Of LinkedIn’s 500 million users, a substantial number of these would be a perfect fit for the roles you’re looking to fill. As a recruiter, it’s quite easy to find these candidates on LinkedIn if you know what to look for, and LinkedIn recruiting is more effective than ever.

LinkedIn has evolved in the last few years to become a professional site, social media platform, job board, and search engine all rolled into one. A savvy recruiter will know how to play each of these aspects in just the right way to find candidates who are a good fit for a role - sometimes such candidates are not ready to be found just yet.

These 5 tips are instantly actionable to help you ensure that your job search draws in the right talent every time.

1. Soup Up Your LinkedIn Profile

If you don’t already have an established LinkedIn presence for yourself and the employer, you will want to start with that. Don’t just settle for basic profile features though - LinkedIn is all about inspiring trust, and scant information is the easiest way to come off as a scammer.

Instead, make sure to include the following:

  • A high-quality profile picture of either your professional portrait or brand logo

  • Have a relevant profile headline showing what you do, not what you are. Try something like, “Recruiting Call Center Agents for Top Tech Companies in California.”

  • Keywords. You want your profile to come up in search results for particular keywords. In the three or so paragraphs in your bio, you will want to include your position (recruiter, HR manager, etc), the brand you work for, and what kind of talent you are looking for.

  • Personalize your profile URL to reflect the company you work for. Visit your LinkedIn homepage>View profile>Profile & URL>Click Edit Icon>Type in URL suffix

  • Have showcase pages to highlight different brands, initiatives you are involved in, or the different business units at your company or employer. They help your profile and showcase your brand more positively.

2. Connections

Connections are LinkedIn’s currency. While it’s good to have 50 or more connections to improve your connections base, much more important is the quality of these connections.

As a brand, current and former employees need to be on your list. That way, potential candidates know that you are a legitimate brand. It also helps to expand your network because anybody who likes your posts broadcasts your brand to their network as well.

You will also want to follow influencers and leaders in your field. If you are in marketing, there are always those who are highly regarded and have a lot of connections. Connect with these and comment, share, and like their posts and take note of those who do the same.

However, be careful with your connections. Connect only with those you have a genuine interest in, have met before, and who add value to your profile. Nurture these connections with simple actions like birthday wishes, season’s greetings, and congratulating them on important events.

3. Talent Acquisition: Attract the Right Talent

Talent acquisition is about strategically staffing your organization with individuals who will power your long term growth plan. It is a continuous process that doesn’t necessarily imply hiring when you have open positions.

Talent acquisition works on the basis of attracting high-quality talent with the right branding, perks, culture, and other aspects, from which you can then select those who are the right fit. On LinkedIn, that means taking control of your brand perception, reputation, and interaction with prospects.

You can start by following what your connections post. Only 3 million LinkedIn users write weekly posts, and 250 million on a monthly basis. Following these posts is a great way to find the right talent.

You should also be diligent to write and share your own insights in posts, and take note of those who react to them. This is the social media aspect of LinkedIn. Research your followers to see who would be a good fit before you cast a wider net.

Another way to attract and isolate the best talent on LinkedIn is through detailed, clear job descriptions.

4. Creating Job Posts, Job Searches, and LinkedIn SEO

Creating a job post on your personal or brand profile is a great way to find relevant talent. When using this free feature, make sure to use as detailed a description of the role and associated benefits as possible. A detailed job post serves two purposes: it makes you more discoverable on the platform, and hits only the candidates who are most qualified for the role. Incidentally, up to 75% of those who start to apply for your post will not finish, so be sure to use the Apply Starter Feature to review them as well.

You can also start your search with the advanced people search on LinkedIn. This feature helps you to hyper-target your search with the right keywords for skills, industry, location, experience, and more. List at least ten skills to enable more suitable hits on your search results.

Search works in three ways: jobs for the title, people with the title, and groups about that title. Speaking of which, LinkedIn groups are a great way to find great connections, interact with professionals in the industry, and post job ads.

Both job posts and searches are guaranteed to deliver tens or hundreds of results. You will need to do thorough research to isolate the more relevant candidates. You can also opt to use the paid LinkedIn Recruiter feature which gives you more control over your prospects. Check out our other article for more on how to do this.

5. Use Messaging Wisely

One of the most important skills you can hone on LinkedIn is how to message prospective connections and candidates appropriately. You want to come off as professional like you would on email, but maintain a casual tone as you would on a social media chat.

  • Personalize your chats with second-person pronouns like you and your

  • Use only short, effective posts and messages of up to 150 words. Don’t make people scroll to find out more, at least not at first.

  • Don’t use generic phrases in your messages. Your compliments should be honest and flow from genuine interest.

  • In the same vein, don’t ask people to connect you with someone else. It shows you don’t value them.

  • Use your chat skills to advance the conversation. Address them by their first name, be specific with information, and do away with slang, typos, and sensitive words. For example, instead of I’d love to talk with you sometime, go for I’d love to call you on Friday between 1 pm and 2 pm if it’s alright.

Take Your Social Recruiting to the Next Level

LinkedIn is easily the most powerful tool for recruiters today, but it is easy to spend hours or days slaving on the platform. For instance, how do you find the emails of tens or hundreds of prospective clients? How do you keep in touch with all of them at once?

Interseller can help you with that. Our software solution helps you to source, reach out, and connect with your prospects on LinkedIn and saves you time and effort. Contact us to see what Interseller can do for you.