Try it free
  1. Home
  2. Knowledge
  3. Passive candidates: how to find and reach them

Passive candidates: how to find and reach them

Updated

A passive candidate is someone who has a job and isn't looking for a new one, but might move for the right role. When the right person for a specialist or management role doesn't answer your job ad, it's often because they aren't looking. Here's where to find passive candidates, how to assess them without a CV, how to reach them, and what the rules require.

Active and passive candidates

Active candidatePassive candidate
Looking for a jobYesNo
Where you find themJob ads and CV databasesProfessional profiles, your network, past applicants
What you haveA CV and an applicationA profile and a career
Asked to be contactedYesNo
The first thing to doReplySpark interest and say where you got their details

Where to find them

  • Professional profiles. On LinkedIn, with a Google search for public profiles, or with a tool that searches a database of professional profiles. Read Candidate search in Denmark.
  • Your network. Colleagues, former candidates and people in the field know who's good. Ask who they would hire.
  • Your own lists. The people who came close last time are often still interested, and they already know you.
  • Professional communities. Events, associations, articles and, for developers, code they've shared.

A CV database is a good place for active candidates, but passive ones rarely have a CV on file. Read what each tool is for in Candidate sourcing tools.

Assess them without a CV

You have a career, not an application. Look at the titles, the employers and how long, and assess each requirement on its own: what does the career show, and what doesn't it? What's missing, such as languages or a particular certification, is a question for the conversation, not a no. Read From longlist to shortlist, quickly and fairly.

How to reach them

  • Write short and personal. Say why you're writing to this person, what the role is, and what they get out of hearing more.
  • Make it easy to reply. Ask for a short chat, not a CV.
  • Follow up once or twice, and stop when they reply, even if the answer is no.
  • Remember a no. Put the people who say no thanks on a list, so none of you writes again from another channel.

Read the full guide in The first message to a passive candidate.

What the GDPR requires

A passive candidate hasn't given you their details. So you need a legal basis, for most private companies legitimate interest, and you owe them the information in Article 14 of the GDPR at the latest in your first message: who you are, why you process their details, where you got them, and that they can object. If they object, you stop. Read GDPR and sourcing passive candidates.

How Navigent helps

Navigent finds professionals whether or not they're looking for a job. You paste the job ad, and Navigent fetches about 1,000 unique candidates from a database of +305 million professional profiles, +1 million of them Danish LinkedIn profiles. Up to about 50 recommended are assessed requirement by requirement, with evidence from their jobs, and what the data can't answer is marked "To clarify". Only people you say yes to are contacted.

Campaigns send from your own LinkedIn account and your own Gmail or Outlook, a reply stops the sequence, and a reply in which the candidate opts out puts them on your do-not-contact list.

See How it works.

Frequently asked questions

What is a passive candidate?

A passive candidate is someone who has a job and isn't looking for a new one, but could be open to the right role. They don't answer job ads and rarely have a CV in a CV database, so you have to find them yourself.

How do you contact a passive candidate?

With a short, personal message that says why you're writing to this person and what the role is. Follow up once or twice, and respect a no. At the latest in your first message, say where you got their details and that they can opt out.

Can you contact passive candidates under the GDPR?

Yes, when you have a legal basis, for most private companies legitimate interest, and give the information in Article 14 of the GDPR at the latest in your first message. If the candidate objects, you have to stop.

Where do you find passive candidates?

In professional profiles on LinkedIn or in databases, through your network, among past applicants and in professional communities. An AI tool can search a database of professional profiles from your job ad.

Sources