How to Source Candidates Using LinkedIn

In 2022, LinkedIn is one of the best online platforms for talent hunting. It harbors more than 800 million users, giving access to the largest global workforce. Moreover, it works like a social media platform tailor-made for career-oriented and business professionals, making it an excellent go-to network for niche professionals. And above all, it is optimized for candidate sourcing and recruiting.

Did you know?

• 95% of recruiters are looking for their candidates on LinkedIn.
• A study says that 35.5 million people have been hired by a person they are connected to through LinkedIn.
• Three people are hired every minute through LinkedIn.

So, if you are looking to find candidates through LinkedIn, you have landed at the right place.

Best practices to find candidates through LinkedIn

1. Search for active candidates using keywords
2. Make your profile searchable by making it keyword rich
3. Keep promoting your organization and the job title
4. Be proactive in networking
5. Top LinkedIn features for recruiters
6. Create a job posting with a suitable job description

Search for Active Candidates using keywords

Keywords play a crucial role in making your search effort to locate a candidate successfully. While choosing keywords, include:

• The job title
• Relevant words from the job description
• Educational qualification
• The core skillsets required to fulfil the job opening
• You can also use the name of the respective industry

For instance, if you are looking for a Backend Developer, you can use the job title “backend developer” as your primary keyword. Along with that, you can use the essential skill sets such as “Java,” “PHP,” “C++,” or “Ruby” one by one or by using “AND,” “OR,” and “NOT” Boolean operators depending on the job requirements. Here you can also use the name of the industry, “Information Technology,” as one of your keywords.

Example: If you are looking for a Backend developer with four skillsets, your search operator will be as given below.

Backend developer AND (“JAVA” OR “PHP” OR “RUBY” OR “C++”)

Here it is important to note that we cannot use more than six keywords and five Boolean operators.

Make Your Profile Searchable by Making it Keyword-rich

While you optimize your search efforts to find the best candidate for a specific role, it is equally important to keep your profile noticeable and easily searchable using keywords. For instance, if you are a recruiter in the oil and gas industry, make sure to add keywords such as “recruiter,” “oil and gas,” “HR manager,” etc., on your profile description and search term. You can also add your previous job titles, areas of expertise, products and services associated with your work, specific industry-specific details, and location, enabling people from your niche to easily find you.

When you come across profiles with relevant job titles and skill sets, make sure to follow, try getting follow backs, and start building connections, as this is an excellent way to build a passive candidate pool to whom you can sell your future job openings.

Keep promoting your organization and the job title

Sometimes it isn't easy to find relevant candidates; instead, interested jobseekers can find you using the company name. Also, keep promoting the company you are working for, as LinkedIn is an excellent platform to showcase your company culture. And if you are an independent recruiter actively looking for suitable candidates, then make sure to create and share posts along with relevant hashtags from the job description for the position you are working for. And, you can showcase your field of expertise and establish yourself as a hiring expert, which results in more candidates applying through you.

Become a creator and share relevant posts

Creating and sharing relevant posts is an excellent way to engage prospective candidates. It also helps you build your audience, credibility, and personal branding as a talent acquisition professional.

Be proactive in networking

Always encourage candidates to reach out to you by sending and replying to messages whenever required, starting and participating in a fruitful comment box discussion, and participating in LinkedIn webinars and live sessions. You can also add your contact details, such as an official phone number and email Id, so interested candidates can directly reach out to you.

Join a community where you can build professional connections with your fellow recruiters. By this you could potentially increase your connections and share candidate referrals where each successful hire could be rewarded.

Top LinkedIn Features for Recruiters

1. Set your profile status as “Hiring”.
2. Enable LinkedIn creator mode as the “Follow” button will start showing up on your profile.
3. Use LinkedIn Recruiter mode, where you can use the “Find more people like...” option.
4. Use the “People also viewed feature” for the company page to scout interested candidates.
5. Keep a note of the list of people who viewed your profile.
6. Use “open to new opportunities” and other social profile tags as keywords and filters.
7. Utilize “Easy Apply” feature to encourage more applicants.

Create Job Postings with a Suitable Job Description

Creating a job posting is key. You can opt for paid job postings or a free job post through your company page, personal profile, or LinkedIn groups. An essential part of creating a job posting is to create a suitable job description that can quickly sell the open requisition.

Keep the job title clear and specific in a job description and cover all the critical job responsibilities. The job description should also contain a brief description of the company where you can cover the type of business and a glimpse of the organizational goals and positively display a tinge of the company culture. You can start immediately by making use of readymade job description templates.

To Sum up

Talent acquisition for any organization is like finding a needle from a haystack. But, for a recruiter who works for an organization's hiring goals, it is like trying to acquire a bunch of golden needles from different haystacks. Moreover, candidate sourcing is one of the most challenging steps in the talent acquisition process. Implementing the best strategies for talent sourcing using LinkedIn is undoubtedly an effective way to acquire and retain top talents.