Are You A Passive Candidate Or An Active Candidate?

Do you know the difference between an active and passive candidate? An active candidate is someone who is actively seeking a new position.  This person is most likely very active on job boards such as Career Builder, LinkedIn, and Monster.  If you look at their personal profiles, you’ll see that in recent days or even weeks, they have been very active in sharing content, updating their profiles, and making sure that they are creating the best image possible.  Now passive candidates, on the other hand, are those who may get on LinkedIn but they are typically not looking at job boards because they are not actively looking.

Now, after looking at the difference between active and passive candidates, you’re probably thinking that an active candidate is the only one that needs to be concerned about personal brand.  If that’s the case, sorry, you are wrong.  You should always be keeping up with your profiles.  Who knows, your current employer may be looking to promote you or put you in another department and may be evaluating you outside of your current duties.  They may be looking to see what your personal interests are, how professional you conduct yourself on social media, or how you convey your experience on LinkedIn. Let’s be real here, they probably haven’t looked at your resume since they interviewed you so LinkedIn is a great place to get a snapshot.

LinkedIn is also a great place for Recruiters to look when seeking a professional to fill a position.  When they look at your profile when you haven’t applied for a job, it’s called seeking passive candidates.  Now let’s say that you are working as a Human Resources Manager for a company that provides training to health professionals and you’re happy with your salary, your benefits, and so forth. But, on your LinkedIn, you have that 4 years ago you volunteered at a few fashion shows for some local designers.  You also organized a fashion show for youth in your area and you have a YouTube channel that gives fashion tips and makeup demonstrations but you haven’t included these experiences on your profile.  So, it’s very obvious that you have a love for fashion but no one else would know that based on your LinkedIn Profile.  Do you know that if you did include all of that, a Recruiter looking for an HR Manager at a fashion school could easily see your experience and interests and passively recruit you?  You may not be looking for a job but I bet if that opportunity was presented, you would certainly jump on it.

So, with that being said, update your profile to include everything, even if you don’t think it relates to your professional life or if you are not looking. You can learn more about our staffing services here. We even have an entire page that lists all available job positions. Contact us to get started!