NGOs: How To Reach Your “Passive Candidates”

One of the best ways to reach passive job candidates – those candidates who are not actively looking for work – is through utilising social media, according to John Bellamy from NFP Recruitment.

If you are a Not for Profit organisation with an opening to fill be it a volunteer or paid team member, you’ll want to find the best recruits available. How you define “available recruits,” however, is critical. Most people think of available recruits as those people who respond to the organisation’s job posting.

But did you know that 83% of the people on LinkedIn that already have jobs think of themselves as passive candidates for new openings at other organisations?

That’s a LOT of people. Ignore them and you will miss some of the best candidates out there. Not to knock those that are unemployed or transitioning, but there’s a good reason to place heightened value on passive candidates: somebody already thinks they make a quality team member.

So, how do you reach passive candidates? Well, one of the best methods to reach them is through social media engagement. We’re not talking about hard selling here, and we’re not talking about actively trying to get them to work for your organisation. Instead, we’re talking about posting information or links that they find valuable, starting conversations that they find interesting, or inviting them to relevant events that they might enjoy. If you engage them in a positive way before they’re ready to look for their next Not for Profit job, you’ll have a huge head start when the time comes, and you’ll already be in the mix. They may even reach out to you!

Moreover, it’s already tremendously valuable for Not for Profits to attend to their social media fan base in general. The average yearly value of a Facebook “Like” is thought by some to be as much as $200! (Source: 2012 Nonprofit Social Network Report, sponsored by NTEN, Common Knowledge, and Blackbaud. Check out the report here, or read a quick write-up here).

As you seek to engage quality recruits through social media, you’re killing two birds with one stone as you may also attract some of these valuable fans and potential donors. Often, the best candidate for your Not for Profit organisation comes from the group of people who would donate money to your cause, anyway.

Therefore, it’s a great idea to try and engage the type of people you want working at your Not for Profit by offering them as much value as you can through your social media outlets. At the very worst, you’ll bring a few more supporters on board, and you may wind up with a bit of bonus funding for your troubles. At best, you’ll make a connection with a person that will become a passionate and productive team member when they’re ready to take the next step in their career.

Happy recruiting!  

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