Are you a recruiter on the lookout for talented employees? Head to LinkedIn—it’s one of the best scouting places for recruiters!
LinkedIn is where all the talented industry professionals hang out, and their activities there reveal a lot of helpful info you can utilize. However, you must know what to pay special attention to and how to set up your profile; as a recruiter, there are a few things you should do differently than the average user. In addition, LinkedIn has an abundance of features designed especially for searching for the perfect candidate.
This article will discuss how to use LinkedIn for recruiting, covering various aspects such as:
- How to tidy up your and your company’s profile to leave a good impression
- What the right way is to connect with people and be active so that you’re noticeable but not too spammy
- How to research and filter out candidates
- How to create a fast and effective job recruiting process—from outreach to the interview
Spruce Up Your Profile
It doesn’t matter that you’re focused on others—your profile is the first item on the checklist!
Make sure the interested candidates can see you’re looking for them instantly and that you’re a professional and reliable person.
To convey such an image, there are several steps to go through:
Profile and cover photo. A clean and professional profile picture is a must; it should be a reflection of your brand and the things you stand for, and it would be a bonus if you look pleasant and confident. Clubbing photos are a no-go.
A cover photo is a great place for an important message you want to send to everyone who comes to your profile, such as your company values and culture or that you’re hiring.
Text layout and contents. The headline stands right next to your name and your face. With only 120 characters at your disposal, pick the wording carefully; say what you do instead of who you are, like this: “Looking for Senior SEO Specialists in Boston, MA, for Fortune 500 Marketing Company.”
The bio section is a place to tell more about your career, so pick the best of your working history, and elaborate in no more than three paragraphs. Structure the text with bullets so it’s tidy and attention-grabbing. Sprinkle with relevant keywords so your profile comes up when people look for their next job opportunity. Some keywords to include are job titles, locations, industries, and company names.
Add a professional touch. Fixing up a few spots here and there can make all the difference in how people perceive you! For example, take a look at your profile URL. Switch those numbers for something better, if you haven’t already, and you’ll be easier to find.
Improve your privacy settings. Not everything you change on your profile needs to be visible. Don’t reveal all of your cards to the public (and the competition); hide your connections, turn off the activity broadcast, and be mindful of what you like, as it shows up on your connections’ timelines. When it comes to seeing who’s viewed your profile, you should know that it depends on your settings; if you allow others to see you, you can see them, as well.
Company Profile Also Matters
Because you’re recruiting on behalf of your company, potential employees will look at the company’s LinkedIn profile when researching what it’s all about, so you should improve it and use its potential.
Update the details to match the company’s current standing, and craft an attractive company summary that tells a story about the business. Post news and industry-related content often to increase your visibility on LinkedIn, and invite candidates to follow the page and stay up to date in case something they deem valuable pops up.
While we’re at it, your company’s following is the first pool to dive into when looking for job candidates, as they’re already interested!
Be an Active LinkedIn User
Don’t just let your polished profile sit pretty and do nothing!
The more you post, comment, and participate, the more visible you are. However, there is a wrong and right way to do it.
Below are a few tips on engaging with people in a way that won’t make them mute you—because nobody likes incessant users who wish to become LinkedIn celebrities overnight.
Follow and connect with influential people. Even if you’re not currently looking for new team members, connect with thought leaders and people whose posts and content gain traction. What makes LinkedIn great is the community. You can learn a lot from people and gain firsthand insight into the crowd you pick employees from.
Take a peek at their followers, mutual connections, and people who are often seen in the comments on their posts; there lies your opportunity to contact top talent.
Join industry groups. You can also use this for talent acquisition and not just by posting job openings. It is a social network, after all, so be friendly and interact with people like you would elsewhere—just keep it business-related.
Once you find and join the groups important for your industry, provide something useful for group members, such as advice, news, articles, free courses, or something else that seems attractive.
Simply put: Post some cool stuff. Just one valuable (or funny) comment on a viral post can insanely boost your visibility! Yours can be viral, as well. There is no secret formula for creating a successful post with tons of shares and reactions—all of them are valuable to a specific crowd, insightful, or funny and offer a different view of a well-known problem or are spicy enough to instigate a debate in the comments.
Find a style that aligns with your profession and company, and stay true to it. It’s a wider part of a personal branding strategy and helps you stand out.
Research the Candidates, and *Then* Reach Out
Wondering how to reach out to someone on LinkedIn? Our advice is quite simple: Keep it short, relevant, and personal.
To do so, the first step is to research the people you picked out and vet them accordingly. Do your homework, and go beyond the summary: Check out their recent posts (even better, Activity will show the posts they’ve engaged with), education, skills, and work history. Most people are pretty straightforward when it comes to job searching; they’ll post about it and ask their connection to spread the word or put a green circle on their profile picture.
When you know you’ve picked the right people, it’s time to get in touch!
Using their name? Emojis? Sure, but they’re not nearly enough to make you sound more authentic.
Here’s the dilemma: If you personalize each message, you’ll waste plenty of time, but if you don’t, your message will sound annoyingly generic. People can tell when you send them a template.
To solve this issue, you can use smart LinkedIn outreach tools that have special features. These features can help automate the outreach while keeping each message personalized.
Create a Job Post/Job Slot
On LinkedIn, it’s free to create a complete job post with a title, a job description, the means to apply, and a contact option in case they need to know more. Still, when creating a job post, follow these guidelines to make the application process smooth and efficient:
- Make the application process easy. If you’re going to make candidates upload their CV, don’t force them to fill in the forms with the same info! LinkedIn has an auto-fill feature anyway; also, making applicants sign up for an entirely new account to complete the form seems excessive, to say the least.
- Describe the interview process. Once you get in touch, explain how the process will look so they can mentally prepare for the job interview.
- Optimize for mobile. According to LinkedIn, 60% of the 1 billion monthly job searches are done via smartphones, so be sure the job post looks good on mobile, as well.
- Boost the advertising budget. Consider paid advertising if you want to make sure plenty of people with great potential see your job post.
Summary
Recruiters who know how to use LinkedIn properly have a powerful tool at their disposal.
To use it to the fullest, HR professionals and recruiters should be active and post relevant content, as well as job posts; improve their and their company’s account; and optimize the hiring process.
Stefan Smulders is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) entrepreneur and the Founder of Expandi.io, a safe software for LinkedIn Automation. Smulders is also the Founder of LeadExpress.nl.