The payments recruitment market continues to be one of the most hotly contested around the globe. In the early stages of 2022 we have seen labour shortages continue which has led to increased negotiating power for jobseekers and an increase in time to hire.

In these market conditions it is imperative that employers looking to grow have a strategy for attracting and nurturing passive candidates, who after all make up around 85% of the total workforce.

Passive candidates are people who are happily employed and not actively seeking a new role or likely to be found on job boards, but could be open to change if the right opportunity came their way.

Finding, attracting and nurturing these candidates requires a lot of effort but can lead you to finding the most suitable candidate for your vacancy. I’ve outlined my top 3 tips on how to do this below:

Ensure your employer branding/employee experience is a top priority

Having a great company culture is critical to having a happy workforce. Having this workforce shout about how great the culture is, is a sure-fire way to attract the best candidates in your field.

If a potential candidate sees multiple employees sharing authentic content about your company they will naturally be impressed and want to be involved. Ensure that employee advocacy is encouraged and not forced as the impact of negative connotations can have a profound effect on potential employees and stop them moving forward with an application.

Nurture a relationship through social media

Social media can be used in both the attracting stage and as a nurturing process. Find thought leaders within your industry and look at the people who follow/interact with them, these people are likely to be potential candidates. Engage with these people and they'll start to take an interest in your business.

Once you have attracted candidates through employer branding or social media, create engaging content and blog posts which will nurture your relationship with them without any direct contact.

Ensure your interview process focusses on the candidate

Even after successfully nurturing a potential candidate, asking them to take time out of their work schedule or personal time to attend an interview can be tricky. Conducting short video interviews can be a simple solution to this issue and there has been an increase in the use of pre-recorded video interview questions.

This allows the candidate to reply to your questions in their own time, which feels less intrusive and shows that you are being considerate of their situation.

Final Thoughts

Whilst attracting and hiring passive candidates can be a difficult exercise it is one that is vital to growing your organisation, especially if your business is looking to hire tech specialists where the number of employed developers far outweighs the numbers without a job.

There is some good news though as past data shows that only 15% of people are completely satisfied; don’t want to move. Which means that around 85% of the world’s workforce would gladly change their job for a better opportunity.

Once you have implemented the tips above you should be on your way to finding the ideal candidate for your business.