Historically, there’s been an unspoken belief in talent acquisition that the best talent is the passive candidate: someone who is not actively looking for a new job and is satisfied in their current position but might consider a new opportunity if approached by the right employer with the right offer.

Although active job seekers may be readily available and generally easier to find, the passive candidate is often believed to be the hidden gem, the top performer, the ideal fit for your role. Attracting these candidates can be seen as tapping into a hidden reservoir of high-caliber talent that you just can’t get from your existing pipeline.

This belief has only been reinforced by the phenomenon known as the “Big Stay,” where many professionals are choosing to remain in their current roles rather than seek new opportunities, in part due to economic uncertainty and a desire for job security and stability. According to an iCIMS survey of 1,000 U.S. job seekers in the January Workforce Report, a majority plan to stay in their current roles this year—a sharp contrast to the record-breaking 4 million workers who quit each month in 2021 during the “Great Resignation.”

See more: How to anticipate long-term talent needs in a volatile job market

This “sheltering in job” trend, combined with recent economic ebbs and flows, has led many talent acquisition leaders to place a stronger emphasis on targeting passive candidates for their open roles. After all, according to LinkedIn, a large majority (70%) of the global workforce is made up of passive candidates. As opposed to active job seekers, the opportunities presented to recruiters by the passive applicant pool are seemingly endless.

However, is the preference for passive candidates really justified? Or is it a myth perpetuated by outdated recruiting practices and a scarcity mindset?

The power of the engaged job seeker

The reality is, passive candidates are not necessarily better than job seekers on the move. In fact, they might be harder to reach and convince, more likely to drop out or reject your offer and they are not necessarily more qualified or better performers.

They also often require more time and resources to engage, often have higher expectations and may even face counteroffers from their current employer, which can lead to a drawn-out recruitment process and longer time-to-hire. Additionally, the costs associated with attracting passive candidates through paid ads or agencies can be significantly higher, ultimately driving up the cost per hire. Most importantly, they may not be as well-suited to the role or company culture as active job seekers who are eager and motivated to join your organization.

Alternatively, the applicants and talent you already have in the hiring process might still fall short of the qualifications needed for a top hire—leaving recruiters caught between a rock and a hard place. Who are recruiters to pursue?

That’s where the “highly engaged” come in. These job seekers have similar interest levels as active applicants, are very qualified and recognize the value of your employer brand. They might heavily interact with your campaign content, attend your events and perhaps have an introductory call with you, but no jobs fit them at the time. Maybe they even have been a former active applicant or silver medalist. They are the key to your next best hire.

See also: What this TA vet learned from scaling up hiring at General Motors

The advantages of focusing on qualified, highly engaged candidates over passive candidates are significant, often resulting in a smoother and more efficient hiring process. Not to mention, their active interest can be a strong indicator of cultural fit and long-term retention, factors that are crucial for organizational success. This alignment not only enhances team dynamics but also reduces turnover rates and improves retention, leading to lower recruitment costs and minimizing the disruption caused by frequent employee exits.

But why do TA teams have such a hard time identifying them?

The culprit: traditional CRMs

A large reason behind the growing focus on passive candidates has been the limitations of traditional candidate relationship management (CRM) technology. Used by recruiters to manage interactions with current and potential candidates, CRMs help to track candidate information and communication and improve recruiter efficiency and the candidate experience. The ideal result is an engaged, hire-ready candidate pool and a growing pipeline of silver medalists to keep in mind for when the next, more fitting role opens up.

However, traditional, first-generation CRMs fall short in helping to deliver these top-notch candidate experiences and efficiently source the best talent for several reasons:

• Lack of insight into candidate intent: First-generation CRMs don’t provide visibility into how “hire-ready” a candidate in the database might be. That means recruiters are sending email blasts and reaching out to people desperately, hoping they’ll respond. That is a waste of time and energy. Recruiters and sourcers need a way to know who likes their brand and is prepared to make a move.
• Generic candidate engagement: Even if recruiters did get insight into candidate intent, traditional CRMs still lack behavior-based, personalized communication tools. This results in a subpar candidate experience that doesn’t resonate with anyone, leading to lackluster campaign results and low conversion rates.
• Inability to leverage data: Modern recruitment requires data-driven decision-making, yet this outdated technology may not provide the necessary analytics and insights to help recruiters identify which campaigns and recruitment marketing tactics yield the best results and warm up talent from being mildly interested to big fans, ready to apply.
• Limited scalability: As companies grow, their recruitment needs to evolve. Traditional CRMs often struggle to scale with these changing needs, making it difficult for recruiters to manage larger volumes of candidates efficiently, often resulting in bottlenecks in the sourcing and applicant conversion process.

Recruiters concur with these struggles. A study by Aptitude Research found that only one in four companies expressed high satisfaction with their CRM providers, and only 18% would recommend their CRM to another company.

The inability to identify whether a candidate is ready to talk about career moves or likes a company has forced recruiters to rely on outdated practices and broad, less effective recruitment strategies. Because most talent in the database seems disinterested because of weak campaigns and irrelevant communications, recruiters idealize the passive candidate—assuming the best person out there isn’t engaging with their content.

The solution: An advanced, next-gen CRM

Recruiters today must go beyond relationship management and evolve to become experience creators and builders. Achieving this transformation requires adopting modern technology that can keep pace with the demands of today’s talent landscape.

To meet the growing needs of today’s talent and address their sourcing challenges, recruiters must reimagine their CRM technology with a combination of artificial intelligence, marketing automation and engagement scoring. A next-gen CRM has the potential to revolutionize talent acquisition, bringing unprecedented speed and precision to the process of finding the right candidates that today’s technology just cannot offer.

Leveraging the power of artificial intelligence, an AI-driven CRM can sift through vast amounts of data to identify candidates who are not only highly qualified but also genuinely interested in the roles available. This intelligent matching can ensure that recruiters and sourcers find the actual hidden gems for their open roles—eliminating the need to pursue passive candidates. Not to mention, AI can help automate repetitive tasks, allowing recruiters to focus on building relationships and engaging with candidates in meaningful ways. Recruiters are eager to use this technology, too—64% of TA professionals would like to see even more AI adopted in the recruiting and TA process, per research from the iCIMS 2024 Talent Experience Report.

Once they find those gems, they need to be able to keep up the interactions with them to ultimately serve them with the right job at the right time. Merging marketing automation with CRM technology is particularly powerful for this, as it allows recruiters to nurture candidates throughout their journey, delivering personalized content that makes them feel seen. This continuous engagement helps maintain candidate interest and enthusiasm throughout the talent acquisition lifecycle.

In today’s landscape, where the “Big Stay” has many professionals choosing to remain in their current roles, having the right tools to identify and engage the best talent is more critical than ever. Zeroing in on engaged, active job seekers with modern technology, recruiters can effectively navigate these challenges and build a robust, dynamic workforce that is ready to thrive in today’s competitive environment.

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