How to use LinkedIn in your recruitment strategy

Reference : https://www.everjobs.lk/en/job-journal/linkedin-recruitment-strategy/

We all know how much the recruitment industry has changed over the last ten years – emphasising the need to use Facebook in your strategy. This market shift has launched a whole new social world whereby professionals and employers now interact and connect on a daily basis via social media, in particular LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is one of the largest and most influential professional networks and you’d be hard pressed to find a company that doesn’t have an account. But, just having a LinkedInaccount isn’t enough, you need to find passive candidates and actively use your account to have it work for you – you only get out what you put in. With that in mind we have a couple of suggestions to get you started with your LinkedIn recruitment strategy. 

Develop your network

Just like you would with traditional offline recruitment, one of the keys to finding the ideal candidate is to grow your network. Growing your online network differs slightly from offline, in that it is a little easier and often less personal. But, the fact that it occurs online means you need to ensure the interaction is authentic. If you develop authentic relationships people are more likely to refer a candidate and be part of what’s called a “referral chain”. The more people in your network, the larger pool you have to recruit from.

Stay in touch

A large of part relationship building is everything that happens after the initial connection. Staying in touch is not only the largest factor in relationship building, it’s also the most difficult and time consuming. It’s important to keep the lines of communication open with both new connects as well as previously valued and trusted professionals. You don’t want to lose touch with people who have worked successfully with you in the past – they might work for you again or they might send you your next superstar. It’s the little things that count, so look to like any updates, or new posts, send them a genuine email every now and then – it doesn’t have to be big, just something that’ll keep the relationship alive.

Keywords & Profile

Keywords in your LinkedIn profile are all part of your employer brand and industry talking points. Recruiters aren’t the only ones who search online using keywords, professionals do as well and it’s important that your profile has plenty of relevant keywords so professionals can find you. Not only that, but you want your profile to be complete and reflect your company because potential employees will often decide whether they want to work for a company based off their online profile.

Post your positions

This is going to sound really obvious but it’s rather important and I’m going to say it anyway: post your vacancies online. Okay, that’s done. I’ve said it, but the importance of this seemingly obvious step cannot be overstated. In building a great network and creating a wonderful keyword filled profile, it can be easy to overlook this vital step and forget to post your job vacancies. This is one of the most valuable ways to use LinkedIn in your recruitment strategy. If you don’t post vacancies, how else will people know you’re looking?

Use Inmail

LinkedIn offers some fantastic services that will help you with your recruitment strategy. One of them is Inmail. Inmail gives you direct access to your network and potential candidates. It allows you to contact people you deem relevant to the job opening and strike up a conversation with them. Not only can you contact professionals directly, but when professionals receive an email on their LinkedIn profile, they are likely to view it with less skepticism than they would an unsolicited email in their regular inbox.

Search via employment

When looking for potential candidates on LinkedIn it’s actually not a bad idea to search via their past or current employer. Help improve the accuracy of your search by finding candidates through the companies they worked for. If you can find companies in the same industry that require the same kind of skills you’ll be able to improve the calibre of candidates you find.

Join groups

Joining a relevant industry group on LinkedIn is a great way to find candidates. People in these types of groups will often post relevant and interesting content, they’ll share similar interests, experience, backgrounds and specializations – ones that you’re probably looking for in a potential candidate. Not only that, but these kinds of groups are likely to increase your network – group members will be able to recommend or know of a potential employee that could fit your profile.

Now that you know the basics you can start to fully utilize LinkedIn to improve your online recruitment strategy. Remember you shouldn’t put all of your eggs in one basket, a varied recruitment strategy is important and will open you up to the largest pool of potential candidates.