Wondering how to find the very best people on LinkedIn? In this article we’ll show you 5 ways for optimising your LinkedIn headhunting and recruitment process to find and entice the right people fast.
There are 42.9 million UK users on LinkedIn, around 11% of the total population, making it one of the most popular networking sites online. With so many people on the platform, it can be difficult to know who to target as part of a headhunting process, and if individuals are rarely responding to messages on LinkedIn, given the sheer volume of recruitment and sales enquiries, LinkedIn recruiters will have to think more creatively about their strategies.
Headhunting on LinkedIn can be an arduous task if you don’t use a targeted recruitment strategy. Here, we’ll look at how to make your LinkedIn headhunting process more effective, transforming your connections into referrals and hires using 5 simple techniques:
01
Use your LinkedIn company page as a brand-building noticeboard
02
Connect with industry insiders in LinkedIn Groups
03
Use Boolean search to optimise your LinkedIn recruitment strategy
04
View LinkedIn profiles in Private Mode
05
Screen your pre-interview candidates using YOONO
Read on to discover how to ace your LinkedIn recruitment game, and pick up tips for how to headhunt outstanding talent and background screen candidates before you even reach out.
01 - Use your LinkedIn company page as a brand-building noticeboard
It’s amazing how many proactive recruitment agencies and businesses don’t actually have an up-to-date LinkedIn company page. Direct messaging individuals won’t equate to much if they can’t see what’s been happening lately at your company, and a page that is rarely updated can put off prospective candidates looking you up.
You should consider your company page as a noticeboard for everything that’s going on with your business, keeping it updated with articles, job updates and industry tips. It’s also a showcase for your brand, giving visitors an insight into your company culture and employee lifestyle. If your recruitment agency has a friendly work culture, for example, make sure to post about your weekly team brunches, and dropping in industry-specific article links will also add to the authority of your brand.
Aim to make your LinkedIn company page relevant, inspiring and maintain an active presence, replying to comments and engaging with people both within and outside of your company. Try posting along these themes:
Employee testimonials and interviews, plus client reviews.
‘A Day in the Life’ style videos, giving people a taster of what it might be like to work at the company.
Industry-relevant blog articles and interesting industry statistics to get a conversation going.
Job openings at your company, sister companies or client businesses.
Casual photos and videos that show team events, away days and networking activities.
Press releases, to keep your page fresh and relevant with the latest news.
02 - Connect with industry insiders in LinkedIn Groups
The best headhunting LinkedIn has to offer is likely in LinkedIn Groups. Groups attract members interested or working in a particular industry or industry sector, and represent a more engaged and specific audience for the savvy LinkedIn headhunter.
If you’re looking for experienced professionals to fill a particular role or join a specialised company, you can simply join a LinkedIn Group to network with people who are passionate about a shared topic. Whether it’s a scientific sector or an academic network, LinkedIn recruiters can expect to find the right people fast if they can network in groups effectively. Observe these tips to make LinkedIn Groups a strategy that works for your headhunting process:
Go into Members and choose See All to be able to message any group member, allowing you to directly reach out to relevant candidates.
Read up on the topic that bring the group together, and formulate posts and messages that address this specifically, rather than writing generically about job openings.
Use the members list as a base point for exploring their other connections, giving you access to the companies and networks they frequently engage with.
Avoid posting too many job openings, as LinkedIn Groups often have rules about spamming members.
03 - Use Boolean search to optimise your LinkedIn recruitment strategy
Did you know that you can use LinkedIn’s unassuming search bar to really ace your headhunting process in recruitment? LinkedIn search offers sophisticated functionality if you use Boolean search, which involves combining keywords with AND, NOT and OR to pinpoint what you’re looking for.
You’ll need a focussed list of keywords to work with first, which can be sourced from the job titles, locations, companies and skills featured on the profiles of the type of candidates you want to search for. You can also combine keywords taken from job postings or industry blogs to finesse your results further. For example, you can use AND to combine keywords together, such as “lawyer AND employment AND ELA”, or use NOT to exclude a term from your search results to really narrow down what you’re looking for, such as “UX NOT developer”.
All you need to do is go to LinkedIn’s search options and start filtering through your results. You’ll also get suggested search terms under ‘Try searching for’ as you type, which might bring up some fresh search ideas.
04 - View LinkedIn profiles in Private Mode
When looking up potential candidates, you can view a profile without notifying the person by switching on LinkedIn Private Mode. This is a good LinkedIn headhunting strategy when you want to assess lots of individuals’ profiles without alerting them.
Go to Settings & Privacy > Profile viewing options, and select Private View from the dropdown menu. Under Private Mode you can still see a candidate’s:
Qualifications, recommendations and endorsements
LinkedIn activity
Connections
Current job role and company
Past job roles
Group memberships
Private Mode is a good way to learn more about someone’s professional life before approaching them, and avoids giving the candidate the sense that they’ve already been spied on when you do eventually approach them!
05 - Screen your pre-interview candidates using YOONO
When you’re aware that you may be headhunted for a job on LinkedIn, it’s unlikely you’ll be looking to share everything an employer would be unfavourable towards on your LinkedIn profile. Unsurprisingly, LinkedIn users put their best foot forward on the platform, meaning you’re likely to see positive endorsements and achievements rather than career gaps or job roles that didn’t work out so well.
If you’re recruiting LinkedIn candidates for senior roles or sensitive industries in which complete transparency is all-important, headhunting a candidate based solely on the information they share on their LinkedIn profile is not going to cut the mustard. Before you even get in touch with a LinkedIn candidate, you can background screen the individual to get a wider picture of their online presence, and see if their qualifications stack up with the information they have on their profile.
A tool like YOONO allows you to perform super-fast screening searches in minutes. Simply type in the name of the individual, identify a match and a thorough report will be generated that covers the person’s social media use (including any flagged content employers might need to be aware of), media coverage, related people and financial information connected with their associated companies. It’s a quick and easy way to make sure you really know who you’re talking to, before you even send them a message on LinkedIn.
Why not try YOONO today and see how it could fit into your headhunting process? Benefit from 5 free reports credited directly to your new account when you sign up. No credit card required.
Conclusion: How to Headhunt on LinkedIn More Effectively
Where do recruiters find candidates—the right candidates—on LinkedIn? The social networking site for professionals has revolutionised how people engage with others within and outside their industry, but it can be a difficult nut to crack for recruiters looking to streamline their headhunting strategies.
With the helpful recruitment tips above in mind, you can make a strong start with optimising your LinkedIn recruitment methods, making how you find, research and connect with candidates more effective. By following a process of keeping your company profile activity updated, using LinkedIn Groups and Boolean search to find more specialised candidates, and researching individuals using Private Mode and background screening tools like YOONO, you’ll be sure to headhunt only the very best!
