LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 690 million users worldwide. It’s an incredibly valuable platform for networking, finding jobs, connecting with business partners, and recruiting top talent.
One of the most powerful recruiting features on LinkedIn is the ability to create a group specifically for recruiting. A group recruiter allows you to connect with a targeted audience of potential candidates, build relationships, post jobs, search profiles, and message group members directly.
Creating a successful group recruiter does take some strategic planning and effort. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk through everything you need to know to create an engaging and active recruiter group on LinkedIn.
Benefits of Creating a LinkedIn Group for Recruiting
Here are some of the key advantages to using a LinkedIn group for recruiting:
Target and Connect with Specific Candidates
The main benefit of a group is the ability to target a very specific audience of potential job candidates based on criteria like location, education, skills, job titles, and interests. You can craft your group to appeal to precisely the types of members you want to recruit.
Build Connections and Community
A group allows you to create a community and engage with potential candidates regularly through discussions, comments, polls, and content sharing. You can strengthen connections and network organically.
Get Introduced to 2nd and 3rd Degree Connections
Your group members’ 1st degree connections will be visible to you as 2nd degree connections. This exponentially expands your reach for finding qualified candidates.
Increase Brand Awareness
A group with valuable discussions and content will organically increase awareness for your employer brand and open up new recruiting opportunities.
Post and Promote Job Openings
You can share job posts within the group feed and members will be notified. This allows you to precisely target relevant candidates.
Search Group Member Profiles
The group directory allows you to search member profiles for skills, experience, location and other attributes that match open positions. You can also filter and save searches.
Message Members Directly
As a group admin, you’re able to message members directly to ask if they’re interested in job opportunities. You can have 1:1 conversations to screen candidates.
Step 1 – Select Your Group Settings
When creating your LinkedIn recruiter group, the first step is to establish your initial group settings and preferences. Here are the key items to decide when setting up your group:
Group Name
Choose a name that is descriptive of the type of candidates you are looking to recruit. Include relevant keywords like job titles, skills, industries, and locations.
For example: UI/UX Designers – San Francisco Bay Area
Group Description
The description should provide an overview of the group’s purpose, ideal members, and value proposition. Be clear about the types of professionals and qualifications that are a fit.
Category
Select a category that aligns with your focus area like technology, accounting, healthcare, etc. This helps surface your group to the right members.
Audience
Define the audience for your group. You can select options like alumni of a certain university or employees of companies in a specific industry.
Membership
Choose between an open membership that anyone can join or closed membership requiring approval to join. Closed can be good for niche groups.
Posting Rights
Allow all members or only admins to post discussions, articles, jobs, Q&As, and comments within the group feed. Restricting posting builds quality.
Email Notifications
Select a frequency for group update emails like daily or weekly summaries. Choose none if you don’t want notifications sent.
Those are the key settings to define as you create the group. The next step is inviting members which we’ll cover next.
Step 2 – Invite Targeted Members to Join
The members that join your group are the lifeblood. That makes inviting relevant, high-quality members a crucial task when launching your recruiter group. Here are effective ways to get targeted professionals to join:
Invite Connections
Check your LinkedIn connections for anyone fitting your criteria and invite them to join individually. Personalized invites have higher acceptance rates.
Invite Company Followers
If you have an existing company page with followers, these are great candidates to invite in bulk using LinkedIn’s tools.
Invite Group Members
Look for existing groups related to your focus area and proactively invite some of their members who fit your criteria.
Share Group Links
Post invites and links to your group on your personal LinkedIn feed and relevant other groups you’re in to reach new members.
Leverage Paid Advertising
You can amplify your reach using LinkedIn’s self-serve ads to target very specific demographics with sponsored content leading them to join your group.
Offer Exclusive Content
Leverage your company’s existing content assets – like reports, research, webinars – to entice relevant professionals to join your group as a way to access exclusive content.
Use those member invitation tactics combined with engaging content and discussions to start growing your group’s membership. Quality is more important than quantity when building your audience so be selective.
Step 3 – Engage Members with Valuable Content
Content and activity are what keeps members returning and engaged. Use your group feed to share content and facilitate discussions aligned to your audience’s interests.
Here are some types of posts to make regularly:
Discussions
Pose questions, create polls, and ask for opinions to spark dialogue. Recruiting and career advice are topics that generally elicit responses.
Company/Job Updates
Share news about your company, open positions, achievements, events, and employee spotlights.
Industry Articles
Curate and share interesting industry news, trends, and insights from reputable sources. Content should be educational, not promotional.
Q&A
Host live or asynchronous Q&A sessions with your recruiters, hiring managers, senior leaders, or experts from your network.
Videos
Record short interviews with staff, facility tours, employee testimonials, or behind-the-scenes company footage. Videos bring engagement.
Spotlights
Showcase individual employees and their work. Let members get to know your team and culture.
Mix up your content formats and cadence – sharing 3-5 posts weekly is a good goal. Monitor what content resonates in terms of reactions, comments, and shares, then create more of that.
To save time, repurpose existing content you’ve already created on your company blog, social channels, and website.
Step 4 – Make the Most of LinkedIn Recruiting Tools
Once your foundation is built with settings, members, and content figured out, it’s time to leverage LinkedIn’s array of powerful recruiting tools. Integrate these features into your group to streamline processes.
Post Jobs
Share new job openings by posting directly to your group feed. Members will be notified about relevant opportunities.
Search Members
Use filters like location, years of experience, skills, and schools to find qualified members and initiate contact.
Store Candidate Leads
Keep track of promising members by saving them to project lead lists associated with open positions.
Message Members
Use in-platform messaging to have real-time communication with candidates right from your group.
Share Company Updates
Broadcast company news through mobile alert messages targeted to group members only.
Analyze Metrics
Utilize data like member growth, engagement, and job postings to understand performance and optimize efforts.
| Tool | How It Helps |
|---|---|
| Post Jobs | Increase awareness of openings among targeted members |
| Search Members | Discover qualified candidates based on criteria |
| Store Candidate Leads | Organize and manage promising prospects |
| Message Members | Enable direct communication to screen and engage |
| Share Company Updates | Keep your employer brand top of mind |
| Analyze Metrics | Identify what content and strategies are working |
Conclusion
Establishing a LinkedIn group for recruiting is one of the most effective ways to source talent, build genuine relationships, and keep your brand visible to potential candidates.
While it takes an investment of time and effort to create content, facilitate dialogue, and attract the right members, the long-term benefits are well worth it.
Just remember – build gradually, stay engaged with members, and integrate LinkedIn’s tools. If you maintain a useful group focused on providing value, you’ll have access to a thriving community of qualified, interested candidates for years to come.