LinkedIn recruiter is an incredibly powerful tool for sourcing, engaging, and hiring top talent for your organization. However, with so many features and options, it can be overwhelming for new users to leverage LinkedIn recruiter most effectively. Here are some tips on how to get the most out of LinkedIn recruiter and streamline your hiring process.
Optimize Your LinkedIn Recruiter Profile
Your LinkedIn recruiter profile is your first impression to potential candidates. Take the time to fully build out your profile with a professional photo, detailed work experience, skills, education, and recommendations. This gives you credibility and helps position you as an expert in your field. In your summary, clearly explain your current role, core responsibilities, and the types of candidates you typically recruit. This helps attract qualified prospects that are a potential match for open roles.
Expand Your LinkedIn Network
A broader LinkedIn network equals a wider talent pool to source candidates from. Connect with colleagues, clients, vendors, group members, alumni, and other professionals in your industry. Engage with their content by liking, commenting, and sharing to build rapport. You can then leverage your expanded network by searching it for potential candidates as opportunities arise. Aim to gradually grow your network over time for an ongoing passive sourcing pipeline.
Follow Target Companies
Following companies you want to recruit from enables you to stay on top of their latest news, announcements, employees, jobs, and more. This insight helps you identify rising talent, engaged employees worth targeting, referral opportunities, and openings that may not be formally advertised yet. Follow a mix of your existing client base, prospects you want to build relationships with, competitors you want to keep an eye on, and companies your dream candidates may come from.
Craft a Compelling Recruiter Profile
Your recruiter profile is often the first touchpoint for candidates to learn about your company and open role. Make sure it aligns with your company brand and conveys your culture, values, mission, and employer value proposition. Include details on benefits, perks, training, career growth, work environment, and community outreach. Using rich media like photos, videos, employee spotlights, and content articles helps bring your employer brand to life. This profile is essentially your sales pitch to woo candidates, so ensure it paints an enticing picture.
Leverage LinkedIn Recruiter Segments
One of the most powerful LinkedIn recruiter features is Recruiter segments, which allow you to define specific candidate criteria and save these segments to continuously source new prospects. For example, you can target candidates by geography, years of experience, skills, job titles, company size, industry, groups, interests, schools, and more. Curate a diverse mix of niche segments that map to open roles or commonly hired for positions. Check them frequently for a steady stream of qualified, passive candidates in your pipeline.
Enable LinkedIn Recruiter Alerts
LinkedIn recruiter alerts notify you when new prospects matching your search criteria are added to the platform. You can set up alerts for searches, segments, projects, companies, and more. This allows you to act quickly and contact high potential candidates before the competition. Focus alerts on your most urgent hiring needs and talent in high demand. Alerts are an effortless way to source passively without constant searching and keep your pipeline replenished.
Search LinkedIn with Boolean Operators
Boolean search operators like AND, OR and NOT allow you to conduct much more targeted searches of LinkedIn to surface better candidates. For example, you can search for candidates with skill A AND skill B. Or candidates with job title X OR job title Y. NOT excludes certain keywords or companies from your search. Learn how to combine these operators with parentheses for complex searches. Start with core must-have criteria, then layer on nice-to-have keywords. Boolean searching yields higher quality results.
Leverage LinkedIn Recruiter’s Search Filters
Applying filters to your LinkedIn Recruiter searches further refines results to candidates who best match the position. Filter by years of experience, company, location, date joined LinkedIn, school, field of study, and more. Layer filters in sequence to drill down incrementally. Start broad then narrow in as needed. Useful filters for sourcing include Current Company, Past Company, School, and Time Filters like Joined LinkedIn and Years of Experience. Recruiter filters help remove unqualified candidates easily.
Message Candidates Through InMail
InMail allows you to directly contact candidates through LinkedIn messaging to gauge their potential interest and fit. Use InMail to personalize your outreach when actively sourcing high priority talent. Customize each message to the candidate’s background and emphasize how their skills and experience align to the role. Make your outreach conversational and include questions to spark a dialogue. InMail establishes direct contact with passive candidates open to new opportunities they may not be visibly seeking.
Promote Open Roles with Easy Apply
Easy Apply allows candidates to instantly submit their LinkedIn profile as their application with one click. Promote open roles across your LinkedIn network and groups with Easy Apply to tap into relevant talent quickly. The frictionless application minimizes drop-off from longer application forms. Easy Apply positions you as an employer valuing convenience and candidate experience. You gain access to candidates’ rich LinkedIn profiles during screening.
Export LinkedIn Profiles to Your ATS
Seamlessly export candidate LinkedIn profiles into your applicant tracking system rather than manually entering their information. This saves massive amounts of time and reduces data errors that can occur with duplicate entry. Many modern ATS platforms offer integration with LinkedIn Recruiter to enable one-click profile exporting. If yours doesn’t, use the LinkedIn Recruiter Chrome Extension for exporting profiles in bulk.
Integrate LinkedIn with Your Career Site
Integrating LinkedIn Recruiter with your career site enables seamless sharing of open jobs and smooth application flows. Candidates can initiate applications on LinkedIn then complete them on your site. Job postings on your careers page can also populate with LinkedIn listings through the integration. This makes it easy for candidates to learn about openings then apply instantly. The connectivity provides a unified, omnichannel recruitment experience.
Promote Your Company Page and Job Posts
Actively promote open roles and your company by sharing job posts, status updates, articles, images, and videos on your LinkedIn Company Page. Engage followers by posting job openings, employee features, company news, event promotions, thought leadership content, and more. Use sponsored updates to further boost the reach of priority posts. This expands visibility of your employer brand and open positions to new audiences.
Publish Targeted Articles
Publishing articles on LinkedIn provides a canvas to demonstrate your company’s thought leadership, capabilities, values, and industry expertise. Write articles that engage the types of candidates you aim to attract. Promote these posts within your network and via sponsored content. Articles let you showcase domain authority, while conveying your employer brand’s strengths and culture. They position your company as a credible destination candidates should aspire to work for.
Participate in LinkedIn Groups
Join LinkedIn Groups relevant to your industry, vertical, roles, or target candidate segments. Once a member, participate by sharing professional insights, resources, job openings, and content. Position yourself as an expert and engage group members in meaningful ways. Groups provide access to narrowed, highly targeted candidate communities. They are fertile talent pools to source from and build relationships with as an engaged member.
Follow Company Insider Trends
Gain insider intelligence on companies you recruit from by following their LinkedIn Company Pages. News of promotions, new hires, expansions, awards, and developments provide clues on rising talent to pursue and changes occurring internally. This can alert you to gaps or needs to fill at the company. Tapping their own employees for referrals is also smarter with internal insight. Competitor news similarly helps you track movements in your industry.
Research Candidates Before Outreach
Research prospects thoroughly before any outreach to understand their background and determine their potential fit. Review their LinkedIn profile and activity to assess skills, roles, accomplishments, growth trajectory, passions, influence, connections, and impact. This context helps you customize messaging and shape discussions. Check for compatibilities or red flags before investing time pursuing a candidate. Research provides the insight needed to effectively engage candidates.
Make warm introductions
Securing a warm introduction or referral for a coveted candidate goes a long way versus cold outreach. Scout your network for contacts who know the prospect and could provide a personal endorsement. This familiarity establishes trust and gets your foot in the door. Even if you lack a direct mutual connection, you can highlight colleagues, employers, schools, or groups you have in common to show alignment. A warm outreach through common ground converts much better.
Showcase Your Authentic Culture
Demonstrating authentic culture and employee experience helps candidates envision working for your company. Share photos, videos, testimonials, and content that pulls back the curtain on real work life at your organization. Showcase events, training, benefits, camaraderie, values in actions, and programs. Highlight diversity and inclusion initatives. erf Stories and spotlights should come directly from actual employees, not marketing fluff. This level of transparency helps candidates determine their fit.
Build Talent Communities
Talent communities are curated groups of prospects who opt in for updates about your company. Nurture these candidate relationships via personalized content about job openings, company news, leadership perspectives, behind-the-scenes looks, and more. This engages prospects pre-hire and provides a pipeline to tap as opportunities arise. Talent communities foster brand advocates who refer others. They provide richer data insights to refine your sourcing approach.
Consider Diversity
Seek diversity in your sourcing and remove any biases that could lead to only engaging homogenous candidates. Consider underrepresented groups, hidden talent markets, and non-traditional candidates. Review language in job posts to ensure it appeals to all candidates and reflects inclusive values. Expanding beyond conventional recruitment channels and communities can unlock untapped talent pools and enrich your team’s perspectives.
Make Applying Easy
Reduce application friction through Easy Apply, auto-populated forms, minimal steps, and mobile-friendly interfaces. Complex apply processes that force candidates to manually enter extensive information will drive promising talent away. Meet candidates where they are already engaged, like LinkedIn. Convenience and speed attract today’s in-demand talent accustomed to one-click interactions. Applying to your roles should be as simple as possible.
Act Fast with Automated Workflows
Automate repetitive administrative recruitment tasks through LinkedIn Recruiter and your ATS to act quickly when sourcing and engaging candidates. Use templates for commonly sent messages. Automate candidate status changes, file moving, tagging, reminders, and notes. Set up rejection letter workflows. Configuring rules and triggers enables you to focus time on high-value strategic tasks, not tedious logistics.
Track and Measure Results
Leverage LinkedIn Recruiter’s reporting capabilities to track key recruiting metrics like candidates sourced, hired candidates’ sources, time-to-hire, pipeline health, open requisition status, and more. Analyze this data to identify what sourcing strategies, jobs, segments, skills, and channels yield the highest quality candidates. Feed these insights back into your approach. Continually refining your recruiting process improves results over time.
Stay on Top of Market Trends
Monitor real-time labor market insights through LinkedIn Talent Solutions to understand trends in hiring demand, candidate availability, compensation, hard and soft skills sought, and more. This intelligence informs which roles and skills to target in sourcing, creative approaches to access scarce talent, competitive compensation packages needed to attract talent, relevant training to invest in, and shifts on the horizon.
Be a Consultative Business Partner
Partner closely with hiring managers to consult on their talent needs and challenges. Discuss must-have qualifications versus nice-to-haves. Advise on realistic requirements and timelines given market dynamics. Offer creative sourcing strategies tailored to their role. Provide insights on compensation and interviewing tips. Being a strategic advisor builds trust and shared commitment to find amazing talent together.
Cultivate Referral Programs
Referrals provide a quality pipeline of pre-vetted candidates from current employees. Cultivate referral programs by sharing open roles across your company network, offering referral incentives and rewards, training employees how to effectively refer, and tracking program metrics. Follow up promptly on every referral. Candidates want to know their referral was appreciated. Referral programs incentivize the entire company to source talent on your behalf.
Promote Employer Branding on the Network
Engage employees company-wide to share content on LinkedIn that spotlights your employer brand, culture, values, mission, and impact. This expands your brand reach beyond the recruiting team alone. Employees can post about achievements, initiatives, events, job openings, onboarding, trainings, and day-in-the-life previews. This authentic advocacy converts candidates more than polished marketing messaging ever could.
Showcase Employee Advocacy
Amplify employee voices sharing their experience working at your company. Reshare user-generated content from staff illustrating culture, values, career growth, accomplishments, and work environments. Through comments, likes, and feed posts, emphasize that these are real employees, not actors or models. This raw advocacy directly from workers has tremendous influence on how candidates perceive your employer brand.
Monitor Reviews and Reputation
Keep a pulse on your employer brand reputation by monitoring online reviews on sites like Glassdoor and Comparably. Address any negative feedback head on to mitigate damage. Respond professionally clarifying misinformation. Take constructive criticism as an opportunity improve. Also highlight positive reviews through social media and job posts. A transparent view of your employer brand boosts candidate confidence.
Showcase Career Advancement
Candidates seek opportunities to progress professionally, not stagnate. Demonstrate the career advancement and internal mobility possible at your company. Highlight employee promotion stories, training programs, and career paths on LinkedIn. Outline options like cross-training, leadership programs, mentorship, tuition reimbursement, and workshop series. Retention and referrals improve when staff see ongoing career development.
Keep Pipeline Warm with Nurture Sequences
Set up nurture messaging sequences through your ATS to regularly engage new prospects and previously sourced candidates that warrant further nurturing. Send tailored content like skills guides, event invites, culture spotlights, leadership perspectives, and industry articles over time. Mix promotional messaging with value-add content. Nurturing sustains contact and keeps you top of mind for future roles.
Weigh Cultural Add as Much as Skills
Consider candidate cultural fit as much as technical abilities. Assess soft skills, emotional intelligence, collaboration style, capacity for empathy, integrity, work ethic, and attitude. Probe their priorities, passions, and motivations during interviews. Will they embody your values? Cultural mismatch leads to turnover and toxicity. Skills can be taught more easily than intrinsic character traits.
Sell the Vision
In your outreach emphasize the greater vision, purpose and impact of roles over mundane day-to-day tasks. Paint a picture of how candidates’ contributions can influence outcomes and advance strategic goals. Convey your mission, values, and community impact. Candidates want remote work opportunities, but also crave meaningful work. Communicate the “why” behind what you do to inspire talent.
Prioritize the Candidate Experience
From first touch to onboarding, ensure every candidate interaction reflects your employer brand values. Be respectful of candidates’ time with streamlined, mobile-friendly applications. Communicate promptly and professionally. Avoid recruiter ghosting. Conduct organized interviews. Follow up post-interviews. Even if unsuccessful, leave candidates with a positive impression that keeps your company top of mind.
Conclusion
Mastering LinkedIn Recruiter is crucial to unlocking access to the breadth of talent available on the platform. Following these tips will empower you to source more strategically, engage candidates authentically, and ultimately deliver remarkable hiring results. Remember to continually assess and improve your approach based on data and market trends. With the right expertise, LinkedIn Recruiter can transform how you attract and acquire top talent.