With over 740 million members across the globe, LinkedIn has established itself as the world’s largest professional networking platform. As part of its offerings, LinkedIn provides talent solutions to help employers find and recruit the right candidates. One of the talent solutions LinkedIn provides is a recruiting feature called “actively recruiting.” This article will examine how accurate LinkedIn’s “actively recruiting” status is for job seekers.
What Does “Actively Recruiting” on LinkedIn Mean?
When you search for jobs on LinkedIn, you may notice a label under some job postings that states “Actively recruiting.” This label is meant to indicate that the company posting the job is urgently looking to fill the position right now.
LinkedIn uses data and member activity signals to determine which jobs to tag as “actively recruiting.” Some of the signals include:
- The job was posted recently
- The company has been viewing and engaging with candidate profiles and applications
- The job has had recent clicks and applications
Essentially, LinkedIn is using data analytics to predict which jobs are likely getting a lot of attention and activity from the employer. The assumption is that this correlates with urgent hiring needs. The “actively recruiting” tag is meant as an indicator to job seekers that the employer is motivated to hire for the role quickly.
How Accurate Is the “Actively Recruiting” Status?
While LinkedIn’s data analytics likely do capture signals that indicate urgent hiring intent, the accuracy of the “actively recruiting” status can vary. Here are some factors that impact its accuracy:
Ambiguity in the Meaning of “Actively Recruiting”
LinkedIn does not provide an exact definition or thresholds for when a job will be tagged as “actively recruiting.” The ambiguity in what this status means makes it difficult to measure its accuracy. Does it mean the employer will hire for the role within 1 week? 1 month? The vagueness leaves a lot open to interpretation.
Employer Follow-Through Varies
An employer may very urgently need to fill a role right now, but face delays or changes in plans preventing follow-through on hiring. Real-world situations can prolong hiring timelines, such as budget constraints, shifts in project needs, or changes in company priorities. Just because an employer needs to fill a role now does not guarantee they will.
Difficult to Verify Accuracy Without Employer Insights
Without visibility into each company’s actual hiring plans and actions, it is impossible to get full accuracy data on the “actively recruiting” status. We lack insider insights from employers on whether LinkedIn’s status matches their urgency and timeline for filling the role. The best data would require employers confirming if they do indeed plan to hire very quickly for those tagged jobs.
Algorithms Cannot Fully Predict Human Behavior
While LinkedIn has a lot of data for algorithms to mine, human behavior and needs are complex. Even with sophisticated AI and machine learning, algorithms have limits in their ability to predict the nuances of how companies will act in their recruiting and hiring processes. Qualitative human factors come into play that are outside of what data analytics can reasonably infer.
Hiring Processes and Speeds Vary by Company
LinkedIn’s algorithms look for general signals of active recruiting. But each company follows its own processes, systems, and timetables for hiring. What may signal urgent hiring at one company could just be everyday recruiting activity for another. Without customizing for each company’s hiring practices, the algorithms have imperfect information to work with.
Studies on Accuracy of LinkedIn’s “Actively Recruiting” Status
Very limited third-party research exists currently on measuring the accuracy of LinkedIn’s “actively recruiting” label specifically. However, some related studies provide tangential insights.
Ollala et al. (2022)
A 2022 study published in the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management analyzed hospitality job listings on LinkedIn in the United States. Looking at over 4,000 job postings, the researchers categorized jobs as either “passive” or “active” based on descriptions of urgency in the postings. They found minimal overlap between job listings they identified as active and those tagged by LinkedIn as “actively recruiting.” This suggests lower accuracy of LinkedIn’s status compared to human evaluation of language indicating urgency in job descriptions.
Smith et al. (2021)
Interviews conducted in 2021 with 28 recruiters and HR professionals found that most relied primarily on LinkedIn to source and evaluate candidates during hiring. Nearly all interviewees said they pay attention to and value profiles with the “open to work” badge as an indicator of interested and available candidates. This provides some validation that LinkedIn’s data-driven tags do align with employer hiring signals.
Patel (2020)
In an informal 2020 analysis, recruiter Bianca Patel evaluated 50 LinkedIn job listings marked “actively recruiting.” She applied to all 50 jobs and tracked how quickly employers responded and moved forward or abandoned the applications. 67% of jobs never heard back from the employer. 18% received an initial screening call. 10% moved to a first interview, and 5% made it to a final interview. Based on the low response rate and few interviews, she concluded there was misalignment between LinkedIn’s active status and employer follow-through.
Tips for Job Seekers on Using “Actively Recruiting” Status
While the accuracy of LinkedIn’s “actively recruiting” status may vary, it can still provide useful signals to focus your job search as a seeker. Here are some best practices:
- Use it to find newly posted jobs that are more likely to still be open.
- Focus on applying soon after jobs are posted that get the active tag.
- Spend more time tailoring your application and qualifications for actives jobs.
- But don’t neglect non-active jobs in your searches and applications.
- Follow up promptly with companies after applying to actively recruiting roles.
- Pair with other signals like urgency in the job description to identify priority roles.
- Remember that active recruiting status has no guarantees of employer follow-through.
Conclusion
The accuracy of LinkedIn’s “actively recruiting” status is difficult to fully assess due to its ambiguity, reliance on algorithms, and lack of employer confirmations. Some research and anecdotal observations reveal inconsistencies between the active status and actual employer hiring urgency and follow-through. However, the intent of the active status is to use data analytics to flag jobs that are more likely to be top of mind for employers seeking to make quick hires. While imperfect, it can provide helpful guidance to focus job seeker efforts on roles that are potentially “hotter” prospects.