What does it mean to be a passive candidate?

In the recruitment world, recruiters and hiring managers use the term passive candidate to describe someone who is not actively looking for a job.

A passive candidate is typically someone who isnt looking for a new job but who would (or might) consider a good opportunity if one arose.

This is opposed to being an active candidate, someone who is actively searching for a new job.

Many in the recruitment world talk about how a passive candidate is preferable to an active candidate. Many of them argue about the merits of this statement and whether or not its true.

The idea behind this preference tends to be the thought that finding a potential employee who is hard to get is somehow more desirable than a person who is actively searching for a new job.

From your perspective the job searcher Id be less concerned about the definitions of the two terms and Id be more concerned about what they mean in reality to you.

To me as a recruiter, let me tell you about things that I consider when thinking about whether or not I want to help someone with their job search:

1. I dont want to help a job searcher who has their resume plastered all over the Internet. Its hard these days to find employers who dont have access to the most popular job websites. Many employers wont let recruiters send them resumes of candidates who have their resume placed on job boards that the employers have access to since the employer can search the database and find such candidates themselves.

2. I dont mind helping a job searcher who is already looking for another job but when they have applied to dozens if not hundreds of companies and havent found a new job yet, I start to wonder why? Plus it makes it harder for the recruiter to find good opportunities for you if youve already applied to numerous companies.

3. I think there is something to be said about finding a passive candidate who isnt actively looking for a new job and who is currently and happily working. It can eliminate many issues that recruiters dont really want to deal with. If you are not actively looking for a job, we dont worry about competing with other recruiters trying to put the same jobs in front of you, we dont worry about you accepting another job offer and we dont worry about putting jobs in front of you that you might have already applied to.