Recruiters are looking for great people on LinkedIn.
Knowing how they’re using LinkedIn is the first step to ensuring they find you first.
A new airport is opening in Dubai, and they’re looking to hire an HR professional with travel and training experience. It’s your dream job and you’d be perfect for it – but when their recruiter starts scouring LinkedIn for candidates, will they find you?
Recruiters are increasingly leveraging LinkedIn to connect to both passive and active candidates (in fact, a recent survey indicated that 70% of recruiters consider LinkedIn their #1 social media tool for finding top talent). Understanding how they’re are using it is the key to ensuring they find you first.
Top 5 ways recruiters use LinkedIn to connect to A-list talent:
1. REVERSE REFERENCE
Recruiters us LinkedIn’s Reverse Reference function to find people who have worked at a particular organization and/or on a specific initiative within that organization, such as and SAP implementation or HR transformation.
2. REFERRALS
LinkedIn allows you to use your connections to access a vast network of people. Recruiters leverage this by using their connections – and their connections’ connections – to find people who have the skill set and experience they’re looking for.
3. RECOMMENDATIONS
Currently LinkedIn has 43 million people in its network and is growing at a rate of 1 new member a second. Given the size of the talent pool recruiters with often look at your recommendations to assess and select A-list players.
4. GROUPS
Recruiters search industry specific groups as well as alumni associations on LinkedIn as part of their targeted selection process.
5. INMAILS
Recruiters use LinkedIn inmail campaigns and their status bars to broadcast opportunities.
So what can you do to ensure that recruiters not only find you on LinkedIn, but are interested enough to get in touch with you directly? Here are our 5 tips:
- Make sure your LinkedIn profile is complete, up-to-date - and active
Your LinkedIn profile says more about you than your resume and can be easily updated. Ensure your work history covers at least the last 3 positions you’ve held (if applicable), and that your education section (including any recent certifications) is fully populated. Be specific about your projects and achievements in these positions.
And don't just 'set it and forget it'. Visit your LinkedIn profile at least twice a week (more if you're actively looking for a new job). Regularly updating your "What are you working on?" (aka 'status') statement, for example, tells recruiters your profile is active, current - and worth taking a look at.
- Grow your network
On average, referrals and social networking account for 40% of a company’s source to hire (and this stat is increasing rapidly). Closing the gap on your six degrees of separation puts you closer to potential opportunities and increases your visibility during the search process. The more connections you have, the bigger your network, and the more likely it is that recruiters will find you. If you're actively looking for a new job, adding and updating connections should be a part of your daily routine. Even if you're not actively looking, building your network is a great investment in your career - you never know when a recruiter will come along with your dream job.
- Make your profile attractive and appealing
Your LinkedIn profile is essentially an advertisement for you and your services. Like any advertisement, it's designed to get the audience (recruiters) interested enough to learn more about you, and to give them the information they need in an easy-to-understand way.
Tips to make your profile more appealing to recruiters (and to others who may be in position to recommend or refer you):
- Ensure your spelling and grammar is flawless!
- Take the time to write a compelling 'Summary' (get a friend to write one for you if you're not a wordsmith)
- Add applications like 'Reading Lists' and update it regularly
- Showcase presentations or articles you've authored by using Slideshare to post them to your profil
- Make sure your status is open to receiving inmails and job enquiries – even though you may be happy in your current position – you never know when a once in a lifetime job may land on your doorstep
- Get recommended and make recommendations - Join groups
Recruiters will often use alumni or join industry-, profession- and role-specific LinkedIn groups to tap into groups of candidates with specialized skills and experience. By joining groups appropriate for your career - and participating in the group discussions - you'll raise your profile. And recruiters will often broadcast a job opening only to group members, so joining the group means you'll hear about opportunities first.
- Picture perfect
Like Facebook, Twitter, etc., LinkedIn is a social media tool. However, unlike many other social media tools, LinkedIn is primarily for professional networking. So your profile photo should reflect your "9-to-5" self. In other words, stick to a professional-looking headshot - LinkedIn isn't the place for family snapshots or cartoon character avatars.
The bottom line
LinkedIn has long been the leading social media tool for recruiters looking to connect with candidates. However, it's rapidly becoming the #1 resource - online or offline - recruiters go to when they're looking to fill a position. Which begs the question: If you aren't leveraging LinkedIn, will recruiters know you exist?
