Reaching passive candidates – the key to a high quality, diverse candidate pool.

These days, it’s not difficult to get lots of applications for your open jobs. Post them to your own Web site and a job board or two and the job hunters will find them.

The trick is reaching not just lots of candidates, but the one great hire that will make your search a success. And the reason finding that great hire can be so challenging is very simple – great hires aren’t job hunting. They already have jobs.

That’s why your recruiting strategy has to include smart ways to get job information to “passive candidates” – engaged professionals who don’t consider themselves on the job market, but might be intrigued by a new opportunity if they learn about it.

Keep in mind Inside Higher Ed’s 10 tips for recruiting passive candidates, and surprise yourself with the quality of your next candidate pool.

1. Network! Don’t think of advertising as your only means for communicating about open jobs. Talk to the great people already working in similar jobs about how they found their jobs. Find out if folks on campus are members of the right professional group or association for the job you're filling - is there a listserv? An online bulletin board? Get creative.
2. Advertise your institution, not just your jobs. Your marketing department is always promoting your institution to students and some of the same marketing strategies can ensure that when you have job openings, great candidates will be interested. Be less reactive (starting the recruitment process when the job opens) and more proactive (think of recruiting as an all-the-time activity, like student recruiting).
3. Advertise beyond the job boards. When it is time to publicize a specific opening, job boards are efficient and economical, but they’re only going to reach job hunters. Look for Web sites and other outlets that have a draw for professionals who aren’t on the hunt (like Inside Higher Ed :)
4. Put your job announcements to work. Passive candidates won’t dig your posting out of a database – take advantage of tools like Google AdSense, banner advertising and e-mail advertising to get messages in front of them even when they’re not searching.
5. Write your job postings with passive candidates in mind. Don’t start with responsibilities and qualifications (which are about what you need); instead, highlight the reasons a great hire would really love the job (more on writing effective job postings in Write Job Postings that Land Great Hires)
6. Make sure your own jobs Web site sells your jobs. The page candidates hit when they click from your postings or your home page to learn about jobs at your school should create an immediate, positive impression of what it’s like to work at your school (more on effective employment Web sites in Do’s and Don’ts of Effective Jobs Pages).
7. Never miss an opportunity to promote jobs. Make sure the URL for your jobs Web page is included in ALL institutional marketing materials (you never know whose parent might turn out to be your next top hire).
8. Don’t start the application process too quickly. Never assume a candidate has arrived at your site to apply for a job. Always provide them with a quick link to your job application, but also organize the kinds of links that a person who wants to explore your institution will find useful.
9. Keep your application as simple as possible. It’s easy to get caught up in how easy your Applicant Tracking System can make your data collection and processing and lose sight of the candidate’s experience. Keep your requirements focused on what you really need at each point in the process, not on what your database can collect.
10. Treat ALL candidates politely. Acknowledge applications, respond to inquiries and let folks know the status of the search and their application. The person who’s not quite right for the job you have open today could be a perfect fit for the one that opens up tomorrow.

For more useful ideas for effective recruiting, check out Write Job Postings that Land Great Hires and Do’s and Don’ts of Effective Jobs Pages. Take a look at our Recruiting Hall of Shame for some examples of effective (and not so effective) job postings - you don't want to land on next year's list!