LinkedIn has become one of the most important platforms for recruiters to find and connect with potential candidates. With over 740 million members, LinkedIn offers recruiters access to the world’s largest professional network. However, with so many profiles on LinkedIn, it can be challenging for recruiters to get noticed and stand out from the crowd.
Some key strategies recruiters use to get more attention on LinkedIn include optimizing their profile, actively engaging in the LinkedIn community, building their network, sharing relevant content, joining niche LinkedIn groups, leveraging LinkedIn ads and targeting InMail campaigns. By implementing these tactics, recruiters can significantly increase their visibility and connect with more of their ideal candidates.
Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile
The first step for recruiters looking to get more attention on LinkedIn is to optimize their personal profile. A complete, professional profile lets candidates know you are legitimate and also helps you stand out in search results.
Here are some tips for optimizing your LinkedIn recruiter profile:
– Use an eye-catching professional photo – Profiles with photos get up to 21x more profile views. Ensure your headshot is high quality and portrays you as approachable.
– Write an informative headline – Summarize your specialties and ideal candidate types, like “Technical Recruiter Specializing in placing Software Engineers and UX Designers”
– Showcase your experience – Tailor your work experience summaries to highlight your recruiting expertise, skills and achievements.
– Share your education – List any degrees, certifications or training relevant to recruiting and talent acquisition.
– Develop a strong summary – Use your summary section to provide an overview of your recruiting background, skills and what makes you unique.
– Include relevant skills – Populate the skills section with recruiting-related keywords candidates may search for.
– Customize your URL – Claim a unique LinkedIn URL that includes your name to make your profile more memorable.
– Add media – Incorporate relevant photos, videos, presentations or other media that give added context.
By taking the time to flesh out and optimize your LinkedIn profile, you can position yourself as an expert recruiter and talent advisor right from the outset.
Actively Engage in the LinkedIn Community
Simply creating a great LinkedIn profile is not enough. To get noticed, you need to actively participate in the LinkedIn community. This means regularly sharing content, commenting on posts, joining Groups and connecting with other members.
Here are some tips for engaging more on LinkedIn as a recruiter:
– Share job openings from your company to attract qualified candidates. Write compelling descriptions highlighting your employer brand and culture.
– Comment on industry news articles and provide your recruiting perspective. Offer advice to other members by answering questions.
– Congratulate connections on work anniversaries, new jobs, promotions, etc. Recognizing others makes you more approachable.
– Like and react to posts from your network and Group members. This raises your visibility and expands your reach.
– Join niche LinkedIn Groups for specific industries, skills or geographic regions you recruit in. Participate in discussions and build connections.
– Follow relevant companies and influential professionals. Stay on top of industry trends and opportunities.
– Ask for recommendations from happy candidates and colleagues. Earn endorsements for your recruiting skills.
– Share articles, tips and advice that would benefit candidates in your network. Avoid overly self-promotional content.
– Go live or post videos introducing yourself, discussing hiring tips, etc. Video content tends to get high engagement.
The more you engage with the LinkedIn community in a meaningful way, the more others will take notice of your presence.
Build Your Network
Expanding your LinkedIn network is one of the most effective ways for recruiters to extend their reach and get in front of more qualified talent.
Here are some networking best practices on LinkedIn:
– Connect with promising candidates you would like to hire or keep top of mind for future openings. Send personalized connection requests highlighting common ground.
– Follow companies you would be interested in recruiting from to keep tabs on new hires and departures. Track employee growth and attrition patterns.
– Join local LinkedIn Groups related to your city, niche industries and specific professional roles. Introduce yourself and build local connections.
– Connect with contract recruiters, staffing agencies and RPOs to potentially partner on hard-to-fill roles. Avoid overly sales-y outreach.
– Build relationships with business executives, managers and team leaders who control hiring decisions. Offer your recruiting expertise.
– Connect with passive candidates not actively job searching. Keep a talent bench warm for future opportunities at your company.
– Leverage advanced search to find candidates based on skills, experience, education and other filters. Proactively reach out to talent.
– Install the LinkedIn browser plugin to get profile insights when visiting LinkedIn. Quickly determine if new connections would be valuable.
– Follow up after meeting people in real life by sending a LinkedIn connection request. Strengthen newly formed business relationships.
– Join alumni and professional Associations Groups related to your university or organizations. Connect with former classmates and colleagues.
By proactively networking and connecting with the right people, you will be top of mind when they are hiring or know someone who is looking.
Share Relevant Content
Posting and sharing valuable content is a great way for recruiters to demonstrate thought leadership, establish credibility and get more eyes on their profile.
Here are some ideas for content recruiters can share on LinkedIn:
– Job openings at your company. Write compelling descriptions that capture the employer brand and culture.
– Employee spotlights showcasing your company’s star players. Highlight achievements and backstories.
– Company culture content – photos/videos from team outings, events, conferences, etc that showcase your work environment.
– Thought leadership articles related to hiring, recruiting, HR, the future of work, etc. Establish yourself as an industry voice.
– Talent acquisition tips, advice and trends content. Share recruiting best practices.
– Pulse surveys polling LinkedIn members for their opinions on recruiting or hiring related topics.
– Job interview tips and preparation advice. Provide guidance for candidates.
– Personal career journey and lessons learned working in recruiting. Share your experience.
– Relevant industry news that would be of interest to your target candidates. Commentary and insights.
– Tools, resources, books, and sites useful for job seekers and recruiters. Share recommendations.
– Webinars, podcasts or videos on recruiting you have recorded. Provide educational content.
The right content provides value, establishes trust and gets you noticed by your ideal audience. Focus on quality over quantity and share content consistently.
Join Niche LinkedIn Groups
Joining and participating in niche LinkedIn Groups related to specific professional roles, skills, industries, geographic regions or interests is a great way to connect with more targeted audiences.
Some examples of niche LinkedIn Groups recruiters may want to join include:
– Local city/metro area talent acquisition networking Groups – Connect with other local recruiters and HR professionals
– Industry specific Groups – Groups for engineers, teachers, nurses, IT professionals etc. to find candidates in those functions.
– Technical skill Groups – Join Groups for programmers, designers, analysts, developers, etc to find technical talent.
– Company followers Groups – Groups for employees of specific employers you want to hire from.
– Diversity & inclusion recruiting Groups – Connect with underrepresented talent pools.
– University alumni Groups – Tap your alumni network for referrals and new candidates.
– Remote work & work from home Groups – Find and connect with remote/virtual talent.
– Young professionals Groups – Recruit early career professionals entering the workforce.
Once you’ve identified relevant niche Groups, be sure to actively participate by answering member questions, sharing job openings and engaging with discussions. This increases your exposure within those specific communities.
Leverage LinkedIn Ads
LinkedIn now offers a variety of pay-per-click advertising options allowing recruiters to promote their company, job postings and personal brand to very targeted audiences.
Some of the LinkedIn advertising options recruiters may want to leverage include:
– Job posting ads – Promote your open positions to qualified candidates actively looking for jobs. Use targeted job titles, skills, companies, etc.
– Company page follows – Increase followers of your company page by targeting profiles suitable for your openings.
– Sponsored InMail – Directly reach prospective candidates who may be open to new roles but not actively looking.
– Targeted display ads – Serve highly visual ads to audiences by location, industry, job function, skills, and more.
– Text ads- Run customized text ads offsite on premium publishers, email platforms, and across the web.
– Brand awareness campaigns – Build your company’s employer brand through videos, carousels, and sponsored content.
– Matched audiences – Create targeted audiences using website visitors or email lists for highly precise targeting.
– Retargeting – Remarket to people who have already engaged with your brand or content across channels.
Leveraging LinkedIn’s targeting capabilities allows recruiters to get their brand and opportunities in front of more of their niche, potential talent pools.
Send Targeted InMail Campaigns
InMail is LinkedIn’s internal messaging system that allows any member to directly contact and engage others (even those they are not connected to) via personalized emails.
Recruiters can leverage InMail to proactively reach out to and build relationships with passive candidates open to new opportunities as well as make meaningful connections within niche professional Groups.
Here are some best practices for effectively using InMail as part of your LinkedIn recruiting strategy:
– Personalize every message – Add specific details about the recipient’s background and why you’d like to connect. Avoid generic outreach.
– Keep it short and to the point – Summarize who you are, why you’re reaching out, and include a clear call-to-action.
– Spotlight aligned values and mission – Note commonalities between the candidate’s passions and your company’s purpose.
– Speak to their future career aspirations – Understand what they hope to achieve long-term and sell how your opportunity offers that.
– Suggest a quick intro call – Don’t pitch opportunities right away. Seek permission for a short, low-pressure call to establish rapport.
– Offer value upfront – Provide useful advice, recommendations, or introductions with no strings attached to start building goodwill.
– Follow up persistently (but politely) – If they don’t respond, follow up again mentioning your previous note.
Using InMail to directly contact qualified, interested candidates that you’ve researched and customized messages for can yield great results.
Leverage Employee Advocacy
Your employees are one of your best marketing channels. Encourage them to share content, engage with their networks and advocate for your employer brand on LinkedIn.
Some ways to get employees sharing content and promoting your company culture include:
– Build a LinkedIn employee advocacy program – Make it easy to share approved content with toolsets like EveryoneSocial or DrumUp.
– Train employees how to optimize their profiles – Ensure they list your company, share bio, experience, media etc.
– Motivate participation through contests or rewards programs – Offer prizes or recognition for top advocates.
– Equip them with shareable content – Provide articles, images, videos, and messages for them to pass along.
– Develop suggested social messages – Craft sample posts with messaging and hashtags they can easily reuse.
– Encourage employee generated content – Have them create their own posts with photos, videos, testimonials, etc.
– Feature employee spotlights – Highlight star players within the company to humanize your brand.
– Share wins and news – Have employees amplify press releases, awards, product launches, events and milestones.
– Post about culture and values – Authenticity comes from your people showcasing what it’s like to work at your company.
Rallying your workforce to advocate on LinkedIn greatly expands the visibility and credibility of your employer brand.
Conclusion
Getting more attention on LinkedIn as a recruiter requires putting in consistent effort across multiple fronts. Optimizing your profile, actively engaging in the platform, building strategic connections, sharing compelling content, advertising selectively, leveraging niche Groups and empowering employees will combine to significantly strengthen your personal brand, grow your following and attract more of the qualified candidates you seek. With over 740 million members on LinkedIn, implementing these best practices will help ensure you connect with the talent you need to drive hiring success.