Direct sourcing: how active candidate search works

Active and passive candidates are not the same thing

An active candidate is looking for work: they watch advertisements, send CVs and respond quickly. A passive candidate is not looking for anything — they can do their current job, they have established relationships in it, and they consider a change only when a concrete reason appears. For operational roles active candidates are a large enough group that advertising works. For specialist and technical roles the ratio is reversed.

That sets the limit of an advertisement. An advertisement is a passive instrument and reaches only the overlap of two groups: people with the competence, and people who happen to be looking. The rarer the competence, the smaller that overlap. When advertising does not work for a specialist role, the fault is usually neither the wording nor the choice of job board.

What direct sourcing involves in practice

Active search is not one activity but a sequence of steps, any of which can fail. A substantial part of the work happens before the first phone call — in establishing what kind of operation the competence you need is actually formed in.

1. Establish where the competence is actually formed — in what kind of operation, on what technology, in a team of what size.
2. Check the profile before making any approach, so that nobody is called for whom the role makes no sense.
3. Approach clearly and without pressure: who is calling, why this person in particular, and what the role is.
4. Describe the role concretely enough that the person can decide whether there is anything to talk about at all.
5. Agree confidentiality before anything is passed to the employer.
6. Keep the contact courteous even where the answer is "no".

Why the first "no" is normal

A refusal at first approach is an ordinary response, and it usually concerns the moment rather than the role. The person has work in progress, has just had a rise, is waiting for a year-end review, or has started a change they want to finish. The answer does not say the offer is bad; it says now is not the right time.

The practical consequence is uncomfortable: anyone building on a single round of approaches and a quick result will achieve nothing this way. What works is to close the conversation properly, thank the person and leave the door open — some of those approached can be returned to later. This is why we state no specific date for filling a role recruited this way.

Discretion and candidate data

The person approached has a job they do not want to lose. Discretion here is not courtesy but a condition of the whole method. Breaking that trust does not damage one candidate only — in specialist trades, where people know each other across operations, word travels.

The same care applies to their details. A CV, a contact and notes from a conversation are personal data from the first moment, and data-protection rules apply to them. A candidate should know who approached them, what their details will be used for and how long they will be kept; passing them to a specific employer is a separate step they agree to knowingly and in advance.

One more thing belongs in the open: under Czech law, employment mediation requires a permit under Czech Act 435/2004 Sb. on employment, and no fee for mediation may be sought from the candidate. The cost is borne by the employer, never by the person approached.

The rules that follow from that:

• No contact on a work phone or a company email address, and no discussion of the approach with the candidate’s colleagues.
• The candidate’s name is not given to the employer without their consent.
• No references are taken up with the current employer without the candidate’s knowledge.
• Only data that has a purpose is kept, and only for as long as that purpose lasts.

What the employer has to supply

Direct sourcing stands or falls on what the person making the approach is holding. Someone who already has work does not need a list of requirements — they need a reason to consider a change at all, and a counterpart able to decide quickly.

In concrete terms:

• A credible account of the role — why it is open, what the person takes over, and what they will decide on themselves.
• A truthful description of the conditions — the shift pattern, the commute, the pace, the equipment, and what is unpleasant about the operation.
• A decision-maker who replies quickly and is willing to meet outside normal working hours.
• Willingness to hold the first meeting discreetly, away from the workplace or online.
• Feedback by the agreed date, including when the answer is no.

What we do not claim about our reach

Phrases about extensive candidate databases, or candidates available without waiting, are common in this market. We state no such figure about our reach or the size of any database, and we will not. It cannot be verified and it means nothing to an employer: what decides an outcome is how many people with the competence you need are reachable in your region and willing to discuss a change, not the size of any list.

What we can describe is the method: how the brief is refined, how the set of relevant operations and roles is defined, how people are approached, and what we tell you about progress as it happens. This page covers specialist, technical and first-line operational management roles in manufacturing, warehousing and logistics. Executive search and psychometric assessment are not described here.