How recruiters use LinkedIn and why it’s important that you knowRecruiters are notorious for spending a lot of time on LinkedIn. Why wouldn’t they? It’s a smorgasbord of apparent talent, just waiting for a call.Or is it? If it was that easy, we’d fill all our roles in days, let alone weeks. But if you’re new to the industry, not quite grappled LinkedIn or you’re starting to job search a little more than just being a ‘passive candidate’, here’s what you need to know about how we use the platform, and how you could benefit.Most recruiters spend a lot of money working with LinkedIn. Our primary output is to identify ways to make money – by finding suitable candidates for our roles and to ruffle our feathers towards potential clients who might want to work with us. Why does it matter to you?Well, if you’d like to be approached about a ‘relevant’ new role by a recruiter, even if you’re not actively looking, we’re assuming you’ll want to be found on LinkedIn. Many placements are made via LinkedIn, and according to The Circular Board ‘87% of recruiters or talent scouts regularly use LinkedIn, so it’s not entirely surprising that it offers over 20 million job openings. According to a study, 122 million LinkedIn users received a job interview, while 35.5 million were hired by someone they met through the site’.Those are some stats, so imagine you’ve been approached about a role with a business you’ve always aspired to work for. How can you be found?How do we find people?Well, apart from the obvious (searching for them) we need to find the most suitable people in our market. LinkedIn has fabulous search capability so the detail we can delve into is immense, but we can only search into what’s actually there. So, if you don’t populate your profile with up-to-date, relevant information, we might not find you. We can search by qualifications, degree subject, and even year of graduation. Throw in alongside that job title, employer, industry, location, and even keywords. And with global talent pools, if you want to be noticed, you need to get your personal brand up to scratch.A good photo and banner are increasingly important. But that’s the easy stuff. In fact, the external piece around presenting yourself professionally, accurately, and with enough detail is reasonably straightforward. But it’s the hard stuff that makes people stand out.Why do recruiters like well-connected people?Well-connected people are more likely to be active on LinkedIn, respond to messages, contribute to discussions and be receptive to recommendations. Building connections with relevant people make a difference to a recruiter. You’ll have a well-crafted network and it’s easier for us to reach people in that network if you’re well connected and active. Contributing to your network makes you stand out, you’re easier to find and actually, if you’ve seen us active on the platform, you’re more likely to respond if we approach you.How do I know if my profile’s doing well? Watch your profile views. Once you’ve started to be a little more active on LinkedIn, you’ll notice more people start to look at your profile. Is there anyone there you’d like to connect with? If so, request a connection, but add a note as to why. Ask them to support a post you’ve created. LinkedIn loves engagement, so getting likes, and comments in the first couple of hours of posting is essential. When people look at our profiles, we’re curious – is this someone we can help, someone who might be suitable for a current role, or perhaps finding out if we can help with market insight or even a role.Why does content matter?Content is key. Only around 1% of people who are on LinkedIn post content which is why if you do, you’ll stand out quickly. But what to post? You don’t have to write detailed blogs or create lots of graphics. Find someone else’s content that resonates with you and just repost this with a few comments of your own. You can pin this to the featured section of your profile, and create more of a personal brand that will resonate with recruiters and possible future employers.We’re also looking for businessYes, we are. It’s not a secret but being able to approach a possible client cold is hard work, and really not that enjoyable for either party. And I use the word ‘enjoy’ with a hint of sarcasm. It’s horrible. As recruiters, we also get bombarded by ‘sales’ InMails and they’re equally off-putting.But sharing content that is relevant and adds value to the market can bring inbound business. Sharing knowledge (which we think we’re pretty good at) helps others. And whether you use it now or in the future, we hope that we’ve made a difference, and actually, you’ll see some value in talking to us.There’s also much said these days about candidate experience. We’ve talked about this a lot ourselves. In fact, most of our new business comes from candidates who’ve had a good experience with us. Or they’ve consumed some content, worked with our interview coach Liz, or we’ve helped with a CV Critique. All of this builds towards building new business, and if you’re looking for a recruiter to work with, look at their testimonials on LinkedIn or their website to get a feel for what others have experienced. We share our testimonials because we’re proud of them, and also because it shows others we’re just us. Expion.
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