By Amelia Zwecher
 Search for both passive and active candidates for your company’s current or future employment opportunities at SEMA’s inaugural Virtual Career Fair. |
Efficient recruiters aggressively seek both active and passive qualified candidates. Active job seekers are individuals who are either unemployed or currently employed but feel some level of uncertainty or unhappiness in their current work environment. Passive job seekers are defined as a group of people who are often hard to find because they’re employed and generally content with their current jobs. Some employers believe that passive candidates are the best candidates to hire because they are less likely to interview with other companies, which means competition for employers is low. Passive candidates are perceived as individuals who seek a long-term relationship with their employers.
Many virtual career fair attendees are actually considered passive job seekers. Even though passive job seekers may be fairly content with their current place of employment, many of these individuals are open to learning about new career opportunities. Often, passive job seekers may walk into a career fair or sign up for a virtual career fair just to observe the current state of the job market, but do not regularly or actively apply for job opportunities.
Some helpful quick tips for recruiting passive job seekers include:
- Visit SEMA’s Career Center online and in-person career fairs.
- Conduct research: Check out your competition and their approach to recruitment by viewing their branding and job posting approach.
- Search résumés on SEMA’s Career Center website. Some candidates may have uploaded their résumés months ago when they were unemployed.
- Create a LinkedIn profile and LinkedIn company page for heightened exposure. Connect with industry employers, students and educators online and at SEMA events.
- Review SEMA eNews’ creative recruitment tips and other weekly articles.
Sign up for SEMA’s inaugural Virtual Career Fair, to be held June 1, to search for both passive and active candidates for current or future employment opportunities at your company. For more information, contact manager of career services Amelia F. Zwecher, PhD, PHR, at ameliaz@sema.org.