Being part of HR is challenging most of the time. The market might sometimes feel like a battlefield where you constantly try to reach, hire, and onboard the best talent for your company.
In today’s article, we will talk about how to use LinkedIn for recruitment.
We will cover LinkedIn’s essentials, how to use it to enhance your recruitment efforts, and how to manage data to make data-driven decisions.
LinkedIn for Recruitment Essentials
Benefits Of Using Linkedin For Recruitment
LinkedIn has probably become your go-to place for recruitment efforts if you are in the recruitment industry.
In case you don’t use it already, here are some of the benefits of using LinkedIn for recruitment:
- You have billions of candidates’ profiles in the same place
- You can search for specific keywords that suit your job opening
- You can set up paid advertising to increase the candidates’ pool that you have available
- You can peak at other companies’ strategies to attract their talent
- You can create a connection with your potential candidates beforehand
- You have access to insights and data about your recruitment efforts and how to optimize them
- You can increase your network easily
Downsides of LinkedIn Recruitment
However, there are also some downsides to using LinkedIn Recruitment.
Some of them are related to privacy since many data-driven platforms are often hacked to access user data. Moreover, there might be unconscious biases perpetuated, which don’t offer everyone equal opportunities. Also, there are some hidden operational costs if you want to use LinkedIn at its full potential.
Challenges of Recruiting on LinkedIn
Apart from the downsides as a platform, there are a couple of challenges that people talk about when it comes to using LinkedIn for recruitment purposes only.
One of the most frequent challenges is related to spam. Although you have a wide pool of potential candidates, most of the InMails might get flagged as spam by your potential candidates. This means that you will never get a reply from them, leading to wasting time and money.
Another challenge is the ability to differentiate between real and fake validation and endorsement. Skill endorsement can easily be done on LinkedIn and might not reflect, all the time, the real skills of a candidate. This might lead to some misconceptions and wasted recruitment efforts, eventually leading to higher hiring time.
Moreover, recruiters are also talking about the limited free features available. If you want to use LinkedIn for recruitment and maximize your chances of success, you will have to pay for extra features.
Searching for Candidates on LinkedIn
Regardless of any advantages or disadvantages, this feature stands out as a valuable resource for recruiters and employers seeking to expand their talent search. This helps you get access to a diverse pool of talent that you might not be able to get elsewhere.
When searching for candidates on LinkedIn, you have some options:
- You can use the free search bar. If you have a free account, you will see a limited number of profiles
- You can use boolean search and type specific keywords that you are looking for
- You can check your connection’s connections and see if anyone is suitable for your company
- You can check your competitors’ list of employees and start headhunting
How to Use Linkedin For Recruitment
Apart from search options, there are a couple of things we recommend you do is to maximize your chances of getting the results you’re looking for.
Leverage your Company Page
First, if you already don’t have one, you must create a Company Page. Think about it as your playground to showcase your company’s culture, open roles, milestones, and accomplishments. It’s where your potential candidates will come to scan what you have available and understand if they are a fit for your company.
To create a strong company page, follow these tips and tricks:
- Include relevant keywords to your company description
- Add as many testimonials as possible from your employees and clients
- Create a headline that stands out
- Showcase behind-the-scenes photos or videos from your company
Post Job Openings
This one might sound pretty obvious, but to get the candidates you are looking for, you must let them know you are recruiting. You can do it by posting the jobs you have available.
You can post your openings on your company page, your personal page, and even in LinkedIn groups.
Build your LinkedIn Network
In today’s world, the best strategy is to have a strong network. People do business with people.
What LinkedIn is very good at is that it gives you the context to create connections. You can start by adding people you already know in real life or admire. From then on, you can expand your network by sending requests to 2nd or 3rd connections.
Get Better at LinkedIn Outreach Methods
Another thing that you should be working on is getting better at LinkedIn outreach methods. You can test different InMails templates or even create LinkedIn groups to gather all people in the same place.
You can also use your internal resources and your employees as brand ambassadors. They can share the job openings and things that happen inside the company within their networks.
Invest in LinkedIn Paid Tools
Without a doubt, you get the best results by using LinkedIn Paid Tools. These tools give you different options to reach candidates, filter them and get insights that can help you optimize your process.
How Effective Is Linkedin For Recruiting?
Reading everything from above, a question might have popped up in your mind: Is LinkedIn effective for recruitment?
The short answer is YES.
The long answer is that it also depends on your strategy, industry, and target audience. You should ask yourself if your target audience is spending time on LinkedIn or not and how receptive they are to online messages.
Also, LinkedIn offers some stats that might give you an answer to your question.
According to them, here are the numbers:
- Every minute 8 people are hired on LinkedIn
- 4,9M+ professionals are using LinkedIn
- More than 700 000 companies are using LinkedIn to source and hire
Using the LinkedIn Data for Recruitment
If we were to give you a key piece of advice, it would be this one: use data.
Data is the one telling you when things go well and if your strategy is working or not. LinkedIn offers the option to get access to different kinds of reports based on your needs and the type of accounts you have.
The good news is that Linkmatch has a great feature that you can use to make sure you see all your contacts and never lose your efforts.
You can use Linkmacth’s Connections Export to CSV to get a complete list of connections and transfer those data to other systems that you are using.
All in all, LinkedIn is an excellent tool for recruitment that can help you reach active or passive candidates and increase your company’s brand awareness amongst people.
LinkedIn Recruiting Strategies FAQ
How do you recruit through LinkedIn?
There are many options available. You can create or join a LinkedIn group, you can use paid advertising, search for passive candidates or start a brand ambassadorship campaign.
Does LinkedIn help with recruiting?
Yes, LinkedIn is the place to go when searching for candidates. It allows recruiters and employers to search for candidates and access a broad pool of talent. LinkedIn also provides features such as job postings, candidate recommendations, and messaging capabilities to facilitate recruitment.
Does it cost money to recruit on LinkedIn?
You can post a job for free, but you also have a series of paid functionalities that you can use to boost your recruitment efforts.