Even Bad (or Non Applicable) Resumes from Active Candidates Can Have Good Names / References / Leads Within Them! Turn an Active Candidate Recruiting Situation Into a Passive Candidate Recruiting Situation

Just a quick tip to keep in mind when you’re sitting there sifting through the piles of resumes received from active candidates to the jobs you posted on the major job boards (automated responses or not). 

Though I know that you’d rather just throw them all away and start doing passive candidate name sourcing / recruiting, and though the majority of the responses will not be good for your searches, it’s still worth your time to look at as many of these resumes as you can.  Why?  Quite simply to see if the person provided any references / names (AKA leads) that you can use for any applicable searches you’re working on. 

For example, just this week I was able to use references provided within the resumes of active job seekers to drive leads for searches we’re working on.  Many times the people listed as references are in leadership roles which mean typically that they 1 – will know many people and 2 – understand the importance of talking to recruiters.  So, what you’ve done then is turn an active candidate recruiting situation into a passive candidate recruiting situation.

Now, of course it isn’t worth your time to scan every resume for references.  Obviously you’ll want to be selective in this or you’ll take all day.  Use clues such as current job title or current employer industry to determine if it’s worth your time to quickly scan the resume.  Should I have even mentioned this obvious point??!!

Yeah, I know that looking at a resume from a recent college graduate with 1 year of experience for a job that calls for 5 years is annoying.  But, take a few seconds and just see if you can turn blah into gold!

Good luck!