Based on Lou Adler’s

Hire With Your HeadJohn Wiley & Sons, 2007

© 2007. All Rights Reserved by Lou Adler.

The Psychology of Sourcing & Recruiting Passive Candidates

Performance-based Hiringsm

You Need a System to Hire Passive Candidates

No?

Recruiting Passive Candidates

• The Law of Positive Energy– The more passive the

candidate the more active you need to be

• Recruiting Persistence– “No” means need more info– Don’t give up until candidate

has enough info to decide

• Recruiting Inflection Point– Point when candidate moves

from buyer to seller

Become Top Performer Focused

TOP PERFORMERSTech competentAchieves resultsSelf-motivatedTeamwork (EQ)Consistent

Why They Look1. Marginal job, weak boss2. Long term questionable3. Impact declining

How They Look – Differently1. Top down – not req-driven2. Company culture/strength3. Google, niche sites4. More selective – less time

Why They Accept : 30% PLUS

1. Better job/career match2. Hiring manager/Team3. Company & culture4. Competitive compensation5. Advisor’s reinforcement

Top EmployeesPERFORMANCETech competentAchieve resultsHard workingTeamwork (EQ)Consistent

ActiveActiveLess Less ActivActiv

ee

Semi-Semi-PassiPassi

veve

Sourcing Sweet SpotTraditional jobs

are not attractive to best

employees!

1st - OfferBetter Jobs

2nd - OfferBetter

Careers

What kind of jobs are you offering?

Another Job

Rank Your Sourcing Programs

Basic Sourcing Techniques

1.Creative & compelling advertising

2.Niche sites – reverse engineered3.SEO’d – ads can be found!4.Ad results tracked w/analytics5.Talent hubs or warm-ups – SEO’d6.Wow! & user-friendly career sites7.Creative campaigns for hi-

volume

8.Passive candidate recruiting • Proactive employee referrals• Googling for names• Business & social networks• Cold calling & networking• Recruiter networks

(BountyJobs.com)• Third-party recruiters

ActiActiveveLess Less

ActivActivee

Semi-Semi-PassiPassi

veve

Creative Campaigns

Virtual World

This is a Talent Hub

The Warm Up

Pro-Am Sell-A-Thon

Use Ads to Tell Stories

Traditional Boring Ad Creative Ad

Marketing Manager Playing Games to Win

You’ll own the marketing for our entire games product line top-to-bottom and we’ll give you the resources to grow it by 25% or better per year! You’ll need to build the marketing team and put a comprehensive plan in place to pull it off, but if you think you have the ability, let’s talk.

The 2007 Ad Contest Winner!

• Great title• Niche site• Instant results• Targeted• Candidate

focused• Tell stories!• Describe culture

Passive Candidate Advertising

• Be found• Target right audience• Be compelling• Stand-out titles• Follow 1st 10-sec rule• Max opportunity,

minimize disqualifiers• Be different• Be memorable

Don’t use Wal-Mart advertising techniques to attract Tiffany customers

- Lou Adler

Passive Sourcing MetricsMetrics Typical

CaseBest Case Comments

# 1st Calls 100, 20+ hrs

12, 4 hrs Don’t call a cold list!

% Return 20% = 20 80% = 10 Only call warm referrals!

% Yes 25% = 5 85% = 8 Ask “the YES question!”

% Worthy 25% = 1-2 90% = 7 Pre-qualify everyone!

# Referrals 0-1/yes = 5-6

2-3/yes = 20

You must get referrals

# Candidates

20% = 1-2 50% = 10 Don’t waste your time

Productivity < 1/day 3-4/day Networking is the key

• Calling passive candidates must be a planned process• Maintaining applicant control is the key to networking• Call only warm leads – they’ll call you back!

Voice Mail MagicVoice Mail Techniques• Direct Referral >80%• Magical Voice >50%• Recognized Expert

>35%• Multi-search >35%• Name/Info Dropper• The Direct Recruit• Confidential Referral• Creative Pestering• The Follow-up

Using Social Networks

The Basic Network Call• Networking call

disguised as recruiting call

• Short introduction• Confidential nature• Ask 99% question• Engage 5-10 mins• Get names & org

charts of people who aren’t looking!

Hi, my name is _____.Your name has been mentioned to me on a very confidential basis, as someone I should contact on a search effort I’m leading for a top ________. Let me ask you candidly, would you be open to explore a new career opportunity if it was clearly superior to what you’re doing today?

The Recruiter as PartnerHiring the Best is a Team Sport

Impact• More productive• More satisfying• More influentialBecoming a Partner• Know the job• Find top people• Recognize talent• Recruit and close• Provide

advice/insight

Hiring Manag

er

Corporate

0-?%

Contingent

10-50%

Retained

80%+

Recruiting Passive Candidates

• Make it systems w/rules!• No “no”s• Understand the “buying

criteria” of the passive candidate

• Sell opportunity, not $$• Use advertising to tell

stories• Maintain applicant

control – go slow, it’s a journey, not a race!

• Become a partner