The quality of hire is measured, in most organisations, by two criteria - new hire performance and retention. A pipeline of passive talent is really an inventory of qualified individuals who could quickly move into the ‘performance’ mode of an organisation’s current and future job openings.

Research shows that 3 in 4 candidates are not looking for an immediate change. This makes it all the more difficult to find talent that will fit into your company culture.

The trick to ensuring that you succeed in hiring the right passive talent is to treat your recruitment strategy like a marketing program, and not just another HR program.

Longer employee lifetime value – a natural RoI from passive talent recruitment

Given the passive talent’s inherent trait of satisfaction with the right job and right team, organisations stand to improve the employee lifetime value if they hire the right passive talent. Such quality talent can attract more passive talent – and this can set in motion a positive chain of attraction and retention of happy employees of high quality. Besides boosting the top and bottom lines, this translates into a great reputation for the organisation.

Employer Branding – the Right pull for passive talent

More than three quarters of employers say that employer branding or specifically, the talent brand, has a huge effect on recruitment of quality talent. And this is exactly the number one reason that can make passive talent even willing to have the first conversation with an organisation or their recruiters.

Interestingly, the very channels that form the source for passive talent seem to be the fastest emerging ones for promoting the employer brand – social media and online professional networks.This is another reassuring strike for ‘quality’ of hires.

Towards a culture of excellence

It is thus a tightly knit loop that points to, and reinforces the truth of passive talent as a source of high quality of hires. Passive talent, it has been found, drive themselves to make an impact in more challenging work. They set a bar of performance much higher than what organisations look for and thus are less needy in both hand holding and recognition of performance.

An organisation’s quality of hire can dramatically improve by designing and deploying a recruitment strategy that maximises individual performance. Passive talent hiring and building a passive talent pipeline is a very effective way of attracting and hiring quality professionals for that competitive business edge.

about the author
yashab giri new
yashab giri new

yeshab giri

chief commercial officer - staffing & RT professionals

yeshab is responsible for leading the development and expansion of randstad India’s value added staffing services which currently encompass field force, engineering and technology roles.