Direct recruiting is an extremely effective form of recruiting that involved calling a passive candidate directly at their place of business. The main benefit behind this is you know you are calling a qualified candidate who, in most cases, is actively performing the functions that your new opportunity requires.

COMPANIES TO TARGET

One of the most effective ways to identify good companies to direct recruit from is to use Owler to secure a list of their biggest competitors, track news alerts and gain insights into changes in the industry. Submitting a passive candidate who also comes from a client’s competitors is extremely attractive to a hiring manager.

Be sure to check with the Account Manager before you start direct recruiting to see if there are any companies that are off limits. In some situations, companies partner together or have good working relationships. The last thing you would want to do is steal an employee from one of these companies and jeopardize that relationship.

CONFIDENTIAL SEARCH

At times you will find that a hiring manager doesn’t want the job opportunity publicly advertised. One reason could be because the job opportunity is to replace someone that is still employed in that role. Another reason is because there are other recruiting companies searching to fill this role and the Account Manager is being strategic about how we attract candidates for the position. It is important to check with the Account Manager on every job if you are able to disclose the company name to a prospect.

FINDING THE CANDIDATE

Finding passive candidates is not hard at all. Most companies have an online employee directory that you can comb through, look for employees with job titles that match what you need. Linkedin is also a great tool. Through your personal account you can search for companies similar to the one you are recruiting for and view all the employees that have Linkedin accounts and currently work for that company. To narrow down the employee list, filter by location, job title, or key word.

CONNECTING WITH THE CANDIDATE

There is no one way to do this. Listed below are a few options, but it’s up to you to identify what works best you.

Option One: Call the company

If you call a company and get a gate keeper, state your name (optional) and ask for the employee by first and last name if it is a larger company or just first name for a smaller one. With a larger company, the gatekeeper may not know who the employee is but will most likely need their first and last name to look up the employee’s extension. Most smaller companies operate on a first name basis, calling and asking for someone by first and last could tip them off that you are not a normal caller.

If you choose to not state your name and just ask for the employee and the gatekeeper asks for your name, odds are they will also ask what company you are calling from. If this happens, be proactive and respond with your first and last name along with what company you work for. In this situation, the gatekeeper is most likely tasked with screening and blocking sales calls. By responding with your name and your company you have voluntarily given more information than the gatekeeper has asked for, hopefully lowering their suspicions of you and letting you through.

The goal to this call is to seem like you call this employee all the time and to be as forgettable as possible since you may have to call a few times with different strategies in order to get past the gatekeeper.

Call Example:

Gate Keeper: Thank you for calling XYZ this is Sarah

Recruiter: John Smith for Jane Doe please

Hi Sarah, John Smith calling for Jane Doe please

Hi Sarah, Jane Doe please

Option Two: Use the directory

If possible, try to use the company directory. If the directory has the option to enter in an employee’s name, great, but if not just enter a random number. When the person whose extension you entered answers the phone, apologize, tell them you were supposed to be connected to (enter potential candidate’s name here) and ask if they can connect you.

Odds are whatever person you are talking to does not care who you are and has better things to do than to screen your call.

Option Three: Email

After you identify a passive candidate for direct recruiting, you also have the option to email them. For email, LinkedIn can be effective, but only if they regularly access their account. Another option would be to email their work email. Typically, companies use a standard email format for all employees. Some examples are:

john@company.com
johnsmith@company.com
j.smith@company.com

If you are unsuccessful, you could also try to email the three options above and see if one works. You can also try calling the company and asking for the passive candidate’s email or, there may be other people or departments within the company whose email addresses are commonly distributed. Try calling a company and asking for an email for accounts payable, accounts receivable, sales, or human resources. Generally, these emails are not hard to get and by having them you will know what format the company uses for their email. Another tool you can use to identify a passive candidate’s work email is by using Chrome extensions like Hunter. Hunter is a free extension that allows you to search by company name to identify emails belonging to that company. This service has a relatively high success rate for producing results, and while you may not find the exact name you are looking for you will see what email format the company uses.

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