How to recruit on LinkedIn: 10+ free strategies

When you think of recruitment, LinkedIn immediately comes to mind. Naturally, as a recruiter or employer, you will need to learn how to recruit on LinkedIn. It seems straightforward. After all, LinkedIn is a social platform?designed for?professional networking. However, there are right and wrong ways to go about recruitment on LinkedIn.

How to recruit on LinkedIn: the benefits

Before you learn how to recruit on LinkedIn, you need to know why you would recruit on LinkedIn. It’s at the top of the list for many recruiters and for good reason.

“LinkedIn is number one for me, and it defines social recruiting.”

Aside from being well-known in the job-seeking field, LinkedIn has many perks. Here are some of the reasons you will want to know how to recruit on LinkedIn, ASAP:

• Purpose-built:The platform’s main purpose is to connect professionals. There won’t be other social posts bogging down your search.
• Mobile-friendly:?Your job postings will be pushed to potential talent’s mobile phones?as soon as they go live.
• Strong network:The talent pool is unmatched.

“Over 155 million workers in the U.S. have LinkedIn profiles; over 20,000 companies in the U.S. use LinkedIn to recruit; over 3 million jobs are posted on LinkedIn in the U.S. every month; and members can add over 50,000 skills to their profiles to showcase their professional brands.”?–?LinkedIn blog

• Job-seekers first port of call: It’s where everyone goes first, and all of your competitors will likely be there.
• Free:It can be used for free—successfully.

How to recruit on LinkedIn for free (or cheap)

Although you will often be asked to sign up for?LinkedIn Recruiter, you don’t actually need it to successfully recruit on the site. If you want to know how to recruit on LinkedIn, it’s best to start with the free or low-cost options. This way, you can gauge whether it truly is your top source of quality hires.

Remember: Just because LinkedIn is the number one choice of?most recruiters, it doesn’t mean it will bring the best results in your situation. Always track?HR metrics?to make the best posting and budget decisions.

1. Join relevant?LinkedIn Groups .

Find active groups in the field you are recruiting for. Post jobs in the feeds here if it’s allowed in the group rules!

2. Search for?passive candidates.

Look at talent in similar roles to the one you are hiring for. Along the same lines, talent can?discreetly mark?that they are open to new roles. This makes your job easier!

3. Gain insights from competitor companies.

Look at job postings from top companies. You can search on LinkedIn to see what keywords they use and emulate this to see if it works for you.

4. Create a stellar LinkedIn company page to enhance your employer brand.

First, think:?what is employer branding??Use your LinkedIn company page to show potential candidates what you are all about as an employer. This can include:

1. Curated content for?inbound recruiting;
2. Consistent graphics and header images;
3. Recruitment videos;
4. Press releases;
5. Employee testimonials and more!

5. Utilize your employees’ professional network.

LinkedIn is great at showing your connections in searches and on profiles. Use this to your advantage!

In the section ‘what not to do’, we’ll talk about InMail. Messaging potential candidates becomes easier and more effective when they are in your network.

Further, a talent pool that is already familiar with your company and its people is more likely to be a pool full of culture fits!

6. Use?Boolean search?to find candidate LinkedIn profiles.

For this, you won’t even have to leave the familiar Google search bar.

7. Cross-check candidates’ references and experience with their LinkedIn page.

Their LinkedIn page may not be up to date, but if they are actively job searching, it should be!

8. Use LinkedIn messaging wisely.

We will cover this more in the ‘what not to do’ section, but a creative way is to use the?voice messaging feature?instead of a?phone screening interview! This makes it more convenient and less stressful.

9. Give candidates the option to apply via LinkedIn.

Anything that makes the application process easier is going to be appealing for potential candidates. Just make sure not to ask them to re-enter all of that information you will receive from the LinkedIn profile!

10. Use Talent Acquisition Software to compile all of your LinkedIn applications and leads in one place.

This is a must if you’re looking into how to recruit on LinkedIn faster and more efficiently. Don’t lose track of messages, profiles, and applications.

You can post to LinkedIn for free through an ATS like?Recruitee, as well as keeping track of all your candidates from LinkedIn and other places you are recruiting from.

Remember: In Step 1 of posting your job on LinkedIn, you need to direct applicants to your careers site that filters into your ATS.

11. Post jobs.

Now, this option isn’t free, but it can be budget-friendly.

LinkedIn runs on a pay-per-click model. This means that you only pay when potential talent views your listing. You can set your budget with a recommendation after completing the job details. You can also choose to stop when you hit your budget or continue until you manually close it.

Remember: If you keep the job posted on LinkedIn until you close it, you may spend more than your budget.

12. Post jobs on your LinkedIn company page for free.

If you have built your company page to exemplify your employer brand and have a large, relevant following, this may work to your advantage.

Post a link to the job posting on your?careers site. This is a nice, free way to get traction on a job posting on LinkedIn without having to set a budget. You can sponsor the post if you’d like, which will get it in front of a larger audience, but posting to your feed is free!

Remember: You can (and should) encourage employees to share your job post! This will get in front of even more people in their networks.