Remember, LinkedIn is great but it isn’t the only recruitment option
Something really interesting has come up three times in separate conversations over the last two weeks, that I believe will become more of a trend over the next 12 months. The subject matter was LinkedIn, Job Boards and Recruitment Agencies - let me explain.
First I need to point out that the conversations I had, was actually with three different job boards - one big, one medium and one specialist [worth noting that all are focused on white collar sectors].The dialogue turned to 2013 and what lies ahead for them in the recruitment industry - "do they actually have a long term future in their current format?" One of the answers all three gave me was virtually identical, and it involved LinkedIn. It goes like this:
Over the last 6 weeks while talking to recruitment companies regarding renewing contracts for 2013, we have had a number of them happy to finish their contracts at the end of the year and fail to renew. When asked why, the response was that they have made the decision to purchase LinkedIn Recruiter Licenses for some or all of their consultants. Their rationale was a simple one - for the same £spend or less, they believed they would have better success in finding candidates on the (now huge) LinkedIn database, as opposed to posting jobs on the job boards in the hope the right candidates would apply for their jobs."
What do you think? It is something that I can't argue with, as you should always source first and recruit second (starting with your own database!) This does seem to be a quantum shift in attitude from the recruitment companies. I know many recruitment agencies and consultants, and the FIRST thing the majority do is post adverts on job boards when they get a new requirement from a client! Maybe they are learning…… ?
While I agree with concept above, as it makes sense from a cost perspective, there are some things you should consider before you throw all your eggs into the LinkedIn basket:
- Have you taken the time to make sure your audience is on LinkedIn, or have you 'listened' to the sales patter of the LinkedIn sales team 'telling you' that all your candidates are on their network?
- Not everyone is on LinkedIn. If you recruit in the blue collar space, LinkedIn is not for you.
- According to LinkedIn 70% of the UK white collar workforce is on their platform, which is great. But what about the 30% that aren't? That still represents a good few million people in the workforce!
- If you recruit graduates or alike, then you will (at the moment anyway) find that LinkedIn is substantially lacking in candidates here.
- If you recruit in some of the digital and technical sectors where demand is high for certain skills, you will find it really hard to even find these people, as there is a trend from people with these skills to actually remove them from their LinkedIn profiles! They have been targeted by recruiters once too often!
- Unfortunately (some of ) the LinkedIn sales team will tell you what you want to hear, just to close the deal (they are sales people after all). I have first hand experience of this with a client, in case you are wondering!
- What about all the people who look at job boards every day (and there are still millions), and have signed up for the email/RSS/social job alerts? Many of these people don't even bother with LinkedIn or other social networks - they just want to find a new job and are just not of the mindset (yet) of using LinkedIn or any other socil networks for that matter! In certain sectors this is a real problem.
- Brand - using the job boards regularly builds your brand. People get to know who you are, what you recruit for and how to contact you. With the best will in the world and the biggest advertising budget ever, you still may not reach all the active jobseekers in the market at that time. Social channels like blogs, Twitter and Facebook are also powerful alternatives.
- SEO - whatever you think of job boards, one thing they all do incredibly well is SEO. If like ,most recruitment agencies, your website SEO is rubbish, then jobs you place on your website (for example) will simply not appear on the first page or two on Google. Job board adverts will most of the time.
- Training. This for me is the kicker - and it is a big one. Invest in new products and technologies -BUT make sure you then train your consultants PROPERLY in how to use them. Don't not train the consultants - LinkedIn and the other social networks can be such powerful and brilliant tools if you know how to use them correctly!
Now, in case you think I have gone mad and I am promoting job boards over LinkedIn I am not. Definitely not!
The point I am making is that there isn't one magic solution for recruiters. LinkedIn isn't the magic solution; job boards aren't the magic solution and social media isn't the magic solution.
The point I am making is that there isn't one magic solution for recruiters. LinkedIn isn't the magic solution; job boards aren't the magic solution and social media isn't the magic solution.
What is needed for successful recruiting is a blended and integrated approach combining different things:
- An understanding of your actual candidate audience and where there are - no assumptions or historical thoughts here, find out where they are right now, today!
- Use your own database first - you have already invested in putting those candidates on it, make them pay for that investment. If your recruitment system is old and out of date, talk to the guys at companies like BullHorn or Broadbean - let them breathe life into your database and allow you to search and socialise it. You are in the 21st century now!
- Do use LinkedIn - but make sure you get your ducks in a row first. Make sure all your consultant profiles are spot on and make sure your company page is the best it can be. Then and only then, think about upgrading your account.
- Do use job boards to post vacancies - but not all of them. Be more selective. Use some of the specialist job boards in your industries, after all they just focus on attracting those types of candidates to them. Boards like OnlyMarketingJobs and SimplySalesJobs are good examples of sector focus.
- Use email marketing to reach out to your database. Do you know what, it still works and it is an efficient way of communicating with candidates. REMEMBER though, if you put links to jobs on your emails, make sure the page you are sending them to is mobile friendly! Many candidates open those links on their iPhones, Androids and Blackberries.
- Use the social media channels. Twitter and Facebook are the main headliners but there are many other niche networks that you might well be able to use to find, source and recruit candidates from. And of course they are a great way to encourage referrals for your jobs.
- Try other tools that are better suited to your industry - for example if you are recruiting in the tech/IT space try TalentBin instead of LinkedIn - it is an awesome (and I mean awesome) recruitment product as it aggregates social profiles from ALL the online places these types go to including GitHub and StackOverflow.
So just to bring you back to the point of my post - yes, LinkedIn is a fantastic tool and a given for recruitment, but don't just focus on that network to the detriment of all other proven channels!
I hope you now get my point - a blend of methods will definitely be better than a pure vanilla model. And for the purists, I haven't forgotten the most important channel/tool in recruitment - it is of course the telephone 
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Comments 30
Vicky Jones
My husband works as an IT Manager and he said many of his peers are coming off LinkedIn as they have had enough of recruiters bothering them. Perhaps more people are taking that option too
Andy Headworth
I am seeing this more and more. I don’t know about your hubbie, but many are still staying on LinkedIn, but just removing nearly all of their content to make it impossible for them to be be found for their relevant skills.
Leszekkn
Andy, good read. I think that target diversification of sources is the key.
Matthew Iveson
Very interesting article. There are so many professionals who we speak to who are fed up of being approached by recruiters.
Fundamentally the CV databases / Job boards are able to provide the recruiter with active candidates whereas the largely passive audience on LinkedIn take a lot more coaxing in this marketplace. So in terms of supplying a short-list, there is a need for both the traditional job board and LinkedIn. The two can co-exist and will continue to do so.
Matthew Iveson
Sorry was meant to say fed up being approached by recruiters through LinkedIn (although in fairness many just fed up with recruiters full stop!)
Vicky Jones
Yes Andy, might be more true for others that they remove all relevant information. My friend is high up in Risk for a Bank and she has removed her profile as is known in the industry too by her name.
I suppose everyone has a different approach to it, but it shows that you can’t rely on LinkedIn as a means alone.
Will Sims
Andy
Interesting read, thanks.
I have been thinking about this for some time and my thoughts are…
“What can the job boards learn from the likes of LinkedIn, Facebook, etc? What can they take to add a new dimension to what is fairly one dimensional and samey”.
Look at the online retail industry for example. Naturally online shopping can be a lonely place. What some online retailers have now started doing is allowing their customers to emote the same way they do during the physical shopping experience and let them share their reactions with others quickly and easily.
You also have the art of behavioral targeting: using data about what people do on their web site to infer what their interests are and serve them more relevant jobs.
Just some of the ideas I have!..
Part of this also comes down to being too comfortable with what they have. And let’s face it, there aren’t too many job boards out there that offer something different to their neighbour.
Of course I’m not saying go up against the likes of LinkedIn and Facebook but simply add to what you already have by utilising existing methods and technology.
Hfo
It’s a bit sad that everyone keeps searching for the magic bullet that will solve all recruitment problems. Isn’t life more interesting when you have a wide range of tools available and you can pick and choose the best one for each challenge?
Andy Headworth
Agreed - and it is the one main thing that many recruiters get wrong
Andy Headworth
True!
Getting a balanced approach is so important. Some people might be fed up with recruiters, but that soon changes when they need a new job, doesn’t it?
Andy Headworth
Really good point Will.
I agree and to take it a stage further, it is the only way that job boards are going to survive long term. They are sitting on huge amounts of data, which they should start using to their advantage.
Some are continually innovating - Jobsite springs to mind - and evolving their proposition.
They have to don’t they? The industry seems to be moving at light speed at the moment, but some suppliers and vendors in our industry are failing to move with the times.
I am not saying that it is easy to do so - but some are still getting their head around social, and that was around 3-4 years ago!!
The best model to match (IMO) is still Amazon. If and when a recruitment product gets close to their clever software, others had better watch out!
Andy Headworth
Totally!
Magic bullets don’t come around often. Although some would tell you otherwise!
Will Sims
I agree Andy, the Amazon Model is a great one (proactive!). Thanks, Will
Michelle Rea
Great post Andy! I also think that LinkedIn customers should demand more training. So many recruiters buy the tool and then either don’t utilize it or don’t know how to utilize it. We also need to remember that there are 175m on LI and many many many more millions social profiles. LinkedIn is great but you need to know how to use and not put all your egg’s into one basket. Have a great weekend!
Tony Harding
Great points as always - do you think people on linkedin will respond better to client direct approaches ? if that is the case is it the approach from the rec con that puts candidates off rather than the actual use of LI ?
Andy Headworth
They might demand it, but it isn’t on their agenda Michelle. We both know that.
Andy Headworth
Good question Tony.
Some of my clients are having good success with direct approaches - personalising them every time, to ensure the person receiving the message feel important.
The approach may well be the problem for recruiters, because many just work on the quantity rather than quality approach. And the fact that many recruiter profiles are just awful - no thought with regards to the persona they have presented on LinkedIn and the target audience they are [spamming] messaging.
An example being a recent IT recruiter I saw. They ‘specialised’ in .Net developers (and made it very clear - that bit was good) but were then messaging UX designers, and not getting much of a response (user experience or UX wasn’t even in their profile!)
Sarang Brahme
Great post Andy. LinkedIn seems to have become “the recruitment tool” and their team is pushing on the number of profiles in their database as a selling point. They are also comparing it with job portals to push their cards. What recruiters needs to understand is that the way of recruiting on LinkedIn is completely different from job portals. Recruiters over the years have become habitual of job portals and using same techniques can kill LinkedIn - rather it is already getting a “spam” tag. LinkedIn will not proactively train on this. Everyone is wishing for the magic basket which will have all eggs in one bucket - fact is that it is not so easy. You have to use all possible channels where candidates are and you can not pray for them to be on LinkedIn only. Being a new tool, Recruiter logins on LinkedIn will attract lot of new customers - the real challenge is whether it is a replacement of job portals or an additional sourcing tool.
Phil Hutchinson-May
Andy
As the owner of a niche FMCG recruitment consultancy this is a topic I think about every day. I agree, there are three key areas. 1. a positive presence on LI, 2. job boards for advertising and presence(grocerjobs.co.uk) and 3. my candidate database.
Maintaining contact with candidates is as important as ever - the technology is all there it’s how you choose to use it.
Andy Headworth
That is exactly what LinkedIn are doing - and it isn’t always the best advice, as you say.
LinkedIn has always been a great part of the toolbox, alongside other tools. It is not a replacement is it?
Andy Headworth
Thanks Phil for clarifying it from a niche perspective. And from a niche perspective I would imagine that it is your database that is one of your most important tools?
Plugging new tools and technologies into it can only accentuate it’s potential.
TriSys
On your point of ‘Use your own database first’ - TriSys recruitment software has social networking connectors which allow job posting to twitter, linkedin and facebook and searching tools which combine searches for candidates within the current in-house database with social network searches of linkedin, twitter and facebook. TriSys can then synch your social network candidates into your database so that you have their on-line profiles at your fingertips, all from within one application (TriSys) which orchestrates everything else you do as a recruiter.
Alastair Blair
re TH’s post - one thing that LI doesn’t seem to get is the marketing possibilities of the inmail. If they can develop this to become a proper advert rather than a hopeful punt to prospective candidates they’ll, a) make more money, and b) get better results for (direct) recruiters.
As regards candidates coming off LI, I believe that this is not uncommon in the USA, because they are fed up with the constant bombardment from rec-cons.
Finally, and it’s a slightly cynical point, although LI is hell-bent on world domination, I seem to recall other media groups (Monster springs to mind) had similar ambitions in the past…
Nicoals Grilly
Andy,
What is your idea of a job board that would follow the Amazon’s model?
Nicoals Grilly
Great post Andy. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this!
I do not believe in “one social network to rule them all”. LinkedIn is definitely a major player in this field, but I think you’re right in saying that recruiters should not put all their eggs in the same basket.
Andy Headworth
As a previous TrSys user, I will forgive your blatant advertising
Joking aside, what you are doing is what every recruitment system should be doing (although you won’t appreciate me saying that). But social isn’t just about sharing the jobs, how do you help them identify and share content through their LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook channels?
Andy Headworth
You are right about IM’s - but I am not sure it is on their agenda. It is just a guaranteed message service - how would they police recruiters on it?
It will be interesting to see how LI deal with this downsizing of profiles - the endorsements are a way LI are going to get round it with their algorithm.
And Monster …….. Global domination maybe not (now) but they are doing some very clever things around semantic search and matching.
Andy Headworth
Thanks Nicoals, there are so many sources out there, we should all look at multiple channels for candidates.
Dorian Webb
….And there indeed lies LI’s challenge. Not to become the next Monster, where it becomes more effort than it’s worth to use.
From speaking to some in-house recruiters (admittedly those who are not expert users), they are very wary of the time they need to dedicate to it.
I have noticed a greater acceptance of it’s merits from recruiters in non Anglo-Saxon countries who were more resistant to it in the past. LI’s profile is increasing globally, which in turn is increasing the traffic levels further.
Andy Headworth
Interesting observation Dorian - do you think the europeans are ahead of us in the UK then with open attitudes to LinkedIn?