By Nicholas Buck
To some extent recruitment and search is a seasonal business. While we at Sheffield have a constant level of year-round activity, we typically see an increase at the end of one year and the beginning of the next. This makes sense; people often finish in a role just before Christmas in order to start a new role in January – after, of course, the mandatory 2-3 weeks of beach, cricket, beach cricket, pavlova, road-tripping, time with whānau, sunburn etc.!
This pattern coincides with a prevalence in the market of what we call the active-passive candidate. That is, those candidates who:
- are likely to be enjoying their current role but still have half an eye out for that next career opportunity, and
- are not likely to be searching out and applying for roles via advertised appointment processes, but if approached, are open to a conversation about a new opportunity.
As a prospective candidate, this is a good, even luxurious position to be in; no push factors out of the current role or desperation to leave it, matched with enthusiasm and openness about one’s professional future.
If you feel like you might be an active-passive candidate for the 2018 season, here's a few pointers to help ensure you're on the radar with hirers and search professionals:
- Keep current on LinkedIn. No need for encyclopaedic treatises, but a profile that gives a clear and accurate sense of your career to date is a great way to keep yourself front and centre.
- Reach out. Even if there’s no one particular role of interest to you in the current market, you’re of course welcome to make contact and let us know of your intentions. This will mean you’re proactively in mind should an appointment process come up in the short-medium term.
- Reflect. Consider the aspects of your current role that most inspire you. With these in mind, what else would you want to have in your next career step? Is there anything you’d (ideally) do less of? The answers to these questions are useful in ‘pre-clarifying’ your interest, should you be approached with a new opportunity.