Are you using LinkedIn as a recruitment tool?

There’s absolutely no denying that LinkedIn is a powerful networking tool. It’s a tool that the professional world has come to see as intrinsic to personal brand, career progression and connection building.

As LinkedIn has become more sophisticated over the years, the reach of the platform and the range of features has increased exponentially. And as a professional recruiter, it’s true – I use it a lot!

But, relying solely on it as an in-house recruitment tool, to the exclusion of traditional channels or resources, can have its drawbacks.

And here’s why:?

Quantity v quality

Take a guess at how many subscribers LinkedIn currently has. 100 million? 500 million? Think again. According to LinkedIn, they have around 1 billion subscribers across more than 200 countries and territories.

Let that sink in a minute. 1 BILLION. Even by applying all the filters possible, with a starting pool of this magnitude, you’re still likely to be faced with an awful lot of sifting!

Unforeseen time costs

Let’s assume you’ve spent some time crafting the perfect job spec and description.

You’ve tweaked the filters over and over to whittle down far enough that you attract applications from the right calibre of candidate (whilst simultaneously balancing this with not filtering so far that you only appear to a handful of members).

You’ve spent some time trawling through the responses (and the varying range of quality does not make this part straightforward!)

You end up with a shortlist to contact about the next steps.

How much time has this taken? Be honest with yourself, if you quantify the value of the time spent on LinkedIn, was this a worthwhile investment? We often speak to clients who have been left somewhat ‘wrung out’ by the LinkedIn recruitment approach; take care not to fall into the same scenario!

References and endorsements

One of the great features of LinkedIn is the skills and endorsements section, where co-workers, clients, and managers can endorse a member for specific skill sets, attributes or achievements. This is a powerful feature, and I firmly believe it’s a great way to foster relationships and build new connections.

However, using endorsements to establish the calibre of a candidate’s skills in a recruitment process can be a bit of a minefield. In contrast, our extensive network of candidates and the capacity and expertise we have mean you can be assured that any candidate you see is categorically top-tier (and really is who they say they are!).

The Passive Candidate

Remember, your ideal candidate might not actively be in the market for a new role. ?I’ve talked previously about the untapped pool of “passive candidates”, and this is where relying solely on LinkedIn as your recruitment tool can really limit your options. The long-term relationships we’ve built with our own candidate network over the 17 years we’ve been around allow us to reach people you just can’t reach through other platforms.

And whilst I’ve been singing the praises of LinkedIn as a professional networking platform, it’s important to consider that there will be people out there who are either not members or not active. One of them might be your dream hire – but you will need help to find them.

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Want to find out more? Pick up the phone and give me a call on 01932 829 999, or drop me a DM!

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