Are you wondering how to use LinkedIn for recruitment? You’re not alone. There are so many amazing candidates out there just waiting to be contacted, however without a professional on your team who knows how to use LinkedIn for recruitment, you could be missing out.

Using LinkedIn is one of the most valuable skills in 2021, as the talent pool is richer than ever. With a wave of people resigning in what’s being dubbed “The Great Resignation”, there are some great opportunities to snap up talent that has become disillusioned by their current role.

To capture these people, you’ll need to know how to use LinkedIn for recruitment. But don’t stress – knowing how to use LinkedIn for recruitment needn’t be hard. In reality, anyone can become a LinkedIn expert relatively easily. The algorithms are built to support great content, and is one of the only platforms where organic content is able to go ‘viral’ relatively easily.

Discover the best ways to utilize one of the most popular social media platforms for business, with our handy tips .

How to use LinkedIn for recruitment

There are some classic ways to utilize LinkedIn for recruitment. These include:

• Pimp your LinkedIn profile 

First things first, as a recruiter, it’s important to have a professional LinkedIn page that demonstrates what you and your company do. This will likely be the first impression that a candidate gets of your business, so make sure it’s a good one.

• Use keywords and hashtags

On your profile and your posts, be sure to use keywords and hashtags that relate to your industry. People looking for work will often do regular searches, and it’s important that you can capture that traffic.

• Post your job vacancies

A great way to start the conversation is by posting open roles and seeing if people like, comment and share. LinkedIn is the perfect place to reach out to your network and see if anyone knows anyone who will be ideal for your open role. Again, using hashtags in your job vacancies may open them up to a wider audience and enable you to connect with more people.

• Create a strong company page

Any recruiter working on behalf of a company, should seek to create a strong company page that shows the candidate what they can expect. The minimum for a company LinkedIn page are things like an address, logo and about section to show people what the company does.

Then if you’re looking to make things more professional, you should post regularly on the company page, link open roles to the company page and try to get other employees to list the company on their LinkedIn. This proves legitimacy to candidates and creates a professional reputation.

How to post jobs for free on LinkedIn

Posting jobs on LinkedIn is simple. At the end of the day, LinkedIn wants to keep you on their site, posting jobs and engaging with other people. In this sense, they make posting jobs simple and free – which is great for recruiters! 

LinkedIn Help is a great place to go to learn more about how to post job ads, however the basic steps, according to LinkedIn, are:

“To post a job on LinkedIn:

1. Click the  Jobs icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage.
2. Click the  Post a job button.
   1. If you’re a Recruiter customer, you may be routed to a page with different contract options you’re affiliated with. If so, click Continue next to (Your Name)’s LinkedIn Job Posting.
3. On the Job Details page, complete the following fields:
   1. Description: Enter a job description (required) in the text box.
   2. Add skills: Specify the skills needed for the job by clicking the Add skill icon.
4. Click Continue.
5. On the Applicant Options page, complete the following fields:
   1. How would you like to receive applicants?: Select how you’ll be notified of applicants.
      Note: By selecting to receive applicants via the Collect by email option, you can access the applicant management tool for additional features like filters, reviewing options, and rating applicants.
   2. Review screening questions: We recommend adding at least three screening questions to help you easily identify top applicants who meet your required or preferred qualifications.
6. Click Post Job for Free”

What percentage of staffing professionals use LinkedIn as a recruiting tool?

Studies have found that “87% of recruiters use or engage LinkedIn at some point in their recruitment process”. This is a huge number, and shows how powerful LinkedIn recruitment really is.

Staffing professionals use LinkedIn as a way to learn about potential candidates and connect with people who may be relevant to their search.

How to use LinkedIn for hiring 

LinkedIn can be a great medium for hiring new candidates, as well as connecting with potential workers. Here’s some of the best tips to use LinkedIn for hiring:

• Look for the ‘open for work’ feature 

The open for work feature on LinkedIn is a great asset that can boost your success rate when reaching out to potential new candidates. Those who have the open to work feature on, have selected that they are interested in hearing about new roles. This is a great tool that allows you to search people based on whether they are looking for a new job.

• Reach out to people who perfectly fit the role

Sometimes you’ve gotta just shoot your shot, and one of the best ways to connect with top talent is just to message and reach out. To harness this feature in full you may benefit from a LinkedIn Premium account. However, you can still connect with anyone on LinkedIn and leave a little message explaining why you are reaching out.

• Branch out and boost your network

Connecting with more people and keeping in the loop with their updates is a great idea. While connecting with people who perfectly fit a role you’re looking for can be great, so can connecting with people in your industry who might be looking for a role in the future. Making a name for yourself and growing a network can be invaluable, and LinkedIn is the perfect place to do just that!

• Post content that people want to engage with

As we mentioned at the start, LinkedIn is a GREAT place to share content. Why? Because the algorithm takes into account engagement and engagement velocity as key factors. This means that if you post something relevant and interesting that many people like and comment on quickly, your post can skyrocket. 

Consider having a content strategy in place that enables you to become a thought leader in your space, and share content that will allow you to reach more people in an engaging manner.

Not keen on becoming a LinkedIn expert yourself? Look to the professionals

Many people are keen to learn how to use LinkedIn for recruitment, and want to start finding new candidates themselves. However, some companies find that their recruitment needs are too great to use LinkedIn as their sole recruitment method.

It can be a great supplementary tool, when used alongside professional recruitment services like BorderlessMind. Working with professionals allows you to seek out the best talent to fill gaps within your company. 

With more people becoming wise to the benefits of working with contractors vs employees, it can be hugely beneficial to partner with outsourcing companies to reach the best talent.