Mar

07

LinkedIn Secrets to Success

By stevelowisz

Today, most of us in the talent acquisition space have a LinkedIn profile that we hope to leverage in order to find candidates for our open professional positions. What’s interesting, however, is how few recruiters actually leverage the full power of this social network.

As I travel the country working with agency and corporate recruiters alike, there is generally one common thread consistent in their use of LinkedIn – an attitude of “its all about me.”  Lets be honest, most of us search our networks with key words and titles, sent inmails and connection requests, and then pitch an open position.  Rarely do we apply marketing best practices to our use of LinkedIn in order to develop a real audience of potential candidates.

How big is it?

Neilson Online called LinkedIn “the world’s largest audience of affluent, influential professionals.”  The fact is that you can find more than 80 million professionals from more than 200 countries on LinkedIn. In general, LinkedIn’s population is highly educated – with more than 80% having a bachelor or graduate degree.  In addition, the average income of a LinkedIn user is about $108,000 per year, and more than 20% are senior level executives and managers.

If you really want to get a return on your LinkedIn investment, start by following these 5 steps.

#1: Don’t wait for them to come to you……

With access to 80 million profiles, why do only a small portion of recruiters consistently generate hires from LinkedIn?  The reason is simple, they expect to receive without spending any time giving. The typical recruiter identifies a profile through key word searches, title searches or even specific company searches, reaches out to the individual through InMail, and attempts to solicit interest or referrals. What these recruiters fail to keep in mind is that this is the same approach millions of recruiters use everyday, bombarding the same potential candidates with offers of “excellent opportunities” or requests for referrals.

If used properly, LinkedIn can help you network with the best and brightest in the disciplines that you support. If you build the right connections with the right people, the trickle down effect can bring new connections and new candidates.

#2: Engage with others…..

If you want a potential candidate to take the next step with you, you need to prove that you are worthy.  The best way to accomplish this is to get prospects engaged and show them you really know your industry and those disciplines that you recruit in.

Here are a few easy ways to get engaged with others on LinkedIn:

• Update you status message daily.  I don’t mean “Taking my dog for a walk,” or “heading to dinner with friends.”  Provide real, informative content that can help your prospective candidates.  Show them you understand their industry and that you may have solutions to their problems.
• Start debates within LinkedIn groups.  For example, one recruiter that I know likes to create article topics such as, “is the PMP designation for Senior Program Management executives really necessary?”  These discussions have helped him gain social proof from those that support his ideas – those that have their PMP designation and are his candidate target!  For those that disagree with him, it has provided a great discussion panel that eventually expands his target audience.
• Consistently provide tips, tools, resources, video and articles, and distributes them through the appropriate groups you belong to.
• Answer questions on the Q&A boards and within the different groups you belong to. This will demonstrate your experience and help you become credible in the functional areas you support and recruit for.
• Have a complete profile that includes polls, videos for your blog feed and PowerPoint presentations.  Using the publications application, post your e-books, articles, and other publications related to the space you recruit for.

#3: Take advantage of groups…..

Take advantage of the fact that LinkedIn lets you join up to 50 groups. Joining appropriate user and industry groups gives you the opportunity to network, join conversations and show potential candidates that you understand their industry. Unfortunately, most recruiters do not utilize this tool in order to reach potential candidates, but when they do, they often make 2 mistakes:

1. They become part of a group but fail to actually participate.  How can you expect potential candidates to come to you the next time their boss pisses them off if you don’t take the time to make yourself heard?
2. They  primarily join groups where there are other recruiters. Which makes more sense; to belong to a group that is full of your competition or full of potential candidates?  It is obvious to me that you would want to be in the same place as the candidates you seek, but too many recruiters fail to think outside the box and strictly join groups based on their field of expertise.

#4: Create a Community on LinkedIn…..

Another way to take advantage of LinkedIn groups is to create your own! This is an opportunity to create your own community of followers. As you are the one in charge of the content posted, you can make sure that your message is heard by the right audience.

From my experience, many group members religiously check what is being discussed in their groups.  Why can’t your group be one of the them?

#5: Consistently create and distribute content…..

One talented recruiter I know, who recruits primarily in the consumer distribution industry, belongs to 50 associated LinkedIn groups. Imagine how many people she can reach if each of these groups has 1,000 members. That’s 50,000 potential candidates or referral sources she can possibly connect with just by spending a few minutes posting content, as often as she likes. That’s one reason her connections increased by 34% in the last month alone!

Are you really ready to start taking advantage of all the networking, relationship-building and candidate producing opportunities LinkedIn has to offer?