Talent pipeline development is a winning strategy in times when there are fewer people available to hire or when there is unusually stiff competition for coveted skills. It’s something businesses can rely upon to maintain their competitive edge when faced with workforce turbulence.

Developing a talent acquisition pipeline focuses on nurturing relationships with passive candidates who are not actively seeking new opportunities but would consider the right offer. The value of passive candidates is further underscored by statistics indicating that they are 120% more likely to want to make an impact on your business and are 17% less likely to need skill development opportunities than active candidates.

What is a Passive Candidate Pipeline and Why Does It Matter?

A passive candidate pipeline refers to a strategic reservoir of potential candidates who are not in the job market but are open to taking up the right offer. Unlike active candidates, passive candidates are typically employed and may not be considering a job switch unless approached with a compelling opportunity.

Having a database of such candidates empowers recruiters to quickly mobilize and fill open positions. It significantly reduces the time and resources spent sourcing candidates from scratch.

Benefits of Passive Candidate Pipeline

Cultivating a passive candidate pipeline offers a range of strategic advantages that can significantly enhance a company’s recruitment efforts.

• Access to Hidden Talent: The most compelling reason to build a passive candidate pipeline is the ability to reach highly skilled professionals who aren’t actively seeking new roles and are not present on job boards.
• Reduced Time-to-Hire: A faster hiring process is a must in fast-paced business environments. The ability to fill key positions quickly can directly impact a company’s operational effectiveness and competitive edge.
• Cost Savings: Developing a passive candidate pipeline reduces reliance on external recruitment agencies that often charge steep fees to source and place candidates.
• Improved Candidate Experience: Proactive passive candidate outreach and continuous engagement with passive candidates contribute to a more positive candidate experience. It also demonstrates a company’s interest in the candidate’s long-term career development.

Additional Benefits

Beyond these obvious benefits, there are a few more advantages to developing a passive candidate pipeline.

• Diversity in Hiring: Passive candidate engagement allows companies to focus on diversity and inclusion goals by reaching out to underrepresented groups in their industry.
• Strategic Workforce Planning: With a pipeline of potential candidates, companies can better align their talent acquisition strategy with their long-term business objectives.
• Higher Quality of Hire: Passive candidates often possess the skills, experience, and cultural fit that align closely with a company’s needs. This leads to higher-quality hires who can contribute significantly to organizational success.

How to Build a Passive Candidate Pipeline: 23 Key Strategies

Building a successful passive candidate pipeline involves balancing multiple priorities. Let’s delve into 23 crucial strategies for engaging and attracting passive talent.

• Develop Detailed Passive Candidate Personas: Understanding the profile of your ideal candidate is critical. Identify their skills, experiences, qualifications, and the type of culture they thrive in. A tailored approach will ensure your outreach is relevant and appealing to top candidates.
• Strengthen Your Employer Brand: Your company’s unique values, culture, and perks should be at the forefront of your messaging. A strong employer brand makes your organization compelling to passive candidates and drives them to make a move.
• Optimize Your Careers Website: Ensure your careers page is engaging, informative, and optimized for search engines. This makes it easier for passive candidates to discover your organization when casually exploring potential employers.
• Leverage Social Media: Utilize platforms like LinkedIn, industry-specific groups, and niche forums to connect with passive talent. Regular updates and interactions keep your organization at the forefront in the minds of passive candidates.
• Attend Targeted Industry Events: Networking at conferences, meetups, and job fairs exposes you to professionals who might be just the right fit. These events are valuable for building relationships with passive candidates.
• Content Marketing: Share blogs, webinars, and whitepapers that provide value to your target audience. Educational and insightful content can attract passive candidates by establishing your company as a thought leader in your industry.
• Partner with Universities and Colleges: Forge relationships with educational institutions to access a pool of soon-to-be professionals. Career fairs, guest lectures, and partnerships with student organizations are excellent ways to engage with future talent.
• Tap into Professional Associations and Communities: Active participation in industry groups and associations can help you connect with professionals who are deeply invested in their careers and might be passive candidates.
• Employee Referral Programs: Encourage employees to refer qualified candidates from their networks. Incentives can motivate them to participate actively in your sourcing efforts.
• Create Dedicated Talent Communities: Kindle interest among passive candidates with newsletters and updates about your industry and company. This helps you stay on their radar for future opportunities.
• Collaborate with Niche Job Boards: Specialized job boards can be a goldmine when it comes to finding candidates with specific skill sets. Posting opportunities or company information here can attract the attention of passive candidates in your industry.
• Use Boolean Search Techniques: Master the art of Boolean search to discover passive candidates on platforms like LinkedIn. It allows you to filter candidates by specific criteria and makes your search more efficient.
• Invest in Sourcing Tools: AI-powered sourcing tools and databases can streamline the identification of passive candidates. These technologies can save time and offer rare insights into candidate preferences.
• Consider Talent Rediscovery: Re-engage with promising candidates from past recruitment processes who weren’t hired. Circumstances change, and a previous no-fit might be perfect for a new role.
• Partner with Specialized Recruitment Agencies: Agencies focusing on passive talent can extend your reach and uncover candidates you might not find on your own.
• Offer Targeted ‘Open to Work’ Outreach: Look for signals that candidates might be open to new opportunities, such as updates on their social media profiles, and reach out with personalized messages.
• Utilize Blind Recruitment Platforms: Skills-based assessments without initial resume screenings can help you discover talent based on specific capabilities. It helps reduce biases by focusing on fit.
• Host Virtual Hiring Events: Online events provide a casual setting for potential candidates to learn about your company and foster interest without the pressure of formal interviews.
• Leverage ‘Warm Introductions’: Use your network for introductions to potential passive candidates. A recommendation from a trusted colleague can be worth pursuing for future opportunities.
• Participate in Online Forums and Communities: Engage in discussions and share your expertise on digital forums. Being active in these spaces can build credibility and attract passive talent interested in your industry.
• Guest Blogging: Writing articles on industry trends or insights positions you as a thought leader and can draw interest from professionals aligned with your company’s values and needs.
• Pre-screening Tools: Early assessments can help identify promising candidates before the formal interview process, saving you and the candidate valuable time.
• Candidate Retargeting: Stay in front of candidates who have engaged with your brand in the past through retargeting ads. It will ensure your company stays at the top of their minds.

Additional Tips to Boost Your Passive Pipeline Success

Here are a few actionable tips proven to augment your passive candidate pipeline:

• Content Marketing: Establish your organization as a thought leader by consistently publishing high-quality blogs, hosting informative webinars, and sharing industry insights. This approach attracts passive candidates interested in your field and keeps your company at the forefront of discussions on industry trends and innovations.
• Attend Industry Events and Conferences: Industry networking remains one of the most potent tools for talent acquisition. You can meet passive candidates in person and foster relationships that digital interactions alone cannot achieve by attending relevant industry events and conferences.
• Partner with Niche Job Boards: While mainstream job boards reach a broad audience, niche job boards that cater to specific skill sets or industries can help target passive candidates for top executive positions or highly specialized roles.
• Master Boolean Search Techniques: Enhancing your ability to perform Boolean search for recruitment can drastically improve your efficiency in identifying passive candidates on platforms like LinkedIn and Glassdoor. This method is beneficial for roles requiring unique or highly specialized skill sets.
• Offer Pre-screening Tools: Incorporating pre-screening assessments early in the recruitment process allows you to gauge the interest and qualifications of passive candidates without requiring a significant time investment from either party. Short, targeted assessments help determine whether there’s a potential fit before moving forward with more time-intensive interview processes.

Measuring the Success of Your Passive Candidate Pipeline

Focus on a range of metrics to gauge the effectiveness of your passive candidate pipeline. They are indispensable for quantifying success and identifying areas for improvement.

Key metrics include:

• Quality of Hires from the Pipeline: The ultimate measure of success for any recruitment effort is the quality of the candidates it brings into an organization. Assessing performance, retention rates, and upward mobility of hires who came in through your passive candidate pipeline can provide valuable feedback on its effectiveness.
• Time-to-Fill for Roles: You can assess how effectively your pipeline accelerates the hiring process by measuring the average time from when a job opening is posted to when a candidate from your pipeline accepts an offer. A shorter fill time often indicates a healthy and responsive passive candidate pipeline.
• Source of Hire Data: Understanding where your hires come from helps evaluate the diverse sources contributing to your pipeline. This metric must break down the percentage of hires coming directly from different pipeline activities versus those coming from traditional job postings or other sources.
• Candidate Engagement Rates: Another recruitment metric to look out for is engagement rate, which includes email open rates and newsletter subscription rates, among others. High engagement rates suggest that your content and communication strategies are resonating with potential candidates.

The Future of Passive Candidate Pipelines

The talent acquisition landscape is evolving rapidly with the integration of AI-powered talent sourcing and an increasing emphasis on personalization and candidate experience.

Advancements in AI-powered Sourcing

Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing how organizations identify and engage with passive candidates. AI algorithms can analyze vast amounts of data to identify potential candidates who match specific job requirements, even if those candidates are not actively seeking new opportunities. This capability allows recruiters to proactively reach out to individuals with the desired skill set and experiences.

Focus on Personalization and Candidate Experience

The future of passive talent pipelines also hinges on offering highly personalized engagement experiences. Tailoring communications and content to each candidate’s individual interests and career aspirations increases the likelihood of their engagement and strengthens perceptions of the employer brand.

Revolutionizing Talent Acquisition with Leoforce

Leoforce, by Leoforce, leverages state-of-the-art machine learning (ML) models to delve deep into the complexities of job matching. It ensures the connection between people and jobs is based on qualifications and nuanced factors that predict long-term success. This precision matching evaluates candidates across multiple dimensions and attributes that go far beyond the capabilities of traditional applicant tracking systems (ATS).

Leoforce integrates seamlessly with your ATS to show you the entire pool of available talent at a glance. It does so by combining internal talent sources, subscribed sources, and an expansive database of over 850 million candidate profiles.

Leoforce reduces passive candidate sourcing and shortlisting time by 50%. Engagement with talent becomes more streamlined and personalized through Leoforce, thanks to a unified dashboard that facilitates call, text, email, and chatbot communication. Leoforce also addresses the critical need for diversity by incorporating features that reduce unconscious bias and promote a more diverse candidate pipeline.

Leveraging Your Talent Network for Competitive Advantage

Advancements in AI and ML offer unprecedented opportunities for identifying, engaging, and attracting passive candidates, making it imperative for organizations to evaluate and embrace these innovations.

We encourage you to take this moment to reflect on your recruitment strategies. Are you fully utilizing the tools and techniques available to tap into the wealth of talent within the passive candidate market? If not, consider this a call to revamp and enhance your approaches. Make sure your company is primed for excellence in talent acquisition.

The post Building a Passive Candidate Pipeline: Your Key to Hiring Top Talent appeared first on Leoforce.

Since these candidates are already busy with their current role and have not actively prepared to apply for new roles, they may not have an updated resume or LinkedIn profile. Overlooking passive candidates creates a limited talent pool, as almost 70% of the global workforce is made up of passive talent who are not actively looking for job opportunities.

Do not miss the opportunity to secure top talent, here is how to improve your passive candidate talent acquisition process

Here are talent acquisition strategies to turn passive candidates into interested applicants:

Craft an irresistible job description

It is a known fact that the first interaction that occurs between a company and its applicants happens through the job description. Build a detailed, eye-catching, and engaging job description that will generate interest and compels candidates to want to apply. Emphasize the interesting features that will appeal to each candidate, while highlighting the thriving work culture, and unique benefits that will pique their interest.

Use candidate sourcing tools

Sourcing tools like Leoforce by Leoforce can give you immediate access to the largest talent database in the industry. Who truly has the time to source, engage and qualify a pool of over 850 million candidates? Your team’s time could be spent better elsewhere. With this vast coverage of highly qualified candidates from across 70+ channels, your team can save time by not having to search for candidates across multiple platforms. By using AI (Artificial Intelligence) powered sourcing tools, you will have engaged, compatible applicants readily available to start the hiring process.

Offer competitive packages

Passive candidates are not actively looking for jobs because they are content with their current salary. To attract them, you will need to offer an attractive compensation package. A competitive package that includes a base salary, bonuses, and benefits will incentivize top talent to leave their current roles and to apply for your open role versus a competitor’s role.

Personalize your communications

First impressions matter, sending passive candidates personalized messages will catch their attention and are more likely to spark their interest. When crafting a message, be sure to avoid sounding spammy with generic terms that will lose their interest or potentially annoy them. Be sure to compose a message tailored specifically for them by providing this information in your emails will shows you have done your research, and you are genuinely interested in hiring them. Stand out from other companies and truly wow passive candidates to convert them into active applicants.

Follow up with them

While you should not spam candidates with a ton of messages, you should not stop at just one. You’re in it to win it so make sure you are showing interest by actively following up with them and providing them with all the information they might need. Also, building a rapport is fundamental for maintaining their interest throughout the talent acquisition process. Utilizing various communication channels such as social media and email to stay connected during and even after the initial outreach is key to retaining your own pool of candidates. Similarly, you can also use AI sourcing tools that provide bots and automated messages services, to make these tedious tasks easier for you. By using Leoforce, you can streamline candidate engagement with one easy-to-use communication dashboard so you can focus on higher valued tasks and move swiftly in the talent acquisition process.

Enhance candidate experience

If you end up providing a negative candidate experience, it is highly unlikely that candidate will respond to you in the future for other roles. Making sure your candidates have a great first impression and maintaining a positive reputation is crucial in turning them into active applicants. Be concise, cohesive, and clear with all the messages and details you are sending them.

Always look for ways to improve

To continuously improve, you should always evaluate your work. Look back at your previous passive candidate engagement experiences and find creative ways to improve on them! There is always room for improvement, so always look for feedback and analyze key areas for development. It is important to track and study your metrics, such as the number of candidates contacted, conversion rate, the response rate, hiring rate, and the quality of hire to measure your individual performance. By strategizing ways to improve you can take your talent recruitment game to the next level!

Are you ready to find and engage with the most sought-after passive candidates?

Recruiters that limit themselves to only active candidates are missing out on a huge opportunity to find the best candidates. Recruiters that are not using the largest database of over 850 million active and passive profiles by partnering with Leoforce are missing out on an even bigger opportunity to find compatible candidates most likely to succeed. Beat the competition by using the passive candidate strategies you learned today and convert these hidden gems to fill highly competitive roles.

Learn More about how you can get access to the largest available talent database: contact Leoforce.

Resources

• https://business.linkedin.com/content/dam/business/talent-solutions/global/en_us/c/pdfs/Ultimate-List-of-Hiring-Stats-v02.04.pdf

The post 7 Tips for Converting Passive Candidates into Applicants appeared first on Leoforce.

Why should small businesses hire veterans?

The issue of veteran unemployment in the United States is one that modern businesses should work to address. Even though the veteran unemployment rate has been steadily falling (it was 4.4% in August 2021) thanks to efforts by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, veterans still have a larger chance of being unemployed or living in poverty than the general population. Here are the top reasons to incorporate veteran hiring into your recruiting strategy.

Transferrable skills

Veterans can provide problem-solving, teamwork, and pressure tolerance, as well as the ability to interact with people from a variety of backgrounds.

Adaptability

Like other exceptional candidates, veterans possess the mental and physical capabilities necessary to thrive in an ever-changing professional environment.

Practical tips for veteran hiring

Salute the military clan

As a first step, consider opening your hiring to military veterans. In today’s economy, families often need both parents to earn an income. As a result of the specific problems faced by military families transitioning to civilian employment, military-friendly job boards can aid both military families and companies in maximizing their candidate pool potential.

Leverage social media

Social media marketing might yield a larger return than career fairs.
Like other job seekers, veterans use social media. Find vets. Traditional veteran employment fairs can be successful, but they’re expensive. Social media job ads reach a big number of potential candidates without cost.

Engage prospects on military jobsites

Veterans, like other job searchers, search online. A company that wants to hire veterans should post positions on military job boards. Connect with vets.

Military-friendly language on job descriptions

When posting jobs, utilize military-friendly phrasing or target veterans. Employers who speak with veteran candidates in their native language express respect for their service. It draws more experienced applicants who are better qualified for the job because they know what’s needed.

Create a network for veteran talent

A talent network alerts members to job openings. Passive candidates are subtler. Veteran candidates on the fence are generally reaching the conclusion of their service and weighing their alternatives. As they near the end of their military service, they may be ready to move. Veteran talent communities can help veterans transition. The earlier a veteran starts their job hunt, the more time they have to find the ideal position, so it’s important to collect and communicate with passive veteran applications. They won’t take the first job offer, even if it’s a terrific fit.

Accommodate the transition

Veterans who qualify for protected veteran status are shielded from discrimination on the basis of their military service and are entitled to reasonable accommodations for any disabilities related to their time in the armed forces. Many veterans say choosing a career is the hardest part of job hunting. Speaking with someone who has been through the same situation can help a veteran get a job.

Create a candidate sourcing method to rank military recruits

Businesses’ veteran hiring methods differ by aim. Organizations can screen for veterans by asking on applications if they are veterans. The company can then prioritize such possibilities. After internal applicants but before foreign prospects, veterans may be given preference. Businesses might also choose to publish their preference ranking. Publicity can boost military uses.

The post Veteran hiring: How small enterprises can benefit and employ veterans appeared first on Leoforce.

Simply posting a job description and waiting for the right candidate to apply doesn’t always work. You’re limited to whoever chooses to apply, regardless of whether they’re truly qualified for the role. Passive recruiting opens the door to a much bigger pool of talent, making it easier to identify candidates with specific skills or experience.

Struggling to source candidates to join your team? We’ll explain why you should invest in passive recruiting and how to get started.

What is passive recruiting?

Passive recruiting is the practice of attracting potential candidates to your business who aren’t actively looking for a job. This can include networking with other industry professionals or referrals from employees.

By adding passive recruiting to your talent acquisition strategy, you’re able to broaden your talent pool and attract qualified candidates who may not be actively looking for work but are open to new opportunities.

The benefits of passive recruitment for your organization

There are several benefits of investing in a passive recruitment strategy, including:

• Creating a larger pool of talent to recruit from
• Lower competition. Passive candidates are less likely to be interviewing with other businesses
• Competitive advantage by sourcing top talent, regardless of their current work status
• Improving your employer brand by fostering relationships with passive job seekers
• Identifying potential candidates with a specific skill set for hard-to-fill positions

Passive recruiting strategies

Here are five ways to apply passive recruiting to your recruitment strategy.

Start a customer referral program

Good people know good people, and your employees are no different. Encourage staff to recommend family or friends that may be a good fit for the organization. Offer an incentive like a one-time bonus or an extra paid vacation day.

Engage with your existing talent pool

Use an applicant tracking system (ATS) to organize candidates for previous roles. Although some of these candidates may not have been a match for the position they were applying for, they could have the skills and experience to fill a new vacancy.

Reach out to these applicants to see if they’re still looking for work or open to a new opportunity. Tell them about the new role.

Source passive candidates through social media

Since so many people spend time on social media, it’s become an increasingly popular tool for recruitment. Using LinkedIn Recruiter, you can search passive candidates based on their job titles or skills. You can contact both active and passive candidates through InMail.

You can also use other channels like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to highlight your company’s culture and values. Consider engaging with prospective candidates.

Network with other industry professionals

Take advantage of industry networking events like conferences, trade shows, or meetings to connect with passive candidates. You can use a website like Eventbrite or CitySocializer to discover events happening near you. Introduce yourself, the company you represent, and any job openings to potential candidates who may be a good fit.

Use online job boards

Sites like Indeed and Workopolis allow you to search active and passive candidates based on their industry, skills, experience, and education. Once you’ve identified a potential fit, reach out to see if they’re still searching or open to a new opportunity.

Tips for recruiting passive candidates

Here are a few tips to help you successfully recruit passive candidates.

Build your employer’s brand

How potential applicants view your business matters. 75% of Americans would refuse a job with a company that has a bad reputation. Building your employer brand is one way you can improve your reputation among staff and potential job candidates.

Initiate a conversation

Start by introducing your company and the opportunity to the potential candidate and ask them to schedule a brief call to share more. If they say no, move on. They have your contact should they change their mind. Use the phone call to highlight the requirements of the role and what they need to know about the organization.

Improve your candidate experience

Create a frictionless recruitment process to keep passive candidates interested and engaged. Send the job description and benefits package to prospective applicants right after your initial phone call so the opportunity stays top of mind. Respond to questions or inquiries right away and make it easy for the candidate to apply for the role.

Highlight growth potential, perks, and benefits

A passive candidate isn’t looking for work because they already have a job. So, what perks, benefits, or opportunities can you offer that their current employer can’t? Typical motivators include:

• Better compensation
• More or better benefits
• Remote or hybrid work
• Flexible work schedule
• Work/life balance
• Opportunities for development

Frequently asked questions

What is meant by passive talent?

Passive talent or passive candidates are those currently employed and not actively looking for a new job. These candidates may be open to new opportunities depending on compensation, benefits, or other perks.

Are passive candidates better?

Passive candidates are typically better because they’re carefully selected based on their skills and experience with respect to your position’s role and responsibilities. Passive candidates are 120% more likely to want to make an impact in their new role and 17% less likely to need skill development.

How many candidates are passive?

70% of the global workforce are passive candidates who aren’t actively looking for work. If you’re not applying passive recruiting to your talent-sourcing strategies, this means you’re left with the remaining 30% of active job seekers. It’s a much smaller pool to source candidates from.

How do you approach a passive candidate?

There are several ways you can approach a passive candidate, including:

• Encouraging referrals from your current workforce
• Finding candidates in your existing talent pool
• Sourcing new candidates through social media
• Networking events with other industry professionals
• Searching job boards such as Indeed and Workopolis

Take advantage of AI to attract passive candidates

Is your recruiting team taking full advantage of digital resources to find passive job candidates?

Even though 70% of the world’s workers are considered passive, it may be difficult to find candidates who match the specific skill sets and abilities that your company requires. You can tackle this challenge with Leoforce Quantum, an AI recruiting tool that can be easily integrated into your existing ATS or VMS. You’ll find qualified candidates faster while simplifying the recruiting process.

This technology also allows you to communicate with potential candidates via text, email, and chatbot in one consolidated chat board. You can communicate the skills you’re looking to obtain from an employee and answer any questions that candidates may have.

Leoforce empowers you to achieve recruitment goals, helping your team connect with passive candidates.

The post Passive recruiting: What is it and how to leverage It? appeared first on Leoforce.

What are hidden workers?

Hidden workers are unemployed or underemployed individuals who are eager to work. Or if they are working, to increase their hours, skills, and opportunities. They are referred to as “hidden” not because they’re hiding, but because inefficient and biased recruiting practices are hiding these people from view. 

Workers are hiding in plain sight. The fact that hidden talent populations aren’t getting hired at a greater rate is a case of companies being blinded by antiquated practices and artificial intelligence (AI) system bias – not so much the individuals being hard to find.

The backgrounds of hidden workers

The authors of Hidden Workers: Untapped Talent found that hidden workers come from very diverse backgrounds, including:

• Caregivers
• Veterans
• Immigrants and refugees
• The physically disabled
• Partners of relocated workers
• People with mental health or neurodiversity challenges
• People from less-advantaged populations
• Previously incarcerated individuals
• People without traditional qualifications

Of course, these categories aren’t mutually exclusive. For instance, people from less-advantaged populations may not have traditional qualifications. And veterans may have mental health challenges or physical disabilities.

Suggested resource for talent sourcing: How you can uncover opportunities in the new talent landscape

Overcoming the talent shortage

In bygone employer-driven labor markets where unemployment was high, qualified candidates were plentiful. Jobs were few and far between, and employers didn’t necessarily feel the need to consider hidden talent pools.

But in today’s candidate-driven market, we’re experiencing a significant talent shortage as a result of several factors, including (but not limited to) COVID-19, the Great Resignation, the Great Retirement, and declining birth rates. We’re not replacing workers as fast as we’re losing them.

Due to this talent shortage and the recent emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) hiring initiatives, it’s time to rethink your recruiting practices to attract hidden workers who have a lot to offer their employers. 

In the words of Henry Ford, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” Isn’t the point of business and life to grow, adapt, and develop? Changing your procedures, processes, and systems is one way to do this.

5 benefits of recruiting neurodivergent candidates in tech fields

There are plenty of benefits for your organization to recruiting neurodiverse job candidates. Tech companies, in particular, have found that hiring neurodivergent hidden talent not only helps fill their empty offices but also offers them a competitive edge in the marketplace. 

By focusing on skills rather than surface qualifications, you can be part of improving your organization’s productivity, retention, and bottom line. Here are five benefits.

Your vacancies will be filled

Technology and science jobs in the United States already outnumbered qualified candidates by almost three million back in 2016. By 2030, experts predict a global shortage of more than 85 million tech workers. 

An estimated one out of seven people have a neurodivergent condition. Consider the current adult population of the United States is around 258 million and that neurodivergent unemployment rates run as high as 80%. You’re looking at a possible 30 million people with neurological differences who could potentially fill tech roles. 

We can’t assume all 30 million of them would want or qualify for tech jobs, of course. But many neurodiverse individuals are uniquely suited for the tech industry.

Your team becomes more focused

According to tech expert and diversity champion Perrine Farque, neurodivergent employees have a knack for maintaining concentration over longer periods of time than their neurotypical counterparts. 

These individuals also tend to outperform neurotypical people on repetitive tasks, making them ideal candidates for jobs in fields like software QA, image analysis, or cybersecurity.

Information is processed better

Research has found that neurodiverse individuals process information better and is adept at perceiving essential information. They’re also particularly gifted at pattern recognition and spotting irregularities.

See higher productivity and fewer errors

Professionals in the JPMorgan Chase Autism at Work initiative, perhaps due to their eye for detail and superior ability to concentrate, make fewer errors than those outside the initiative. These individuals are also 90-140% more productive than neurotypical employees.

See better retention rates

Did you know that SAP, JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, and EY have the four largest autism hiring programs? They all have retention rates over 90% higher than their competitors. 

Perhaps these high numbers are in part due to the ability of neurodivergent individuals to focus and stick to a task. These workers also may enjoy more job satisfaction because of the unfortunate and unfair difficulties they’ve traditionally encountered.

How to find neurodivergent hidden workers

Remember, hidden workers aren’t hiding – you just can’t see them. The most important step you can take is to determine the culprits within your policies and processes that are keeping them hidden from view. Simple changes could be all that’s needed to uncover these hidden gems and make the hiring process more comfortable for them.

Suggested resource for neurodivergent hiring: Neurodivergent talent: the new frontier in diversity hiring

Disable AI recruiting bias

Many companies rely on AI sourcing solutions to keep them from having to manually sift through stacks of resumes. These solutions save time, but you may have unintentionally created an AI hiring bias. 

Look at the parameters you’ve built into your AI that might discourage or disqualify neurodiverse applicants. Is your applicant tracking system (ATS) configured to weed out candidates who don’t fit a specific profile? Are you placing too much emphasis on degrees, certifications, experience, titles, or consistent employment? Note the measurable skills and abilities you’re looking for and find a way to change your filters to be based on those.

Adjust your hiring practices

What makes a good candidate? A firm handshake, eye contact, and an easy manner always doesn’t always translate to the best job performance. Similarly, a resume doesn’t always tell the whole story. 

When you’re open-minded about hiring neurodiverse applicants, you may need to adjust your application questions and interview practices. Pinpoint the attributes and aptitudes that really matter, and then adjust your expectations.

Use non-threatening language

We see this all the time. If your job description indicates you’re seeking a “team player” who is great with “interpersonal relationships,” and has great “people skills,” you may be scaring off neurodiverse candidates who are completely capable but are uncomfortable in some social contexts. Zero in on what you really need and be specific when describing job requirements.

Ready to get the competitive edge?

Diversity initiatives are no longer a “nice to have” – they’re a must for companies of all sizes.

Suggested reading on diversity hiring: Blueprint to drive DEI hiring in the workplace

At Leoforce, we recognize the need for your organizations to make data-backed hiring decisions and limit biases in your recruiting processes. Our AI recruiting platform, Leoforce, continues to get smarter over time, minimizing human bias and gut-feel reactions while accelerating diversity initiatives.

Request a personal demo of Leoforce Quantum to unlock the universe of talent and optimize your recruiting efficiency with data-driven AI.

Resources

• https://hbr.org/2020/12/how-businesses-can-find-hidden-workers
• https://www.investopedia.com/the-great-resignation-5199074
• https://www.ft.com/content/ea9ca374-6780-11ea-800d-da70cff6e4d3
• https://www.ey.com/en_gl/forensic-integrity-services/how-to-get-the-benefits-of-a-neurodiverse-workforce
• https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-neurodivergent-talents-competitive-advantage-tech-perrine/
• https://www.texthelp.com/resources/blog/12-neurodiversity-strengths-that-come-from-thinking-differently/
• https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2019/03/global-competition-for-technology-workers-costa.htm

The post Benefits of hiring neurodivergent hidden workers in tech appeared first on Leoforce.

Suggested resouce on hiring strategy: How to build HR flexibility and resilience post-COVID

Why is the active candidate active?

First, let’s not think of active candidates as tainted just because they’re looking for a job. Nearly all of us have been in the market for a job, and that was no reflection on us. Don’t make the assumption that they’re damaged goods! Until you interview an active candidate, you don’t know the story.
Consider the possibilities…

1. The active candidate has been caught up in downsizing or reorganization.
2. They are relocating with a spouse or for family reasons.
3. They’re looking for a corporate culture more like yours and less like their previous employer.
4. They made the proactive decision to make a career change.

They could be just the candidate you’re looking for. But if you reject every active candidate, you’ll never have an interview.

Is the active candidate really less qualified?

You may come across active candidates who have many, but not all, of the skills and experience you require. Before you reject them, give the situation some thought.

1. Could you quickly train up this person on the missing skills? By the time you find the perfect candidate, the active candidate could be on the job and trained up.
2. What’s the cost of keeping the job open while you find and onboard a passive candidate?
3. Could you hire that active candidate for less money?

Conventional wisdom says always hire the best candidate. But take a longer-term view, and consider whether getting someone to start earlier, take less salary, and receive some training might make better business sense.

Can someone be actively looking, and not know it?

It sounds illogical, but we don’t always know when we might be ready to change jobs. Consider your own career trajectory – have you unconsciously tended to change jobs every 3-5 years? Or stay in one position for 2 years? Does the progression of your promotions suggest you might be ready for additional responsibilities at a new company? A brilliant AI-assisted recruiting system like Leoforce People Intelligence can spot these subtle patterns and shortlist passive candidates in your feed who may be ready to consider your job. These are insights that a traditional AI that just matches keywords in resumes and profiles could totally miss.

Active or Passive – Move Quickly and Stay Engaged

The key to making the most of your active and passive candidate pipeline is to move quickly. Great candidates find themselves looking for jobs all the time, but they don’t have to look for long. Somebody is bound to reach out soon, and it might as well be you. When you spot a qualified active candidate, engage them right away and compete with the countless other companies who’ll be reaching out. This is no time to fumble while others engage your candidate.

Suggested reading on candidate engagement: Why candidate engagement is critical: How to measure & improve

This is where a candidate engagement platform like the Connect dashboard within Leoforce helps you be more agile, more personal, and more persistent. Through a single easy-to-use interface, you can connect with candidates via talk, text, chat or chatbot, while they’re hot on the market.

Recruiting is hard enough. Don’t neglect a big part of your pipeline.

As sophisticated as AI-assisted recruiting has become, it’s no substitute for good old human intelligence. Only an intuitive recruiter can truly balance the needs of the business in choosing the person to hire. Does hiring an active candidate at a lower salary pay for any additional training? Is it better to hire now rather than wait for a candidate who may or may not emerge?  Only a seasoned recruiter can make those decisions, but you need the view of all candidates, whether passive or active.

Leoforce Quantum searches the entire universe of talent and uses People Intelligence to deliver the best active and passive candidates and the communications dashboard that lets you engage them quickly.

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