3 Simple Strategies to Tap a Different Pool of Talent:
LinkedIn reports that they currently have more than 238 million members worldwide and the majority of those members list their past and current job titles, experience, and skills right on their profile—so with all that said, it should be easy to find top talent for your open positions, right?
Wrong! Just because there are millions of people on LinkedIn, and just because most of them are advertising their skills and experience, doesn’t mean you’re going to trip over your next rock star just by logging on.
In addition to the more than 238 million members, more than 3 million companies have LinkedIn Company Pages and a 2012 report by Bullhorn Reach, a social recruiting site, indicated 98% of recruiters currently use LinkedIn to help them find candidates.
The obvious issue here is that everyone and anyone is on LinkedIn.
So, how do you stand out? How do you set your company and your job posts apart from everyone else? How do you use LinkedIn to attract top talent?
Stop being lazy! Just searching LinkedIn profiles for candidates isn’t enough, not even close…
You probably already know the three things I’m about to tell you, and you probably already know they’re worth doing, but like so many of us, you get lazy—or too busy—to focus on them, or you just flat out don’t do them:
1. Make the job post POP: Anybody can copy and paste a link into their status box on LinkedIn… but that won’t get people’s attention. Take a few minutes to think of a compelling way to position your job post, what’s the biggest selling point of the job? How can you position your job description or status update as a sales pitch? Try focusing on the three key components of a job that will get you “clicks” versus “passes”: money, title, and location.
2. Create a BUZZ: We all know that two hands are better than one, so why wouldn’t you enlist your entire team to help drive candidate traffic to your job post? Everyone else is posting jobs on LinkedIn, but are they asking their teams to share the post with their own network and in their own groups? Doing so will increase the visibility of your post, exponentially.
3. Be ACTIVE: LinkedIn is more than a job board, it’s a social network, so don’t neglect the unique relationship building opportunities it offers. Simply posting open jobs in your status and inside of groups is like cold calling, nobody cares what you have to say, unless you have a meaningful relationship with them. Get involved in daily discussions with your contacts and actively participate in group discussions. This will not only help build trust and confidence in your brand, but it will also create opportunity to connect with more people. You never know who might know the perfect candidate for your job.
Taking a few minutes every week to focus on these three simple actions will position you and your organization more prominently on LinkedIn, thereby increasing the pool of talent you have to choose from, and ultimately making your job of finding your next rock star employee that much easier.