When conducting a job search, many employers will run to the old standards—sites like Indeed, Monster, ZipRecruiter, and more. Each site provides employers with the ease of posting jobs and conducting searches for potential candidates. Yet, while structured around an employer’s needs, it feels as if these sites have become mildly outdated in modern times. New options have entered the market that makes it easier to find and vet candidates.
Such a site that has changed the way recruiters go about finding potential employees is LinkedIn. Started in the early 2000s as a social networking site for professionals, LinkedIn has since become the premier place for professionals to aggregate their work, experience, and professional networks. Rather than presenting your personal thoughts on Twitter, persona on Facebook, or image on Instagram, LinkedIn allows you to share your work experience with the world.
The opportunities this provides to employers are endless, as the site can be utilized to find perfect candidates. Whether you’re looking for a candidate with affiliate marketing experience or a prospective employee who has more than 10 years of expertise in the field, you can effectively analyze a potential employee’s profile to determine whether they’re right for your company. Let’s take a closer look to learn how you can find the best employee for you and your company.
Post jobs to LinkedIn through your company’s profile.
One of the easiest ways to attract potential employees is to have them come to you. By posting a job through your company’s profile, you can create a job listing that interested professionals can apply for. Job descriptions should be clear, evoking what it is your company is specifically looking for out of a candidate, and what the candidate should expect to perform while on the job.
Some recruiters will post relevant skills they’re looking for, to weed out inexperienced individuals, and some others will include the expected salary for the position. Whether you include either of these is up to you and your company.
Make the most of keyword searches.
Keywords make it easier to find specific pages online, and it can make it easier when performing a job search, too. You can effectively utilize keywords while searching for candidates on LinkedIn, performing searches of multiple types of experiential keywords mixed together—using the advanced search function will allow you to find potential employees via their location, title, and more.
Moreover, consider implementing keywords when creating job postings. Effectively placed keywords will make it easier for potential employees to find your posting, thus increasing overall engagement and (hopefully) the number of applications submitted.
Optimize your company’s page.
If a prospective employee is checking out one of your job postings, it’s likely they will also give your company’s profile a look as well. It’s important that you update your company’s profile for this reason: Make company contact information easy to find; provide a mission statement about what your company stands for; ensure that your company’s industry is listed correctly.
Utilize your network to find referrals.
While you can go searching through the vast web of people subscribed to LinkedIn, it might work in your favor to utilize referrals. Whether using your employer’s page or your own recruiter page, you can create regular posts that notify followers and connections about an internal opening available with your company. You can even sign off asking for people to comment beneath the post with names of referrals they would have in mind. While not every referral will be perfect, it will increase the number of interested applicants coming to you.
Use Inmail to your advantage.
Have you found a potential employee you’d like to reach out to directly? If you’re relying solely on the free version of LinkedIn, you’d have to go about getting connected with them and then contacting them about the job. But, with LinkedIn Premium, you can utilize Inmail to direct message that person alone, letting them know of the position to see if they’re interested. The Inmail function allows you to reach out with no strings attached, giving the recipient the offer to either neglect or accept the message—to let you know whether they’d like to know more or not.
Remain in touch with all of your connections.
Your company might be able to garner a good recommendation and referral from a past employee, a former candidate, or any other connection within your network. Maybe your contact is a former representative you helped while getting your affiliate marketing program started or a one-time freelancer who might know of other viable candidates.
Whoever it is, they might know someone else who can help you out; or, in some cases, they might be looking for work, and they’d accept an offer from you if they knew about it! For all you know, it could lead to an opportunity that’s lying in wait.
Join and post within professional LinkedIn groups.
LinkedIn groups are a great way to find specific professionals, whether they are writers, engineers, or fellow HR representatives. If you’re accepted into one of these professional groups, you could share a message stating your company is looking for work from experts in their field. Such direct contact is sure to get some inquiries.
LinkedIn is a great platform for recruiters, and it should be used to its maximum potential. From posting jobs to contacting professionals directly via Inmail, you can find candidates perfectly suited for your job. If interested, they can feel free to apply, and you can then look through their information to determine if they’d be a good fit with the rest of your company. You just might find the perfect candidate your company has long been looking for.
