives in the hiring process, but when they do it can help add to the allure of a job offer. Bill Crutchfield, chief executive of consumer electronics retailer Crutchfield in Charlottesville, Va., takes a personal stake in the hiring process when his hiring managers tell him a quality candidate is on the fence: He calls them up or has them come into his office. “I do this when we are aggressively recruiting a highly competitive applicant,” says Crutchfield. He says key prospects perk up when he gives them a call, “since applicants for positions other [than] the most senior ones rarely get an opportunity to speak with a CEO during the recruiting process.”
All the best.......:icon1:
From India, Hyderabad
I was thinking that POACHING itself is unethical, but might be it might be ethical and correct, I think I read the wrong books of rules, or some misprint in dictionary....:huh::huh:
lets see if above points prove itself then i will also do hacking, that also will be useful and give me more money.. :icon7::icon7::icon7::icon7:
From India, Pune
lets see if above points prove itself then i will also do hacking, that also will be useful and give me more money.. :icon7::icon7::icon7::icon7:
From India, Pune
Hi Ravi,
Just like there is Ethical Hacking, there is also Ethical Poaching.
The tips I have given are for Ethical Poaching......not for poaching just for the heck of it to bring down your competitor.
Please go through all the tips thoroughly and lemme know if you find anything unethical or illegal about them.
From India, Hyderabad
Just like there is Ethical Hacking, there is also Ethical Poaching.
The tips I have given are for Ethical Poaching......not for poaching just for the heck of it to bring down your competitor.
Please go through all the tips thoroughly and lemme know if you find anything unethical or illegal about them.
From India, Hyderabad
i dont think so....bribing is when u pay someone in cash or kind to do something illegal and outside the law....and i dont see anything illegal in telling the candidates about a suitable opening and asking them to join....
its just a feel-good marketing trick....thats all....
From India, Hyderabad
its just a feel-good marketing trick....thats all....
From India, Hyderabad
Makes a hell lot of sense to someone like me who is new to recruitments ....the trick of paying candidates to attend interviews is good ...branding is a long term solution which companies can take ...want to know how to go about this branding thing...i understand that we market the company ...but is there no method like the one Google has ...i mean to say it doesn't do anything but still has so much branding in the market for itself ...not self promoted though
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Creative Teaching & AssessmentREV5. ppt
Maiden Steps for Policy Making.doc