In a recent article on Recruiting Passive Candidates I made the point that you must not take "No" for an answer on first contact. Passive candidates say this often when you call and ask them if they'd be interested in some job, somewhere, for some company. If you don't push back, all you'll be doing is spinning the roulette wheel hoping someone finds your winning number right up their alley. At our Recruiter Boot Camp Online training we describe the science of recruiting passive candidates. In this article I'll provide a sense of this by describing what you need to do when someone reacts to your offer with one of these two objections:
When someone asks me "What's the compensation" I ask for a timeout. Literally, saying something like, "While our compensation is extremely competitive, before I describe it detail, I want to ask you a very important question."
I then ask the person to think about some job they held that was extremely satisfying. Once they have an example in mind, I then ask if the cause of the high satisfaction was due to the amount of money they were making, or the actual work they were doing. Most people respond by stating that they found the work extremely satisfying, for one reason or another. With this stick in the ground, I then ask them if the job I'm representing offered the same degree of personal satisfaction, coupled with a significant growth opportunity and an extremely competitive salary, wouldn't it makes sense to at least discuss it for 5-10 minutes, rather than just dismiss it out of hand.
The key point of this is to take compensation off the table right away by changing the discussion to one about maximizing personal growth and satisfaction. As part of this, don't rush the conversation. Here's a key point you should always remember when dealing with passive candidates: don't sell the job, instead sell the next step - a discussion about a possible career opportunity. You'll discover that going slower is a much more effective way to engage with passive candidates.
The second objection - the person is concerned now about changing jobs - requires a little more effort to get the candidate engaged in a conversation. While you still want to discuss a possible career opportunity as mentioned above, this is not so easy in the current slow economic environment. To handle this, I suggest using my "time is your most critical asset, don't waste it" rebuttal to the "I don't want to consider moving right now" objection. When the candidate raises this concern say you know exactly how the person feels about the risk of moving, but also suggest that staying in the current job for another year or two might just be more risky.
This will get the person's attention. Then go on to say that how a person uses time to maximize career growth is a key aspect of career management. Explain that those who progress most rapidly get 2-3 years of equivalent experience for every 1-2 years of actual experience. In a slow economy a person gets no more experience if they're doing the same exact job year after year. If your candidate has not progressed much in the past few years, doing the same thing for a few more years could be fatal career-wise even if it seems safe economically-wise. Suggest that's why the person can't waste the next few years. Instead, they should at least listen to what you have to offer, especially if the risk of changing can be somehow mitigated.
The point here is to not sell the job, but sell the idea of exploring a possible career move that could offer the person a means to accelerate his or her personal growth despite a slow economy. It could turn out to be a great way to maximize the next 2-3 years from a personal growth standpoint.
Recruiting passive candidates is never easy. In a strong economy you have to compete with multiple opportunities and counter-offers. In a slow economy candidates don't want to talk because of the fear of losing what they have. However, if you have a real career worth discussing, you need to persist, not take "No" for an answer, and engage in a conversation. As long as you lead the conversation you can then determine if you want to recruit the person or get 2-3 top referrals. This is what passive candidate recruiting is all about.
Looking for headhunter or want to become a headhunters Singapore, visit Recruitplus today. A marketing initiative for SME by Scotts digital.- What's the compensation?
- I'm concerned about the economy and not interested in considering anything else at this time.
When someone asks me "What's the compensation" I ask for a timeout. Literally, saying something like, "While our compensation is extremely competitive, before I describe it detail, I want to ask you a very important question."
I then ask the person to think about some job they held that was extremely satisfying. Once they have an example in mind, I then ask if the cause of the high satisfaction was due to the amount of money they were making, or the actual work they were doing. Most people respond by stating that they found the work extremely satisfying, for one reason or another. With this stick in the ground, I then ask them if the job I'm representing offered the same degree of personal satisfaction, coupled with a significant growth opportunity and an extremely competitive salary, wouldn't it makes sense to at least discuss it for 5-10 minutes, rather than just dismiss it out of hand.
The key point of this is to take compensation off the table right away by changing the discussion to one about maximizing personal growth and satisfaction. As part of this, don't rush the conversation. Here's a key point you should always remember when dealing with passive candidates: don't sell the job, instead sell the next step - a discussion about a possible career opportunity. You'll discover that going slower is a much more effective way to engage with passive candidates.
The second objection - the person is concerned now about changing jobs - requires a little more effort to get the candidate engaged in a conversation. While you still want to discuss a possible career opportunity as mentioned above, this is not so easy in the current slow economic environment. To handle this, I suggest using my "time is your most critical asset, don't waste it" rebuttal to the "I don't want to consider moving right now" objection. When the candidate raises this concern say you know exactly how the person feels about the risk of moving, but also suggest that staying in the current job for another year or two might just be more risky.
This will get the person's attention. Then go on to say that how a person uses time to maximize career growth is a key aspect of career management. Explain that those who progress most rapidly get 2-3 years of equivalent experience for every 1-2 years of actual experience. In a slow economy a person gets no more experience if they're doing the same exact job year after year. If your candidate has not progressed much in the past few years, doing the same thing for a few more years could be fatal career-wise even if it seems safe economically-wise. Suggest that's why the person can't waste the next few years. Instead, they should at least listen to what you have to offer, especially if the risk of changing can be somehow mitigated.
The point here is to not sell the job, but sell the idea of exploring a possible career move that could offer the person a means to accelerate his or her personal growth despite a slow economy. It could turn out to be a great way to maximize the next 2-3 years from a personal growth standpoint.
Recruiting passive candidates is never easy. In a strong economy you have to compete with multiple opportunities and counter-offers. In a slow economy candidates don't want to talk because of the fear of losing what they have. However, if you have a real career worth discussing, you need to persist, not take "No" for an answer, and engage in a conversation. As long as you lead the conversation you can then determine if you want to recruit the person or get 2-3 top referrals. This is what passive candidate recruiting is all about.
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