Bright Recruiter: Articles

Often we see articles about recruiting passive candidates. The perception is that active candidates are not as desirable as their working counterparts.

Allyson Doyle, Contributor for About.com wrote, “Employers often actively seek passive candidates for employment, especially when they are seeking candidates with very specific skills and experience.”

Does that mean that active candidates are no good? Before making a premature judgment, please read on - It VERY important not to discount active candidates.

Manisha Gupta, on her LinkedIn article “Passive Talent – Not as Passive as you Think”, brought up a very important point. “…if you focus only on the passive talent pool (which comprises about 80 percent of the fully-employed workforce), you’ll find those who are truly ‘approachable’ (whether ‘Tiptoers’ or ‘Explorers’) far outnumber the ‘Super-Passives’ who claim they’re not interested in even discussing a move.” Most of these candidates are actually somewhat active.

Active candidates are usually inundated with calls by sourcers and recruiters for the same jobs all day. Because of this, active candidates can be “slippery” and hard to pin down. Honestly, it can take even more time to properly recruit candidates that are on the prowl than their more passive peers. I have always prided myself on having no candidate not accept an offer I presented. (ok maybe 4 in my career) The reason I can claim this, like quite a number of my peers, is because, I have never presented an offer to a candidate that I had not had on lock down.

Let’s look at four of the steps that you must do if you want your candidates to “stick.”

1. Get ALL the Red Flags out of the way during discovery. Most candidates that are actively looking could also be actively interviewing. They say Monday night they can interview on Tuesday. But when you call them on Tuesday, you find out they got a job! (Ouch!) If you are sure this is THE candidate, do a deep DEEP dive when getting to know your candidate. You need to know what they want in their career and whether or not you can provide it!
2. Talk to them every day!! Lead with the question: “Has anything changed since I talked to you yesterday?”
3. Assume that they have interviewed and/or received offers. “Where are you interviewing today?  Turn down any offers? Any pending?”
4. Repeat during each conversation the “specs”: “To follow up, I have submitted your resume to [Company Name or Hiring Manager Name] for the [Job Title]. You can interview at [times and days given to you by candidate] and if everything goes well, you are able to accept the position at [company name] in [city] for an annual (hourly) salary of [$$$$].

It really does need to be everyday by the way. And then 2x a week the first 2 weeks and once a week for the next 2 weeks at a minimum. Sourcers and recruiters remember the candidate is your product. Make sure before every placement you know what you are selling.

Great talent is hard to find.

Fox News recently interviewed TurboSquid, a tech company in New Orleans, after Bright Labs announced that NOLA was among the top 3 fastest growing regions for tech jobs.

They explain an issue that hits close to home for us here at Bright – that the demand for talent outweighs the supply. As they mention in the video, business is good and they need more software engineers to drive the production they have the demand for. But they just can’t seem to fill their positions. Louisiana produced less than 430 computer science grads last year, and jobs are being created much faster than they can be filled.

So, what’s a tech company to do? Here at Bright, we’ve expanded our search for great candidates worldwide – bringing in talent from every corner of the earth to create our world-class team.

And today, despite any objections from our HR department, I’m going to share all of our secrets…

Build a World-Class Employer Brand and Culture, and Make it Known

We pride ourselves on being a great place to work. We have a team-oriented structure with a flat hierarchy that allows each person to contribute in a meaningful way. We have a great startup culture that includes an open office space (no cubicles) so we can foster teamwork and innovation. We also have fantastic teambuilding events, like distillery tours/tastings and bowling, plus we celebrate birthdays and holidays together.

All of these things are the reasons we’re able to retain our talent, but it’s also important to share this information in order to attract top talent. We do this mainly through word of mouth (hello, referrals!) and social media, but it’s also on our website and mentioned in each of our job postings. That way, whether we’re reaching out to a candidate, or they found us, our employer brand and company culture are front and center for a candidate to review and evaluate against their professional interests and goals.

For a top candidate that’s willing to make a long distance move and has endless opportunities around the world, this information can be a deciding factor in whether or not to consider, or accept, an opportunity with your company.

Be flexible with interviewing.

One of our engineers cited our interview process as one the reasons he considered an opportunity with us. We allowed him to do a phone interview and take our coding challenge remotely – so he didn’t have to spend time and money flying out to California before we got to know each other a little better. This gave him a sense of who the people here were so, when he came out to visit in person, he wasn't completely in the dark.

Foot the Bill/Take Money out of the Equation

Bright covers many of the interviewing and relocation expenses, removing finances as an obstacle so the candidate can focus on the opportunity and fit. This includes interview traveling expenses, relocation and moving expenses, work visas for eligible foreign workers, and even assistance with temporary housing if an employee has not had time to find a place on their own.

By taking money out of the equation, candidates don’t have to worry about costs associated with interviewing for a job that may not pan out, or moving across the country when they could probably find a job closer to home. Remember, top candidates are in demand everywhere, so if you want them to relocate to work for your company, you need to make it an easy decision.

Implement a Flexible Vacation Policy

Bright has an unlimited vacation policy, which one of our engineers cited as one of the reasons he accepted our offer. Our flexible time off policy allows our employees to take time off and recharge as needed, but it has the added benefit of allowing our non-native Californians to return home on a regular basis. Especially for an employee that’s moved across the country (or across the world!) with few personal contacts in a new place, it’s important that they don’t feel stuck within the constraints of company vacation days.

What do you do to attract relocation candidates?

To find qualified candidates nationwide, sign up for a free trial of Bright Recruiter.

How much time do you spend screening candidates? A whole day can be spent reviewing resumes to create a shortlist, followed by 30 minutes per candidate on a phone screen, and then 1 hour or more per candidate for a first round interview.

This webinar recording from SocialTalent shows you how to shorten the screening process so you have more face time with your most qualified candidates.

They review:

• Bright’s CV screening tool: This tool helps you save time on screening resumes - simply add your job description and upload resumes, and the Bright Score Calculator will rank each candidate against the job description you've entered, in minutes - rather than hours. Each candidate will receive a score between 0-100, and those with the highest score are best suited to move on to the next step in the recruitment process.

• SurveyMonkey questionnaires: Once you've identified your shortlist from Bright, send them a short qualification survey instead of scheduling a phone screen. This saves you time, and offers the candidate more flexibility in terms of scheduling. You can set up a 10 question survey for free, set a deadline for completion and quickly sort through the results to bring forward only your best, and most qualified, candidates.

• Sonru’s automated video interviewing tool: To save time on your first round interviews, try using this automated and recorded video interview tool. This allows candidates to answer your preliminary questions on their own schedule, and gives each a more consistent experience. You can then quickly review the candidates on your own schedule as well, and bring in only the most qualified for an in-person interview.

For more specifics, watch the webinar:

I can't even keep track of how often I get recruited for positions in business development and sales, but it’s gotten to the point where I don’t even want to respond anymore. Sure, the required skill sets are similar to mine, and I could probably be successful in them if I were to make a career move. But my entire work history is in marketing. I love marketing, and anyone who spent the time to look over my background would notice that.

So, when a recruiter reaches out to me for something that’s irrelevant, I realize that they probably didn’t take the time to research my background and what kind of position I’d be interested in. Actually, the only reason I email them back is to let them know that they can find someone who may actually be interested by using Bright Recruiter. (For those of you unfamiliar with Bright, we’ve developed an algorithm that matches your job description to the millions of candidates that have signed up on our site. That way, you know the job candidates are qualified AND interested in hearing from you.)

Regardless of where you find your candidates, you should at least make sure that your opportunity is in line with their career progression.

A Linkedin poll revealed that about half of the 14,000 respondents didn’t mind getting InMails from recruiters, while the other half didn’t mind as long as they were relevant. To put it another way, half of the respondents would be bothered by receiving an irrelevant offer.

This causes candidates to think less of you, and your company - and reduces the chances that they'll respond to your message now, and in the future. You'll also miss out on the more qualified and interested candidates that they may refer to you.

Instead, do a little research before reaching out so that you’re not being completely irrelevant. Then, ask the candidate what they would consider a great opportunity, to ensure that their goals align with your position, and your company.

Just because you think someone may be interested in your opportunity because their career progression would make sense to you, they may have other plans in mind. So, never assume that you know what a relevant opportunity for any given candidate is. You may find that they’re not interested in the opportunity you’re currently working on, but at least they’ll respond so you can get to know them and place them in a better role for their background and interests.

And here’s a quick bonus tip: Be genuine when you reach out to candidates - you will build their trust, have a higher response rate, and potentially place them and their referrals.