News South Asia

Passive candidates, meaning those who are employed, but not currently looking for a new opportunity, are the biggest draw for recruitment executives across the world, according to professional networking site LinkedIn′s annual survey.

 

"Candidates which are great, happy in their current job and the current company is taking care of them... If you talk to HR, CXOs, these are the candidates companies want to hire," said Irfan Abdulla, director of talent solutions at LinkedIn India. (Watch the full interview here)

 

According to LinkedIn research, around 60 per cent of the fully-employed workforce falls into this category.

 

Traditionally, for employers, reaching out to passive candidates was difficult and the only way to reach out to them was through staffing agencies or headhunters, Mr Abdulla said. But employers are now increasingly using professional networking platforms for reaching out to passive candidates, he added.

 

The other big takeaway of LinkedIn′s survey is the marked improvement in hiring sentiment, which augurs well for millions of employees in the country. 79 per cent of human resource (HR) leaders told LinkedIn that hiring volume will improve this year as compared to 57 per cent last year.

 

"Achhe Din in Indian job market is coming to reality... The volume and budget for hiring is increasing in India," said Mr Abdulla.

 

Another important finding was Indian HR leaders are increasingly using social and professional networking platforms as a source for hiring talent. Mr Abdulla said that 44 per cent of HR leaders in India said that professional networking platforms are important for them as compared to 36 per cent last year. The global average was 38 per cent, he added.

 

The LinkedIn survey ranked Indian HR leaders No 1 in terms of data-driven decision making when it comes to talent acquisition.

 

The survey covered about 4,000 HR and talent acquisition leaders across the globe, including nearly 500 from India.