Short advice for contractors/recruiters in tech to stop competing only for a small, highly-targeted 5% of actively-seeking skilled technicians and instead pursue the larger 70% who are passively open. Recommends engaging community networks, social media, press/owned media, podcasts, and improving the careers page to reach passive candidates.
In reality, in your area, how many skilled techs are there really? Not that many. Which means you and every other contractor are fighting for the exact same group of people. And whoever spends the most money gets in front of that person. Get rid of that 5% and start focusing on the 70%. So how do you attract people that are passively looking for work? Well, you have to look at what they do. They go to their friends and family. They go to their community groups. They stock you on social. They look for press releases and news media and own media kind of mentions. They follow your podcast if you got one. They go to your careers page to learn about what it's like to work there. If you're not in doing these things, you're missing out on 70% of the market.
