Memorial Day is coming up. Many people (the fortunate ones) will be taking extended vacations around this weekend. But the majority of people will not!
Fortunately for us recruiters, the folks that do NOT take time off before the holiday (Thursday/Friday) will probably be in “pre-holiday mode.”
You know the mode. We’ve all been there or are there now. What are the signs of this “mode”?
- Wishing the holiday (or holiday weekend, in this case) had already started.
- Less focused on work, more focused on other things
- Thinking that “I can get it done” after the holiday. It won’t be a big deal.
When folks are in this mode, IT IS THE BEST TIME TO MAKE CONTACT WITH PASSIVE CANDIDATES! This is the time that they are most likely to respond to your emails, return voice mails and/or take time to talk if you catch them live.
Now the counter argument to this logic is that “many people will NOT be in”. That is true. You will need to make more contacts to reach someone. But for those folks you do reach, the reception can be amazingly better.
For those of you that will be working before the holiday, and have req’s that you need to find high quality candidates for, try these things that have worked for me (and our team) in the past.
- Develop a target list of passive candidates and do a “networking” email blast followed up by a phone call (concurrently or within a few hours). Volume is the key, get your message out to as many people as possible.
- Misery loves company. Hold a contest between your fellow recruiters on Thursday and Friday. Track # of emails sent, # of responses, # of people you talk too, etc. Having fun with this activity a day or two before the holiday is critical to actually staying out of “Holiday mode”.
- Follow up with everyone you contact on Wed./Thursday (48 hours) after the day they come back. Again, a good % of folks were out of the office, this is a chance to connect with those that probably deleted your email/voice mail. You can say something like: “. . . I reached out to you before the holiday. I wanted to follow up to discuss . . . . “
Most People go into “pre-holiday” mode. Take advantage of it or . . . take the day(s) off!