Introduction
LinkedIn has become an indispensable tool for recruiting and hiring. With over 875 million members worldwide, LinkedIn is the world's largest professional network and a goldmine for identifying and connecting with top talent.
Companies of all sizes are leveraging LinkedIn to streamline their hiring processes and source qualified candidates. Here are some of the key ways companies are using LinkedIn for hiring in 2023:
Sanka
Whether you’re a large HR department or an individual, Sanka offers solutions to manage your Social Media presence. When it comes to LinkedIn, Sanka has a suite of tools to help you manage your LinkedIn presence and assist with outreach and hiring.
With Sanka you can automatically:
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Utilize AI to create job postings
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Outreach Candidates
- Search, sort, and Export LinkedIn Profiles to Applicant Tracking System (ATS)
- Follow up with a pre-written message to introduce yourself and spark engagement
- Save contacts allowing you to open doors and make meaningful connections for your sales recruiting, user interviews and networking
Sanka Agency Services
Sanka also provides agency services for those that are seeking personalized searching or assistance in the hiring process.
Sourcing Passive Candidates
One of the biggest advantages of LinkedIn recruiting is the ability to tap into passive candidates - professionals who are not actively job searching but may be open to new opportunities.
Recruiters can search LinkedIn profiles using keywords, location, industry, job titles and more to identify potential candidates who fit their hiring needs. They can then directly contact prospects through LinkedIn messaging to gauge interest. This allows companies to reach talent they may otherwise miss if limited to active applicants only.
Posting and Promoting Jobs
Posting jobs directly on LinkedIn has become a go-to strategy for companies to get their openings in front of qualified candidates. LinkedIn allows businesses to create customized job postings and target them to members matching specific criteria. Companies can boost the visibility of their job posts through LinkedIn's advertising options. Sponsored job ads let employers get their job listings in front of more of their target audience.
Leveraging Employee Networks
Employees can be a company's best resource for generating referrals and discovering talent. LinkedIn makes it easy for staff to network with connections, share job openings within their contacts and groups, and make recommendations. Companies are encouraging employees to leverage their own LinkedIn networks to find potential candidates and refer them for open roles. This first-degree connection often results in higher quality applicants.
Company Branding
A company's LinkedIn Page serves as its lead branding presence on the platform. Recruiters are advising companies to optimize their Pages with detailed information about their employer brand, culture, and career opportunities. This allows prospective hires to gain valuable insights to determine if the company is a good fit. Companies should keep their Pages updated with company news, achievements, employee spotlights, and posts that give candidates a real sense of the company's work environment.
Advertising Open Positions
LinkedIn's extensive ad targeting makes it possible to get job listings in front of niche, highly-qualified audiences. Companies are buying LinkedIn Sponsored Jobs and Sponsored Content ads to increase engagement with their postings. Ads can be displayed to users matching professional characteristics identified as important for specific roles. LinkedIn advertising allows companies to get their openings viewed by the people most likely to have an interest and qualifications relevant to the available position.
Specialized Searches with Recruiter Access
Companies investing in LinkedIn Recruiter get advanced search capabilities and the ability to send InMail messages directly to prospects. Recruiter licenses allow saved searches based on sophisticated parameters so new candidates matching highly-specific criteria can be identified daily or weekly. Recruiters can segment prospects, create customized lists and integrate LinkedIn data into their applicant tracking systems. This allows for structured, streamlined hiring processes.
Retargeting Site Visitors
Companies placing job postings on their own career site can integrate with LinkedIn to target those visitors with follow-up ads. Pixel tracking allows businesses to reach audiences who have already shown interest based on pages visited. By retargeting website visitors through LinkedIn ads, companies can drive the most qualified traffic to apply for open roles. This gives their job postings added visibility to the people most likely to respond.
Assessing Cultural Fit
Hiring teams are assessing candidate fit based on the types of content prospects are sharing and engaging with on LinkedIn. Passive candidates aren't submitting traditional resumes, so their LinkedIn activity offers clues about interests, values and alignment with a company's mission. Recruiters look at groups joined, content shared, causes supported and comments left to gauge if a potential hire meshes with corporate culture.
Screening Applicants
Many recruiters conduct initial candidate screening through LinkedIn profiles as an efficient way to narrow the pool before scheduling interviews. They evaluate prospects' online professional brand, looking for red flags like exaggerated or false claims that don't match a background check. Hiring managers use LinkedIn messaging to ask candidates for more details not available on their profile to determine if they should move forward in the process.
Connecting Post-Interview
Even after an interview takes place, recruiters are leveraging LinkedIn for relationship-building. Following up through LinkedIn messaging allows recruiting teams to keep top candidates warm in case an offer isn't immediately made. Staying connected on LinkedIn also paves the way for future opportunities at the company. For candidates who receive and accept offers, connecting via LinkedIn right after the hiring process concludes is a great way to start building the employment relationship.
Analytics on Post Performance
LinkedIn's analytics allow companies to assess the effectiveness of their recruiting efforts. They can see metrics on engagement with their jobs postings and ads. Statistics like number of post views, click-through rate, applies, shares and cost-per-click allow employers to identify best practices. Companies refine their LinkedIn hiring strategy based on post performance to reduce cost-per-hire and yield the best results from their recruiting budget.
Hiring partners, agencies and automation tools
Many companies are expanding their LinkedIn capabilities by partnering with specialized hiring agencies and software providers. LinkedIn features integrations and partnerships with leading applicant tracking systems, automation tools and recruiting firms that allow for advanced functionality and support. Companies are leveraging these partnerships to power existing hiring processes with LinkedIn's unmatched access to professional talent worldwide.
LinkedIn Hiring Best Practices
Here are some top tips for companies looking to maximize their use of LinkedIn to find and attract top talent:
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Optimize your Company Page to engage talent interested in your employer brand.
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Encourage all employees to have complete, detailed LinkedIn profiles representing your company culture.
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Share job posts across multiple relevant LinkedIn Groups to tap into niche professional networks.
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Use talent search filters and InMail judiciously to make qualified prospects aware of openings that may interest them.
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Promote your employer brand by having company leaders and subject matter experts publish LinkedIn posts and articles.
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Look beyond the applicant tracking system - pursue prospects who aren't actively applying but may have interest.
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Integrate LinkedIn messaging into your outreach to keep passive prospects warm for future roles.
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Analyze metrics on job post performance to continually refine how you source candidates.
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Partner with staffing agencies and automation tools to enhance the scope of your LinkedIn hiring strategy.
Conclusion
LinkedIn has never been more vital for candidate sourcing, recruitment marketing and hiring. Companies who learn to optimize their LinkedIn presence and strategy will gain tremendous advantages in securing top talent and building their employer brand in 2023 and beyond.
