Now’s A Good Time To Be A Passive Candidate

Are you a passive candidate? If you’re not ready to actively start a search for a new job in construction engineering, making sure you hear about interesting opportunities is still a good idea. Here we share how.

For some ‘would be’ job hunters the current economic and political landscape has created uncertainty that’s making them think twice about looking for their next job opportunity. While they may want to move up the career ladder, or find a job with a higher paying salary, the relative security that their current job offers is making many people sit tight.

While this sentiment is understandable, if the last few years has taught us anything it is that change is the only real certainty. As a result if we all put our career plans on hold waiting for some stability, we could be waiting a very long time.

There is also the very real potential that by sitting tight your career chances in the future could be limited. If you’ve been in a role for several years with no career progression when you do decide to make a move, employers may question your suitability.

Are You A Passive Candidate?

Understandably, no one wants to put themselves on the job market and waste time searching, applying for jobs and attending interviews when your gut feeling is that you won’t be interested in them. However it doesn’t have to be this way.

Instead you could be a passive candidate, someone who is relatively happy in their current role but for the right opportunity may be persuaded to make a move. In fact you probably already are a passive candidate, most people are. We may not be actively looking for a new job, but most of us are open to a chat about other possibilities if they look interesting.

Specialist recruitment agencies like ourselves actively source passive candidates for many of our roles. We do this using our candidate database by looking at candidates we’ve previously placed who might now be thinking of the next step in their career; by speaking to our professional networks about people they know; and by searching online using platforms like LinkedIN.

It therefore follows that if you’re interested in becoming a little more visible to recruiters, both in-house and specialist technical recruitment agencies, these 3 places are where you need to be:

On our candidate database

If you’ve previously registered with Energi People, update your details with a refreshed CV and contact us to have a chat about your requirements. In between passive and active candidates are ‘casual’ candidates, people like you who want a highly selective search where only opportunities that tick your specific needs are presented. Your criteria can be as specific as you want. For example, you may only be interested in working for certain companies or in a specific location.

Network with industry colleagues

Attending industry events and building your professional network is a good way to find out about unadvertised jobs that might be exactly what you want. Networking will also help you explore different companies, get a better idea if they are a cultural fit, and also find out how secure people’s jobs are. One of the biggest concerns candidates tell us about is the ‘last in, first out’ scenario where having left a company to progress their career, cost saving initiatives result in staffing cuts. By networking with people who work at a variety of different companies, you’ll get a better idea of how secure a potential job might be.

Update your LinkedIn profile

Tailor your LinkedIn profile for the type of role you might be interested in. This will help recruiters find you, but also reduce the number of approaches from people with unsuitable roles. Most passive candidates have out of date LinkedIn profiles, they probably last updated them when they secured their current role. If you’re looking for promotion and career progression, it’s a good idea to tweak your profile to that role rather than the one you’re in.