The benefits of proactive hiring
Looking for your next hire? Consider adding proactive hiring to the mix. Instead of waiting for people to hit ‘apply’, reaching out to potential candidates can uncover great talent, even if the person isn’t actively looking for a role. Here’s what you need to know about adding proactive hiring to your recruiting strategy.
What is proactive hiring?
Proactive hiring, also known as headhunting, is a hiring strategy where you reach out directly to people, rather than waiting for them to contact you.
Typically, the default for most recruiters is to advertise a job and then review the applications that come in, says Leah Lambart, Director and Career Coach at Relaunch Me.
This means you’re talking to active candidates in the market – people who are proactively looking for a new role. But you’re missing out on others who might be a great fit for the role, says Lambart.
“You're missing all the people that are perfectly happy in their roles,” she says. “They might be very high performers but not actively looking right now. They’re what we call the passive candidates in the market.”
Proactive hiring can be done in a few ways. Lambart suggests:
Building a talent pool of past candidates or from an expression of interest page on your website
Use online platforms, like SEEK, to search and find people with the right skills and experience
Check with your network to find referrals for candidates strong in certain areas
The benefits of proactive hiring
Proactive hiring can reach high-quality candidates and find a better match, especially for senior roles or ones with a niche skillset.
For Maddison Ryan, Founder of digital marketing agency The Digital Hub, proactive hiring helps to quickly find talent when she suddenly needs to scale up for a project. That way, she can bring on contractors, start projects faster and feel confident a candidate is a good fit, instead of being stuck waiting for people to apply.
One of her regular contractors is someone she headhunted from a marketing Facebook group. “He replied to another person who asked about a similar kind of role, so I messaged him and asked if he wanted to chat,” says Ryan.
“Then it just ended up continuing. He’s super reliable – I can call him any time, and he picks up the phone,” she says.
How to approach proactive hiring
It’s normal to be nervous about reaching out to people, but proactive hiring is usually well-received when done right.
“Most people are flattered that you’re interested in speaking with them,” says Lambart. “There are a lot of passive candidates who may be quite happy, but they’re still open to better opportunities.”
How should you approach a candidate? First of all, don’t be too pushy, says Lambart.
“Let someone know that they’ve been referred or that you’ve identified them as someone who might have the right skills and experience for the role, and you’d like the opportunity to potentially speak with them,” she says. If they say no, be respectful and don’t press more.
The other thing to watch out for is asking headhunted candidates to sell themselves, says Lambart. “Sometimes employers will reach out to a candidate then they put them straight into an interview process,” she says. “When actually, it should be the opposite – the employer should be the one selling the opportunity.”
In Ryan’s experience, proactive hiring works best when you’re always enhancing your network. Always keep an eye out for good people and build relationships before you need to hire new staff. Get out there and meet people at industry events, join online groups and grow your network.
“Don't wait until last minute for headhunting and going out to source talent,” she says. “It could just make you panic and then you're not going to find the right fit.”
Using SEEK for proactive hiring
Finding the right people just even got easier on SEEK. Hirers can now search SEEK’s talent database using Basic Talent Search, a new tool designed to help you find and connect with candidates.
Using the tool, it’s free to search SEEK’s entire database of more than 50 million candidates as often as you like. Type what you need in natural language – such as “front of house staff with barista experience” – then filter to view profiles based on role, company, location and salary.
From the search results, hirers can message or send a job to relevant candidates, all without leaving SEEK. Combined with job ads and Candidate Matches, this helps businesses reach candidates in different ways.
“Historically, proactive hiring has mostly been left to recruiters with specialist tools,” says Kate McBride, Senior Product Manager at SEEK. “We want to make it more accessible. Basic Talent Search is designed to open up proactive hiring for smaller businesses and non-HR hiring managers, helping them connect with candidates.”
Whether you’re a large or small business, proactive hiring is a helpful addition to your recruitment strategy. Instead of thinking about it as a once-off when hiring, see it as a approach to keep in your toolkit. Connect with candidates, build your network, and use the tools available to find the best match for your next hire.