So, what is proactive recruitment? Unlike reactive recruitment, where you immediately need to fill a vacancy as a result of e.g. a parental leave or dismissal, proactive recruitment acts as a long-term strategy where you seek out and build a relationship with candidates before there is a vacancy to fill. In today's job market, with high competition for talent, it is fundamental to adopt a proactive recruitment strategy to ensure future growth for your company. For a successful proactive recruitment strategy, it is important to follow below five essential steps.

5 steps to successful proactive recruitment

1.Find

The first phase in proactive recruitment is about identifying which candidate profiles are interesting to you as an employer and which are likely to thrive and be successful at the company. Anywhere you can find people, you are able to find potential future colleagues. Keep an eye on social media, candidate databases, events, communities and in your private network.

2.Engage

Like the previous step, ‘engage’ is also a far-reaching and ever-present activity for successful proactive recruitment. It’s about engaging and showing interest in interesting candidates in order to be top-of-mind once these people are ready to move on to a new career opportunity. At first contact, it is therefore important that you describe why you think the candidate and your company are a good match. Then, it can be good to meet the potential candidate for a coffee to create a more personal contact.

3.Nurture

Nurturing can be seen in the same way that a salesperson maintains their network to eventually convert them into future customers. For example, you can set up a system for sending personalized messages with content from your company that is specifically tailored for that particular candidate. Many also choose to set up an employer branding campaign that always runs on selected social media platforms targeted towards a certain audience.

4.Attract

Now it is a matter of coming up with a proposal for a position that is highly relevant to the candidate. If it is a person that you really care about hiring, it is also important to be able to be flexible and tailor a role where the person can share their full potential and enjoy their job and workplace.

5.Convert

The conversion phase actually begins after the candidate has submitted an application. Now it is a matter of having a professional, time-efficient, communicative and, above all, clear recruitment process for the candidate to choose you over a competitor.