Using LinkedIn to Make Faster Placements

With every member recording their career history and displaying recommendations from colleagues, clients and suppliers, LinkedIn has effectively become one of the world’s largest databases of candidates, and much of this information can be accessed by anyone.

It’s therefore no wonder that this social phenomenon is causing waves of anxiety in the recruitment community, prompting the return of the argument that if employers have access to potential recruits at the click of a mouse, then a recruiter’s role becomes redundant.

I remember this same line of reasoning being put forward in the mid nineties when Monster.com debuted the Monster Job Board. The oft-cited claim was that now that companies can access CVs directly, they will no longer need agencies.  In reality, the opposite proved to be true - the more information and data HR departments have to sift through, the more valuable the recruiter becomes. Remember, agencies are paid a premium in part because they find needles in haystacks faster and more efficiently than companies can themselves.

In the case of LinkedIn, the need for recruitment agencies will remain or grow for two reasons: the obvious one is that LinkedIn now offers heaps more data to sift through. But secondly and more importantly are the relationships. Historically, the best recruiters are those who cultivate relationships and manage extensive networks of people.  Many recruiters today have built vast networks on LinkedIn, and these are far more personal than those built on job boards. Employers will pay a recruiting fee to access relationships they do not have.

It is therefore clear that the recruitment industry is not under threat – rather it’s evolving into a ‘web-based’ entity that has the potential to be far more lucrative than it has ever been in the past.

At Bullhorn, we recognised this two years ago, which is why our recruitment software integrates fully with LinkedIn. We commissioned a white paper on how recruiters should be using the site to maximise placement success. The paper yielded some interesting points which I have outlined below:

A primary advantage of LinkedIn to recruiters is that it allows access to candidates who might not be actively looking for new opportunities. Individuals register with the intention of building a network with past and present colleagues and employers and it is generally thought that they expect they will be approached regarding a job. Although these candidates may not be seeking a career change, they are certainly not unreceptive to offers, so LinkedIn effectively enables the recruiter to tap into a vast network of passive candidates.

Secondly, LinkedIn’s technology is becoming increasingly sophisticated, moving towards a group setup which can be indexed. The benefit for recruiters is that they will be able to locate the types of individuals who are like-minded and share similar characteristics, allowing them to be more targeted when looking for candidates.

While the network holds many advantages and can increase a recruiter’s efficiency, there is a potential pitfall in that recruiters may be tempted to use the social network as a first and main port of call. This will diminish the value of the relationships they spent so much time building, prior to social networks.

On receipt of a requirement, recruiters should still initially search their databases for candidates - only after they have done this should they go to LinkedIn. Once there, they will be able to create lists and should firstly search these lists for referrals. Research has shown that recruiters who leave a message and mention that they are networked with the potential candidate receive twice as many callbacks. This is further enhanced for those recruiters who are able to name a mutual contact.

 As a third step, recruiters should then make cold calls, including a list of client competitors they will also be able to create. This shows that cold calling is not something that can be replaced, but it is something that can be innovated to increase the level of response from candidates.

The ease of using LinkedIn can be further enhanced by specialist recruitment software systems such as Bullhorn. The software can automatically connect to the social network at the click of a button, saving valuable time, and enables storing vast amounts of information on candidates and making recruiters more efficient and effective. As social networking sites go, LinkedIn currently holds the most value to recruiters. Others such as Facebook and MySpace have allowed users to create the false illusion of having valuable connections and this is why they have had a limited role in recruitment, particularly sourcing. They do have their advantages, however, in that many top recruiters are using them as a tool to learn more about candidates upon referral.

It’s evident that LinkedIn will have a pivotal role in the future of this industry, and recruiters need to get to grips with it. While clients may look to adopt online recruitment strategies of their own, ultimately, recruiters have the knowledge and expertise to be far more effective at the process.