Definition
What is candidate marketing?
Candidate marketing is the practice of presenting one specific, consented, available candidate to companies that have a current reason to hire that profile, in order to open a client conversation.
It runs in the opposite direction to a normal search. A search starts with a job order and looks for people. Candidate marketing starts with a person and looks for the companies that should hear about them. It is the outbound half of candidate-led business development. Some desks call it reverse marketing.
The distinction
How is candidate marketing different from an MPC pitch?
The difference is evidence, not the candidate. An MPC pitch (most placeable candidate) is the older, broader version of the same idea: take a strong candidate to market. Candidate marketing adds a test an MPC blast never has to pass: a dated reason why this company, and why now.
What is sent
MPC pitch
A candidate profile, usually the same one to every account on the list.
Candidate marketing
A short brief written for one company, tied to what that company is hiring for now.
Who is targeted
MPC pitch
Contacts who buy the skill set in general.
Candidate marketing
Companies with a dated signal that the need is live.
What counts as success
MPC pitch
Volume of sends, then replies.
Candidate marketing
A qualified job order, whether or not this candidate fills it.
Consent
MPC pitch
Often assumed from an application or a CV on file.
Candidate marketing
Explicit, dated, and required before the candidate is named anywhere.
Conditions
When does candidate marketing work, and when does it fail?
When it works
The candidate is genuinely available and has agreed to be marketed.
The profile is specific enough that a hiring manager recognizes the problem it solves.
The target company has a dated reason to need that profile this quarter.
The recruiter can name a proof point: a comparable placement or a result the candidate owns.
When it does not
The candidate is a passive maybe, or is being marketed without consent.
The profile is generic, so every company is a plausible target and none is a good one.
The same brief goes to fifty accounts. That is a spec CV, and buyers recognize it immediately.
The desk cannot deliver the search if the conversation turns into a job order.
The mechanics, the consent rules, and the email itself are covered in how to get clients for a staffing agency.
Try it on a real candidate
Bring one candidate and one market you know well.
We'll build the target list, the signals, and the first draft on your desk, then you decide whether the pitch is worth sending.