LinkedIn has become an invaluable tool for recruiting and finding qualified candidates. With over 722 million users worldwide, LinkedIn offers access to the largest professional network on the internet. As a recruiter or hiring manager, you can leverage LinkedIn’s powerful search functionality to find your ideal candidates based on skills, experience, education, location and other parameters. But creating an effective LinkedIn search requires strategy and precision. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk you through the steps for creating a LinkedIn search to find your perfect candidates.
Define the Role and Required Qualifications
The first step is to clearly define the role you need to fill, along with the required qualifications, skills and experience. Consider the following:
- What is the job title and description?
- What hard skills and technical expertise is required?
- How many years of experience are needed in this field or industry?
- What soft skills are important (communication, presentation, leadership, etc)?
- What education credentials or certifications are mandatory or preferred?
- Will the role require managing a team or department?
- What types of responsibilities and day-to-day activities are involved?
Having a detailed understanding of the role will allow you to craft a targeted LinkedIn search to find people that closely match the position requirements.
Identify Target Companies and Industries
In addition to searching for candidates based on skills and experience, you can strategically target searches towards certain employers and industries. Here are some tips on how to brainstorm relevant companies and industries to focus on:
- Research competitor companies and pinpoint ones likely to employ strong talent for this type of role
- Identify fast-growing startups in this space that may have relevant up-and-coming talent
- Consider adjacencies – industry verticals, niches or specializations that require similar skills and expertise
- Tap into your own network and connections to surface referrals and discover target companies
- Review profiles of current employees in this role to identify common employers
Adding filters for target companies or industries can help refine your LinkedIn search significantly.
Optimize Search Keywords
One of the most important elements of an effective LinkedIn search is identifying relevant keywords. This includes job titles, skills, expertise areas and certifications. Here are some tips for optimizing keywords:
- Leverage LinkedIn’s own Skills section – search for relevant job titles and review the “Related Skills” section for ideas
- Incorporate various synonyms, acronyms and shorthand for technical skills (e.g. PMP, CPA)
- Include soft skills like “project management”, “team leadership” or “client relations”
- Use related expertise areas or niches like “performance marketing” or “mobile development”
- Try keywords around tools, software, platforms or product names used in the role
- Brainstorm regional variations or spelling differences on keywords (e.g. “labor” vs “labour”)
You can continually refine and expand your keyword list based on profiles of candidates that come up. Aim for a comprehensive list of 10-20+ keywords that cover all aspects of the required qualifications.
Leverage Boolean Search
LinkedIn allows advanced search techniques using Boolean operators – AND, OR, NOT. Using Boolean can help craft a more targeted search. Some examples:
- “account manager” AND “client relations”
- “data analytics” OR “business intelligence”
- project manager NOT engineering
Boolean search gives you more control in linking, expanding or narrowing keywords. Carefully test different Boolean combinations to refine your search methodology.
Filter by Location
Limiting your search by geographic location can be extremely helpful, especially if you need candidates in specific metro areas or regions. You have a few options for adding location filters:
- Search within 50 miles of a target city
- Filter by users whose profile lists a specific metro area
- Restrict to profiles listing a certain country
- Combine geographic filters with keywords (e.g. “New York” AND “data science”)
Location filters work best when focused on major metro areas and commercial hubs relevant to your industry. Casting too wide of a geographic net can dilute your results.
Search within Groups
LinkedIn Groups based on professional interests, industries, skills and affiliations can provide a goldmine of specialized talent. Here are some tips for mining Groups:
- Search for relevant Groups using keywords from the role (e.g. “content marketing” or “CPA”)
- Browse Group members and shortlist promising potential candidates
- Post the role opening directly within appropriate Groups to source interested candidates
- Participate in Group conversations to engage with prospects and get referrals
Groups allow you to tap into niche communities and talent pools outside your own network. Explore Groups as a supplement to your standard LinkedIn search.
Leverage LinkedIn Recruiter
For more advanced searches, LinkedIn Recruiter provides added targeting functionality, filters, candidate management and collaboration features. With Recruiter you can:
- Create multiple targeted searches optimized with keywords and filters
- Save and repeat searches to automatically surface new prospects
- Integrate searches with your ATS or other HR systems via API
- Tag and organize candidates with custom labels and status
- Export candidate profiles and share with other team members
The Recruiter platform takes LinkedIn search to the next level for structured talent sourcing and candidate pipeline management.
InMail for Outreach
Once you’ve identified prospects through LinkedIn search, LinkedIn’s InMail messaging enables you to directly contact qualified candidates to gauge interest and fit. Some tips for effective InMail outreach:
- Personalize each message with specific details from the candidate’s profile and background
- Keep initial InMails concise and focused on selling the role and company
- Mention any shared connections in common to establish credibility
- Invite the candidate to continue the discussion via phone or email
- Prompt a response by posing thoughtful questions about experience and interests
An InMail introduces your opportunity in a private, professional context that protects the candidate’s current employment situation.
Curate a Talent Pool
As you search, keep track of prospects that may not be an immediate fit but are worth keeping in mind. You can create a curated talent pool or candidate database in LinkedIn Recruiter or your ATS. Sources for talent pool candidates:
- Prospects interested in but slightly under-qualified for the current role opening
- Candidates open to new opportunities but not actively job seeking
- Former applicants or talent from previous searches
- New connections with potential you want to keep on your radar
Maintaining an ongoing talent pool allows you to reach out to prospects for future roles that align with their experience and interests.
Measure Results and Refine
It’s important to track your LinkedIn search process and monitor which strategies and tactics deliver the best candidates. Some key metrics to assess:
- Source of applicants surfaced (specific searches, Groups, InMail outreach, etc)
- Quality of candidate fit for the role requirements
- Response rate to InMail messages
- Time-to-hire for sourced prospects
- Long-term retention and performance for hired candidates
Continuously refine your approach based on results data to improve the ROI of your LinkedIn recruitment search.
Conclusion
By leveraging LinkedIn’s unique depth of professional community and search functionality, you gain access to an unprecedented pool of pre-screened, relevant talent. Constructing an optimized LinkedIn search strategy – equipped with targeted keywords, filters, Groups, Recruiter tools and talent pools – enables hiring professionals to efficiently source qualified candidates aligned with the most demanding role requirements. Approach LinkedIn as an invaluable pipeline for discovering your ideal candidates.