How to Recruit on LinkedIn: 10 Tips to Hire the Right People

If you’re not yet using LinkedIn to recruit staff for your business, you’re missing out on a world of opportunity. LinkedIn has 810 million members across the globe.  According to LinkedIn statistics, 49 million people look for jobs on LinkedIn each week and six people are hired on the platform every minute of the day. 

Social media connects people and LinkedIn connects professionals. It is one of the few places where you can boast about your career achievements and get away with it. This makes LinkedIn the perfect place to find talent. 

hire on linkedin

Why You Should Hire on LinkedIn

Two decades after LinkedIn launched as a social media platform for professionals, it has become one of the biggest recruitment platforms on earth. Here are the reasons why so many businesses hire on LinkedIn

• Many of the world’s most talented people have profiles on LinkedIn and use the platform to share opinions and other content. So, recruitment agencies and other businesses have access to many talented candidates across a range of industries.
• Recruiters can research candidates using LinkedIn individual profiles.
• Business owners and managers find professional referrals on LinkedIn.
• LinkedIn allows businesses to advertise job postings on the platform free of charge.

Tips on How to Recruit on LinkedIn

LinkedIn has many benefits for the savvy recruiter. How successful you are at recruiting the right candidates for your vacant positions will vary according to how well you use the platform. Here are our tips on using LinkedIn to find the best talent for your company. 

1. Create or Update your Company Profile 

If you don’t yet have a company profile, it’s time to create one. It’s not difficult and it’s free of charge. 

Your company page should define your brand. It is a powerful marketing tool so you should put some thought and effort into deciding what image you want to project. 

If you plan to hire on LinkedIn, this is the place to be seen. Your profile should highlight what makes you different from other companies. It should be the place where employees can connect. 

It is here that you showcase your company’s contribution to the industry. Highlight your industry knowledge and professionalism to establish your expertise and the trust of candidates considering a career move.

The updates and content on your company profile should attract followers and ensure that you appear in search results. Make sure that potential candidates know when you’re hiring. If you have a career page on your website, you should include a link to it. 

LinkedIn claims that most people who follow a company page are interested in working for the company. When you post job listings on your company profile you attract the interest of these people. 

2. Encourage Your Employees to Keep Their Profiles Updated

Encourage your employees to sign up and post relevant content on LinkedIn. It’s a sure way of growing brand awareness across employee networks. Employees who share career success and company experiences create a picture of life in your business. Good news stories are great for the business all year round. When you’re hiring, they’re crucial in attracting interested candidates. 

3. Post Jobs that Attract the Best Candidates

The recruitment of the best candidates for a job starts with the job post. Your job description and requirements must be clear and unambiguous or you will attract applications from people who don’t qualify.  

Describe the roles and responsibilities in language that the target audience can understand. Avoid jargon and acronyms that be confusing.  

Make sure that your job posting stands out and attracts attention. There are 77 job postings loaded onto LinkedIn every second of the day. Don’t let your posting get lost in the crowd. 

4. Join Industry-Specific groups

You increase your exposure to others through the networks you build. Why shouldn’t you do the same with your business? Join online groups within the industry and share similar interests. 

By building appropriate networks, you expose your business to a bigger talent pool. Make sure that you add value to your network by posting articles relevant to the industry. Publish content that people want to read and share. This is how you grow your brand.

Take the time to research the groups with bigger networks and recent content. These groups have the potential to offer your company the best exposure. 

Many LinkedIn groups have Jobs sections where you can post your vacancies. 

5. Optimize Your Job Posts with Keywords

Like any social media content, your job postings must draw the right traffic. To attract the right audience, you’ll have to understand and use the keywords that they are most likely to use in their job search. 

It doesn’t matter how interesting the job is or how well-written the job description is, if you don’t use the right keywords, you won’t attract the best candidates.

If you’re not sure what job title to give your position, go through the LinkedIn jobs directory. Find out which jobs descriptions your competitors use for the most hits. 

6. Post Jobs on LinkedIn for Free

LinkedIn allows you to post your job listings for free on your business profile page. You can also choose to sponsor the ad. Sponsored ads get more coverage. They’re delivered to a larger audience, thus giving your posting more exposure. Also, encourage your employees to share your job posting with others. 

Use the Easy Apply feature on LinkedIn to make it easier for candidates to apply for your position.

7. Consider Using LinkedIn Talent Solutions

If you plan on hiring several new employees over the year, it may be worth considering LinkedIn’s Talent solutions. It comprises a number of paid tools that give you access to tailored talent through advanced search tools. It also offers various other hiring and recruitment tools across the employment process.

8. Consider Paid LinkedIn Job Listings

LinkedIn also offers advertised job listings. Consider using paid advertising to target both active and passive job candidates. The LinkedIn model works on “pay as you click” so you don’t pay unless a potential candidate looks at your job posting. 

When you list your job posting, you’ll be asked to select a budget. You can choose to close the listing when you reach the budget or to manually close the posting at a time that suits you. If you’re going the paid ad route make sure that your posting is optimized for the best results. 

9. Target Passive Candidates

LinkedIn statistics suggest that 70% of the world’s workforce consists of passive candidates. If you want the best talent for your business, you can’t overlook this statistic. Search LinkedIn profiles for talented professionals who aren’t actively looking for a job. Consider approaching candidates with a proposal to move into your available position.

Measure your Success

Use LinkedIn analytics to understand who reads and engages with your posts. This will help you to understand your followers. You can use this understanding to make changes for more appropriate target marketing and recruitment. 

Find the Best Talent for Your Business

The success or failure of your business could depend on who you hire. You can ensure that you expose your job postings to the most talented candidates in your industry. You can also use your network for professional referrals and ensure that the candidate has all the qualities that you seek in an employee.