Are Passive Candidates better than Active Candidates?

[Paul Jacobs]

After looking at this person's viewpoint http://www.recruitingtrends.com/article/ART637402T and reminded by Rec 2.0 member Keith Mockett's query in the comments section of this post http://bit.ly/17657D - is the commonly held assumption that those people not actively looking for work are of higher quality than those who are actively looking? If you can approach someone who is currently working and they are not looking in the careers section of the newspaper or visiting job boards etc and you sell them an opportunity elsewhere, are they, on average, a better candidate?

[Thomas Shaw]

Hi Paul, not sure if you remember a report released by CareerOne earlier in the year titled "Hunting the (Hidden) Hunters" report

A new approach to activating Australia’s latent job hunters. Finding the best person to fill a job has always been a challenge. It's not always those who are actively looking for work who best fit the job description.

Traditional recruitment models identify two types of job hunters – 'passive' and 'active'. Our exclusive segmentation research reveals that the traditional model is outdated and too simple for today’s dynamic market. We identify seven clear segments in the Australian workforce explaining what motivates them and how most people can be turned into a job hunter, regardless of the economic conditions, with the right set of triggers."

* Personal Ambition - Success and career progression
* Recognise Me - Recognition and reward
* Rewarding Challenge - Reward and life balance
* Flexibility - Flexibility, recognition and challenge
* Contented - Flexibility and lifestyle
* Supportive Environment - Team and training
* Drifters - Team and lifestyle

You can download the report from here http://www.careerone.com.au/hiddenhunters

I summarized the main findings here http://www.recruitmentdirectory.com.au/Blog/hunting-the-%28hidden%2...

[Paul Jacobs]

thanks Thomas - will have a read later

[Kunal Malhotra]

Not always but may be... This depends on different factors including the credibility of the source of the candidate, how much research has gone into headhunting passive candidates, the current state of the economy, track record of the candidate etc. And there is also the "relative" perspective - best/better candidates in relation to what? the other candidates that you have in the pipeline perhaps or the client's current employees? so your sphere of visibility is limited anyways...