It's widely believed that there are two types of candidates -- passive and active. Passive candidates form the "A-List." Active candidates form the "C-List." Can there not be "passactive" candidates meandering between the two lists?
Here's an analogy: Compare passive and active candidates to wine. Some are divine, and some are not-so-great. If you went to the store to choose a bottle, the "active" wine would be widely displayed, screaming, "Choose me!" As a recruiter, you'd ignore the display. Instead, you'd cherry pick a bottle less strategically placed. The sad part is the "active" wine might have been delectable.
Recruiters have learned to turn on their auto-sensors. They filter out active candidates because they are a waste of time. Right? Not neccessarily, says Maureen Sharib. Maureen wrote a perfectly on-point piece about passives versus actives that was a continuation from a July 2005 ERE discussion she spearheaded.
There are passives who really aren't passive at all. They know what they're doing to market themselves - they know how to glisten beneath all that fallen snow that assures they'll be the first snowflake picked out. I'm talking about the person who is active on the net, who does a lot of posting (or a little) that includes a lot of biographical information that, at first glance, appears extraneous...The question to ask yourself is this: "If I found them, who else hasn't?
She's referring to the voluminous amount of potential candidate data on social networking sites. Just because a person doesn't have their resume posted to Internet job boards, doesn't mean they are a passive job seeker. The point is, social media is marketing. Marketing is selling.
In addition, candidates change their motivations and desires. At any point they could switch gears. Out of the blue, a "passive" candidate may decide to seek a new position. The next day, an "active" candidate might decide the grass isn't always greener on the other side, and delete their resume from Internet job boards. The best recruiters will have a diversified, easily searchable database complete with "passactive" candidates.