LinkedIn is the go-to platform for many companies when it comes to hiring the right talent. And why not? It houses top professionals from most industries. And, it has over 1 Billion monthly active users. But, despite that, there’s still a possibility of ending up with the wrong resource. This is why in this post, we’re giving you our step-by-step guide on how to go about:
- Finding the right talent
- Establishing an effective communication channel with them
- And eventually hiring them for the long-term
Without further ado, let’s dive in.
Why Use LinkedIn for Hiring?
Probably the number one reason why you should hire on LinkedIn is that it is primarily a B2B (Business to Business) platform, which is why most users are on it for primarily professional reasons.
Secondly, you get a powerful search bar at the top, with everything you need to hone in on the right pool of candidates.
(Search bar screenshot)
Lastly, LinkedIn offers a dedicated tool called LinkedIn Recruiter to make recruitment even easier.
Preparing to Hire a LinkedIn
Before you can start looking for that ideal candidate, it’s important to have a strong foundation such as an optimized company profile, a clear job description, and knowing what your ideal candidate looks like. Let’s talk about these preliminary steps briefly.
Optimize Your Company Profile
Your company profile is one of the first things candidates see before applying or reaching out. It needs to be professional to build trust and credibility in the eyes of candidates.
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Create a Job Description
Once your LinkedIn profile is optimized, it’s time to create a clear job description. Mention everything you need in your ideal candidate in the job description. The goal is to attract the right candidates to your job listing. It’s important to communicate your requirements upfront; otherwise, you’ll risk attracting the wrong candidates, which will waste the time of both parties.
Ways to Hire Through LinkedIn
You can use LinkedIn for hiring in several ways, from reaching out to potential candidates to creating job ads. Let’s talk about each.
Posting a Job Ad
This is the most straightforward way to hire on the platform. Job postings appear in search results, on your company page, and are recommended to relevant candidates.
Here’s how you can do it:
- Create a detailed job post with a title, description, and requirements
- Add benefits to make it more appealing
- Use LinkedIn’s targeting tools to reach people based on their location, experience, and skillsets
It’s ideal for attracting job seekers who are actively looking for opportunities.
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Using LinkedIn Recruiter
This premium tool from LinkedIn offers advanced features to recruiters to find the right candidates. Its features include access to a larger candidate pool, including those not looking for jobs actively. The tool also lets you use advanced search filters to focus on candidates based on their education, certifications, and skills. You can even send InMail messages directly to potential candidates with it. Who’s it ideal for? People who are recruiting for highly specialized roles or want to build long-term relationships.
Searching for Passive Candidates
Not all candidates for a job position are actively searching to be hired. You can broaden your candidate pool by making them part of the hiring process. It involves reaching out to those candidates by:
- Using the LinkedIn search bar
- Creating personalized messages for them
- Engaging with these candidates’ content
This can be a great way to hire experts in a specific field. The strategy can also help you hire people in highly competitive industries, such as media buying.
Leveraging LinkedIn Groups
LinkedIn groups host people with similar interests, skills, backgrounds, and goals, which makes it a goldmine for recruiters and job seekers alike. To attract relevant candidates to your job listing, what you can do is join multiple groups in your industry and share your job post in them. Not every group may allow a post like that, so read their terms before proceeding. In addition to going for the hunt directly, share content and interact with other people’s content to build your credibility.
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Using HR Companies
There are plenty of human resource (HR) companies on LinkedIn you can use for the entire hiring process. They’ll handle everything from reaching out or attracting the right candidates, interviewing the right ones, and filtering out the best ones.
How to Use LinkedIn to Hire: FAQs
Let’s address some frequently asked questions about using LinkedIn as a hiring platform.
How Do I Use LinkedIn as a Hiring Tool?
Start by optimizing your company profile. Then, create a comprehensive job description with the ideal candidate in mind. Use the search bar to reach out to passive job seekers.
How Does Hiring on LinkedIn Work?
You can hire on LinkedIn in multiple ways, including through job postings or searching for candidates directly. The platform makes the hiring process easier by offering features like advanced search and LinkedIn recruiter.
How Effective is LinkedIn for Hiring?
LinkedIn can be a powerful hiring tool as it lets you connect with your ideal candidates easily and cost-effectively. Features like LinkedIn Recruiter, advanced search, and groups can make the process easier.
Is It Free to Hire on LinkedIn?
You can invest in LinkedIn’s premium tool called LinkedIn Recruiter to speed up the process, but there are multiple other free ways to connect with candidates on the platform.
Using LinkedIn as a Hiring Tool: Conclusion
LinkedIn has a massive audience, and most of it falls under the B2B umbrella. This makes the platform a perfect place to form business partnerships. If you’re a business owner or just want to hire the right candidates for a job, LinkedIn offers all the tools and features to help you with the process. Use its advanced search feature to reach out to passive candidates that satisfy your job’s criteria. To attract these candidates, simply create a job post with all the job requirements and make everything clear upfront.