Guest PostWe’ve spent a lot of time online recently (even more than usual) due to the global pandemic. Even while casually browsing, you may have noticed an increase in active job seekers across social media. So, why not make the most out of the situation and finally fill those open positions at your company?
As you probably know, using LinkedIn for recruitment is one of the best ways to find top talent no matter the industry you’re in. Despite a large number of potential candidates, you still need to do more than just a simple search and hope for the best. That’s why we’re sharing with you these insights that will bring you closer to your ideal employee.
Organize your search more efficiently
If you’re a recruiter, especially if there are multiple open positions at your company, chances are you have dozens of sent requests already. Many users receive a lot of invitations every day and not all of them go through those invitations regularly. Think in advance and create a spreadsheet that will help you keep track of everybody so you don’t have to revisit their profile multiple times.
Start grouping profiles that stand out by open position, writing down key points that make them relevant. It’s also a good idea to add some variation into your follow-up message as most people can tell if you’re just copy-pasting the same template to all of the candidates. This kind of personalization will show them that you really want them and that they are not just one of the many candidates in line.
You should also keep an overview of keywords on hand to help you find the right fit. You can create this cheat sheet by writing down terms that come up frequently when describing your current top performers or when you are on profiles of well-known superstars already in the position. These keywords can add to your search and lead you to more relevant prospects.
Master the Boolean
You should already have a good grip on the options that LinkedIn’s advanced search offers, but you can always get more specific. When you have the keywords in place, the Boolean search allows you to combine them with other words to get the most accurate results.
By applying five operators, you can target the exact terms you want and discover those hidden gems. Here are the commands you need:
- – OR – Using it creates multiple possibilities where only one match is important. This is useful when a role can be phrased in multiple ways, such as Senior Developer OR Senior Programmer.
- – AND – This one is the simplest and it is the most similar to a regular search. It gives you a result that includes both terms you used. This comes in handy when you’re looking for a large pool of people in the same line of work, for example, Social Media Specialist AND Social Media Manager if your digital advertising team needs fresh faces.
- – NOT – It excludes the term that follows the first one and is very useful when you have two similar things but you need the exact one. Let’s say you’re searching for a senior employee, so you would type in Account Manager NOT Account Executive.
- – “” – The quotation marks help you keep the phrase you need in the exact order you want it. When you don’t use them, the search will treat your terms as if you used AND and you could get keywords split across many irrelevant search results. When you type in Creative Director, you could end up with profiles with all kinds of directors, but when you add quotation marks, only the users in the exact position will appear.
- – ( ) – When you have a complex position, or a string of terms you want to include, words placed inside the brackets have the priority. They are usually combined with other operators for bigger searches. The search could look like this – (Social Media Manager OR Social Media Specialist OR Community Manager) AND (SEO Copywriter OR Content Writer).
Ads shouldn’t focus only on requirements
Whether you’re using paid jobs ads or just posting them as a status update, you need to show more than a list of requirements to get the right candidates. Of course, people shouldn’t read your job description and walk away confused about the skills they’ll need for the position, but the focus shouldn’t only be on the things they bring to the table.
Tell them about how a particular role in your company can benefit them and show them how they could grow there. How has your career improved since joining? You need to give the candidates an incentive to consider you, especially if you’re in an industry where top talent is hard to find.
Your job posts should serve as a starting point to help you engage in a conversation with potential candidates. When you have a well thought out ad, interested candidates may be inspired to contact you directly, making the process easier for both of you.
Nurture passive job seekers
When you’re on the lookout for top talent, chances are they are already content with their current job. This means that you shouldn’t just shoot a message as soon as you connect asking them to jump into a different position.
You need to build relationships and engage with each prospect with a personalized, authentic approach. As we mentioned earlier, take note of interesting candidates and track their activity. When you keep the interaction alive, there is a good chance you will be the first recruiter they think of out of all their connections when they feel the need for a change.
Another approach that can get you connected with the right people is following the endorsement path. Even though they can be based on personal relationships, recommendations can get you to new people you may have missed previously.
What’s the next step?
Keep connecting, search smarter and build a system! Combine these tips with the methods that already worked for you in the past and the top talent will show itself soon enough.
About the Author
Stefan Smulders is a SaaS Entrepreneur | Bootstrapped to €3M ARR in just 1year | Founder of Worlds safest software for LinkedIn Automation Expandi.io | Vegan | Father.
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Josh Tolan
