Has Recruiting Become Spam? How to Deliver a Personal Touch

Entrepreneur magazine recently published an article titled, “How LinkedIn Fundamentally Ruined Recruitment.” The title caught my attention, so I took a look.

The article points out the indisputable claim that LinkedIn, the largest professional network in today’s world, has changed the way recruitment happens. Now, instead of posting to job boards, more companies are finding candidates through social media. There’s just one problem – it’s not efficient.

LinkedIn doesn’t offer the same experience for businesses or candidates as traditional recruiting. Companies spend more time and money trying to dig through profiles. The results aren’t promising either. Most candidates are frustrated by this new approach because they’re contacted about irrelevant or uninteresting job prospects.

In short, recruitment via LinkedIn has turned into spam.

How to Make Recruiting Personal Again

There’s an easy solution to improving recruitment efforts on and away from LinkedIn – make it personal. Too many businesses have lost touch. Here’s how you can make your recruitment process a little more personal – just like a professional head hunter does.

1. Dig a little deeper.

Your candidates have lives outside of work. Although you might not think that matters to your bottom line, it does.

Recruiters work hard to match talents with job descriptions. Savvy recruiters also go the extra mile to dig a little deeper and match candidates with positions that align with their interests away from the workplace. 

Here’s why that extra depth in the process matters. 

If your company needs to hire a new software engineer, you search for candidates with that interest and expertise. Easy enough, right? As you narrow your pool of candidates, you’ll find that some engineers love to game on the weekends while others prefer getting intimate with what’s happening in the business world. If your company produces games, you’d rather have the gamer work for you, right?

Digging deeper lets recruiters match rockstar talent with positions that’ll keep them inspired and working hard. 

1. Go the extra mile.

Gone are the days where businesses had to keep applicants and employees at an arm’s length (or further away.) Now, candidates appreciate contact in unconventional forms, such as text messages. 

Going the extra mile to reach out to a candidate in a way that combats industry norms lets you get to know a person a little bit better. You could give candidates the heads up on news regarding their interests or position. It encourages that person to open up to you. It lets you learn more about the person before you hire him. And, it gives you a better way to gauge interest.

LinkedIn is just one way to connect with candidates. But, when you take the conversation away from that platform, you’ll learn more about the people who could join your team in the near future.

1. Connect, even when you’re not recruiting.

Not recruiting for a new position? Don’t let your funnel of quality candidates run dry.

LinkedIn lets you stay connected to people so that when you’re hiring, you can reach out to qualified candidates directly. However, it takes work to nurture the relationship over time. Recruiters finesse that relationship by keeping candidates informed about the job market.

You can do the same with your company by keeping in touch and building a stronger foundation with potential talents. When you’re ready to hire, you’ll be equipped with a strong list of people for your team.

The Takeaways

LinkedIn has not fundamentally ruined recruitment. It has deepened the way businesses and rockstar talent connects. By leaving your recruitment efforts to LinkedIn, you could be wasting your time and spinning your wheels on candidates uninterested in your available positions. By thinking like a recruiter and personalizing the search, you can pull together a stronger list of candidates in less time.