The unexpected competition in the job market might not be coming from your fellow job seekers but from currently-employed candidates who are not actively engaged in a job search. These folks commonly are referred to as passive candidates.
Recruiting the employed has long been the strategy for most recruiters when they are sourcing job candidates for positions. This strategy is based on the notion that candidates who remain employed are top performers. It’s not only professional recruiters who use this strategy — employers ask recruiters to look for employed candidates.
This may sound discouraging, but hiring passive candidates has been going on for years in strong markets and in slow ones. It’s not surprising that a recruiter’s strongest job candidates come from referrals or networking with those who are employed.
The good news is that the perception of unemployed candidates who are job searching have been changing especially with the downturn in the market affecting even top talent. In the past, being between jobs could indicate a performance issue, but in today’s market that’s not always the case. With entire business units being affected from senior leadership to the most recent hire, it’s hard to view every job seeker as a performance issue.
An employer recently said their hiring strategy is a mix of 50 percent passive candidates and 50 percent active job seekers. Recruiters are even on board, considering candidates that might have been overlooked in the past.
As a job seeker, you need to know how to present yourself in order to compete in a market that is hiring both employed and unemployed candidates. You can be a strong candidate by preparing ahead of time for possible perceptions and joining the passive candidate ranks who have hiring decision makers come after them.
Here are some tips to help strengthen your job candidacy:
• Request letters of recommendation from your previous employers.
• Develop a list of references who can speak highly of your accomplishments and skills.
• If you were part of a departmental reduction, it can help to communicate that to the potential employer. There is safety in numbers. A group layoff is viewed differently.
• Make pre-interview research a priority. Your job is to be a problem solver for the employer, and it’s difficult to sell your skills if you have no clue about problems the employer is facing.
• Remember, an employer’s greatest fear is making a bad hiring decision. Put the employer at ease by reducing the risks of hiring you.
