Is LinkedIn Replacing the Recruiter?

A few days ago we attended the UK Recruitment Conference; the underlying theme of the day was technology, and how we should embrace it, but ultimately, recruitment will always be a "human contact sport". We couldn't agree more. The thing that makes us go to work in the morning is that fact that we love speaking to brilliant people and being able to match those people with companies that would be the right fit for them and their career.

A key topic on the agenda was LinkedIn. With the social networking site providing new tools for recruiters at a cost, is this changing the way that recruiters work, or becoming more of a distraction?

Something that we often hear is:

"All that recruiters do is go on LinkedIn. An employer can do that themselves, so why on earth do they need a Recruiter?"

With that in mind, we thought we would explain why LinkedIn isn't just one big candidate-shop window to answer the prayers of every Line Manager with a vacancy in their team. Here are our Seven reasons to explain why LinkedIn DOES NOT replace the Recruiter:

1.   First and foremost - How long do you think it takes to search through the hundreds of thousands of profiles on LinkedIn?!? Crucially, we save the client vast amounts of time, as we filter down through the vast range of candidates for them. We interview the relevant, interested candidates and supply the client with a manageable shortlist, based on the client's own brief of who they want, as well as the Consultant's knowledge of the company, the existing team and the company culture.

2.   We know you may think that people will always want to talk to you, however people don't always respond to LinkedIn approaches, simply because they are BOMBARDED by them. Whereas we may well have a pre-existing relationship and alternative contact details for those candidates that are ignoring a direct approach through LinkedIn.

3.   Who could not want to work for you?? Sometimes a candidate may not respond to a direct approach from a company as they may have preconceptions as a consumer of the brand and may not be bought into the brand as an employer. As we have existing relationships with candidates, we can engage them around a brand to help overcome objections and explain why actually, it may fit their aspirations after all. We also know our candidates and clients very well - we know if they are going to be a good fit, and after all you want to employ people that will stay!

4.   We add extra value into a recruitment process. We build long-term relationships with candidates, staying close to their careers and aspirations, etc. and they may well share details with us that they wouldn't share directly with an employer. This helps us identify any warning signs of a candidate becoming disengaged with a recruitment process. We can pre-empt or smooth out any issues that may otherwise cause a candidate to withdraw from an application, for example if they have another interview process on the go.

5.   We know people! Seven recruiters are very well connected and have access to a bigger network on LinkedIn - the more people you are connected to, the more profile you can access. So basically we have eyes everywhere...

6.   You didn't think they would give you it all for free did you? The search function on LinkedIn is pretty poor unless you can invest money in paying for a premium service, like a Recruitment Company can - you will likely miss out on seeing many candidates who could be the perfect match for your vacancy.

7.   Finally...and crucially! NOT EVERY CANDIDATE IS ON LINKEDIN! I know this may be hard to believe but it is true. We have access to many candidates that do not have a profile on LinkedIn as we have a vast, up-to-date database built over 15 years on our strong reputation. It is also important to consider that many candidates may not keep their profiles up to date, so you can never know how experienced they really are. As we are in constant contact, we are always up to date.

At Seven we strongly believe that what makes us different is that we don’t solely rely on LinkedIn. We would not be able to possess the understanding for either the candidates or companies we work with if we did. Don’t get us wrong, we don’t pretend not to use Linkedin but it certainly isn’t the bread to our butter. We have the commitment to help candidates make life changing career jumps comes with or without Linkedin.