Do you want to get headhunted on LinkedIn? This article will outline the reasons to have a strong LinkedIn profile. It will also show you how to optimize your profile to get headhunted on LinkedIn.
Why have a LinkedIn profile?
Did you know that 89% of HR and recruitment professionals use Linkedin to hire job applicants? (Jobvite 2013). Another study from the Society for Human Resource Management in states that 77% of companies are using social networks to recruit their staff. This is up from 56% in 2011. Social media recruiting is gowing and here to stay.
I started off working in agency recruitment back in 2007. Back then, LinkedIn wasn’t as important as it is now. Companies and agencies mostly used job-boards to find candidates. Candidates were not headhunted on LinkedIn. The problem of only using adversiting was that the candidate pool was limited to active jobseekers. This accounts for only 10% of the overall workforce (ibid). It makes sense for recruiters to tap into that 90% market of non-active workforce. LinkedIn now has a user base of 400 million cumulative members. Recruiters are now going to social media as first point of call. Candidates are getting headhunted on LinkedIn more than ever.
Why is this important?
LinkedIn has over 18,000 organisations actively paying monthly subscription fees in order to use the LinkedIn recruiter tools. For an internal recruiter, the advantage of using LinkedIn is that they can search for exactly the skills they want. They can approach the only candidate profiles they want. They don’t have to sift through a whole inbox full of online applicants. Another advantage the cost of using LinkedIn. It is generally much lower than paying an external recruitment agency a 15%-20% finders fee.
When I worked in Google, the company had organised ‘sourcing sessions’. A team of internal recruiters would sit down in a room at a scheduled time each week and spend time searching LinkedIn. We searched by keywords and approached relevant candidates. LinkedIn is the go-to place for recruiters to find candidates. Having a relevant optimized profile will increase your chances of getting headhunted on LinkedIn.
But I will get spammed all the time…
A common complaint from LinkedIn users is: “I signed up a while back, entered the basic information on my profile, but now I am bombarded with spam messages from recruitment agencies offering me jobs that don’t even match my skills”. Does this sound familiar? Unfortunately this can be a part of the territory. CIPD and Hays held a study in 2013 and found that while companies were using social network recruiting, many were not training their staff effectively. While there may be some spam emails from lazy recruiters, there are also lot of genuine skilled recruiters connecting with relevant opportunities. The more optimized your LinkedIn profile is with the relevant keywords, the more likely you will be to recieve relevant messages. (most of the time anyway!)
So How to I do optimize my LinkedIn profile to get headhunted?
The first thing you need to do is ensure that your profile has the relevant keywords . Once the recruiter finds your profile, you will want them to keep reading. Have relevant content on your profile that fits the the job you want to be found for. Remember that in most cases, the recruiter will not see your CV or resume until AFTER they see your LinkedIn. Treat your Linkedin profile with just as much importance as your CV.
Optimizing your profile to get headhunted on LinkedIn:
- 100% complete: Get your profile 100% complete. This includes your headline, summary, experience and qualifications
- Accomplishment oriented: Keep your summary accomplishment-oriented. Highlight your achievements rather than your duties. Quantify the impact of your work.
- Keywords: Recruiters find your profile by searching on keywords. For example, they could use a search string such as: “(software-developer OR programmer) AND (c++ OR java)”. You need to include ‘C++’ to get found for C++ searches.
- Shortened URL: There is an option to shorten the url of your profile to make it more manageable and SEO friendly. Here is my shortened URL https://ie.linkedin.com/in/jamesbyrne
- Detailed work experience: Many LinkedIn profiles only include the place of work and the dates. They contain no experience details. Include enough information so that the recruiter can see what you have actually worked on.
- Projects: It is useful to include some links to projects you have worked on, particularly if your are a programmer or freelancer.
- Education and Qualifications: This is important to fill in, many companies search by university or course title.
- Skills and endorsements: It is useful to get endorsed for the skills you are strongest in. It helps the recruiter to decide what area you are strongest in.
- Connections: It is important to connect with people in your industry doing similar jobs to you. When a recruiter looks at a profile, there is an option to view similar profiles.
- Profile picture: Include a picture on your profile, it makes the profile stand out more. Choose a picture that looks professional.
- Recommendations: Having a couple of recommendations for each job you have worked in builds credibility. There is no need to go overboard though.
Written by James Byrne, Career Coach at Make It Happen Careers. For personalised advice on building your or optimizing your LinkedIn profile, call James on 087 2429533 or email james@makeithappen.ie