Contacting a Recruiter on LinkedIn? Here's What You Should Know - By Ifeadi Anigbogu

At a Seminar I facilitated recently, a participant us told a story. 

There was a debate about attitude of HR Professionals & Recruiters on LinkedIn. Majority believed that most Hiring Professionals are cold and unfriendly when contacted about job placements. 

So this lady said that one day, she decided to try something new and change her message. For the first time, two people responded to her. The first person was the HR Director of a multinational and the second was Me. I remembered, the message caught my attention because she wasn't conventional in her approach. She didn't ask for a job. She asked for guidance with her career advancement goals and personal professional challenges. 

She doesn't have her dream job yet, but she is closer to it now than ever before.

Here's the deal;

Reaching out to people to discuss new job opportunities is not a bad thing. It is one of the goals of the LinkedIn platform. It is important to do it right.

If you are trying to reach out to a Hiring Professional on LinkedIn, here are things you should know;

First of all, do know that they do not have a list of jobs waiting for every individual. Don't be disappointed if they can't help you. Sometimes they can, sometimes, they can't!

They are inundated with similar requests daily, it is difficult to keep up

A good number of Professionals use LinkedIn for work. Yes, Work! A lot of people earn their daily  bread on this platform. Their prerogative at work is not exchanging messages with cold contacts. Being online does not mean they are online to chat, they maybe online for work and not want distractions.

Do not say Hi, Hello, How Are You etc and expect a response. Go straight to the point and say what you want to say. If a person doesn't know you personally, they are not likely to want to exchange messages with you, especially when they are not sure the reason/motive for your message. They tend to play safe or simply focus on more important things. 

Yes! People are not likely to exchange messages with you if they don't know you...seek to engage their interest.

Craft a compelling message, keep it short and straight to the point! No one has time to read epistles. If your message is too long, it either gets skipped or postponed to later and eventually gets forgotten.

Don't ask for a job, rather introduce yourself and ask to receive direction or guidance on achieving new career goals or new professional objectives.  

Ask if they are willing to give you a moment to discuss your challenges or concerns. With warm & engaging communication like this, people are more likely to pick interest to offer sincere guidance or useful advice on achieving your goals. In most cases, they may have you meet with them in person or have a call to discuss further. 

Personalize your message, address people by the right names, keep your auto correct in check. E.g address me as Dear/Hi/Hello Ifeadi not Ifeanyi, not Ifeatu. I get those a lot.

Do not copy and paste the message you addressed to Jonathan for Johnson or to Bisi for Bola, please don't!

Do not address a 'Sir' as 'Ma' and vice versa. Total turn off! 

Seek to engage, not inform! Don't inform people that you are looking for work but engage their thoughts on how you can succeed with your job search. Information is terminal, engagement is continuous. Seek to engage...

Do not be upset if someone does not respond or assist you. It is not a right! You don't know their personal situations. Moreover, they are possibly inundated with similar requests daily, keeping up becomes really difficult.

There is so much more to write, I will leave room for Recruiters, HR Professionals & other Professionals to share their thoughts.

Written by Ifeadi Anigbogu