While mainstream social media has only been around since the mid 2000’s, it’s influence on the recruitment industry has been immense.
Rewind to before the use of social media in recruitment strategies, ‘old skool’ if you like!- Jobs were instead advertised in local newspapers and printed media, on an agency website or on job boards or in printed trade magazines - with no real human engagement with candidates.This one-dimensional way of promoting jobs has now evolved massively into a more engaging approach.
Today recruiters instead engage with talent pools across a wide range of social platforms. This is because typically recruitment consultants need to be active where their candidates are, in order to engage them. According to Global WebIndex, the average internet user has more than 5 social media accounts. And with research showing that 1 in 4 job seekers use social media as their primary tool for job hunting, no wonder recruiters’ tactics are evolving.
With LinkedIn, rated as the top social network for recruitment lead generation, it’s clearly one of the best platforms for a recruiter. Providing them with a powerful tool for sourcing candidates, networking, advertising and building relationships with new and existing clients.
Here are a couple of tips on how to successfully recruit on LinkedIn:
Prospecting Candidates Recruiters can search for candidates by a number of different filters. Some of which include; job title, level of seniority, location, years of experience, interests, language, past or current employees and even schools. LinkedIn’s tactical filtering system allows recruiters to find specific skilled professionals who may be a good fit for the job they're hiring for.
Reach prospective candidates through direct message and posts Recruiters can formally post jobs on LinkedIn for a small fee or alternatively post job adverts onto their feed. If you are quite active on LinkedIn and have a good engagement rate, posting within a feed is a good technique of reaching a large audience. Additionally, if you have candidates in mind; the Inmail feature is effective for directly messaging and approaching the professional private. There is also the sponsored job section. Posting a job post in this section will give the job ad more attention on LinkedIn’s homepage as well showing the ad in the candidate's emails.
Create a business page Recruiters should keep business page’s updated regularly with all contact information, links to blogs and agency website and offer information on all services. Showcasing employees and testimonials from candidates and clients is a valid way of building trust as well as being consistent with posting trending, relevant content.
Screen prospective candidates beforehand LinkedIn is also a convenient way of seeing a professional’s real potential rather than just in a one dimensional CV format. This allows you to screen candidates for their skills and experience level prior to contact being made. You will even be able to look at their endorsements from colleagues, education, and interests.
Engage potential candidates with searchable job titles Chances are your potential candidates will be searching for positions using standard job titles. So always use a widely used title for the job heading; such as ‘Marketing Executive’ as this will give your post more impressions when candidates are searching for new specific job titles. To conclude, LinkedIn is a powerful marketing tool to include within your strategy as a recruiter. With this statement being backed by just this statistic alone - over 75% of people who recently changed jobs used LinkedIn to inform their career decision.
Thank you for reading, Accord