Season 6| Episode 9

chasing the purple squirrel

Today on Recruiter Fuel, we sat down with Mary and Justin from our sourcing team to discuss strategies for finding and engaging with candidates. Here at Qualigence, we pride ourselves on our ability to access a greater talent pool and speak to more candidates. The more candidates we find, the easier it is to find those  

This episode covers a few of our tips and tricks! 

Where Do You Usually Look for Candidates? 

Mary and Justin both mentioned that they start with LinkedIn before moving on to other resources. CareerBuilder, ZipRecruiter, and X-ray searches come into play next. 

Justin also mentioned the value of looking at scientific publications for more technical positions. 

“From there, I would potentially go to research papers…a lot of times, individuals will have other contributors that are on their level or have similar knowledge in technologies.” 

Mary brought up the value of referrals. 

“We also look for new candidates when we are recruiting with other candidates. So any kind of referrals that we get, anything like that.” 

How Do You Get a Candidate Interested in a Role? 

Justin elaborated on his unique approach for engaging tech candidates. 

“Capturing a candidate’s interest in a role is one of the most important things you want to focus on, not right away but in the beginning stages. One of the best ways to do that is just genuinely know what the parameters and individual technologies that person might be using. For instance I work on a lot of technology roles, so telling the individual what technologies this company has and how they might have a leg up on competitors usually interests them.” 

Mary chimed in with her own engagement strategy. 

“Capturing a candidate’s interest is just dependent on what they’re really looking for. If I’m on a phone call with them, my first initial thing will be to ask them what is their motivation for looking for a new job? What are they looking for in their next position? It could be something as simple as they want to move 20 minutes closer to their home. Sometimes it’s not always money-driven or position or title – sometimes there’s an underlying factor that they’re looking for…you find that, pique their interest, and you’re good to go!” 

How Do You Adjust Your Approach to Different Industries? 

Justin said he starts each role by investigating the technologies that the candidate would be working with. That helps him zero in on what candidates to engage and how to talk to them about the position. 

Mary discussed the difference between engaging high-level candidates versus candidates at the entry level. 

“Everyone handles connections differently. A higher-level role, they’re going to be used to connecting with people on a daily basis. You gotta be more professional, get on their level a little bit more, they’re going to be a little more straight to the point, they’re busy people, you don’t want to beat around the bush with them.  

“You kind of want to be direct at what you’re asking and inquiring about. Let them know what the information is up front…whereas a little bit lower level, you’re more inclined to have a conversation and find out where they’re at, where they want to go. They have that much more to grow.” 

Finding Candidates is Only Half the Battle 

Finding the purple squirrel is half the battle…in order to land top tier talent, we have to effectively engage candidates as well.