Selling Passive Candidates First

A passive candidate hears pitches from a lot of recruiters. One more pitch doesn’t set you apart.

The interview gets cut short, so you submit candidates you’ve sold but haven’t really evaluated.

And a call that’s only about one job ends with that job. If it isn’t right for them, you’ve lost your reason to call back.

The usual advice makes sense. A passive candidate didn’t ask for your call and owes you nothing. Open with a list of questions and they’ll end it. So you warm them up first.

But that splits the call in two. First a pitch, the same one they’ve heard from other recruiters. Then an interview squeezed into what’s left, with a candidate who now expects a sales call.

The best recruiters don’t reach out with a role. They reach out to get to know the person: they work in the same industry and know many of the same people. Getting to know them tells you whether they’d fit, and shows them you know their world. The job comes up only when it fits, on a later call or on the same one: “I happen to have something that matches what you’re looking for.”

Great recruiters don’t sell, then interview. They sell by interviewing.

• You do most of the talking in the first part of the call.
• Your pitch is the same for every candidate.
• You save your real questions for the end of the call.
• Calls end with the candidate interested and half your questions unasked.

• They don’t know you yet. A stranger has to sell harder before anyone will talk.
• You’re writing instead of listening. With your attention on your notes, a script is easier to run than a conversation.
• The candidate isn’t open to a move. Some people are happy where they are. No pitch or interview changes that.