How to Use LinkedIn to Find Employees is the working title of my article which will be published on my Web site which is one of the most popular Human Resources and employer resources online.
Web site: http://humanresources.about.com
How long have you social networked at LinkedIn?
How did you go about looking for an employee on LinkedIn? (Specifics would be really helpful, but no need to include peoples' names.)
What jobs have you filled by networking at LinkedIn?
Would you use LinkedIn to find employees again?
What other social networks do you belong to and which would you recommend for finding employees?
Anything to add that I forgot to ask about?
Thanks for your help.
Regards,
Susan Heathfield
Answers (4)
DB Search Group is a premier Minneapolis, Minnesota-based staffing & recruiting firm that specializes in Human Resources, Office Administrative and Executive Management opportunities. Here, we use a myriad of different effective means to surface truly top-tier talent-one of which is LinkedIn. I personally have been a part of the LinkedIn community since my very early career, and currently I have been using it very frequently to connect with many hard-to-find professionals whom we may not have had the opportunity to connect with using more conventional means. Most recently, we were looking to fill a Sr. Director of Human Resources position. As this position was more complex than usual and called for a very specific skillset, I used 2 different approaches to using LinkedIn. First by posting the position, and second by viewing through 2nd and 3rd party connections via my immediate contacts and requesting an introduction. I got great response, met with a few candidates, and filled the position with a LinkedIn member. Currently, I've only used this method to fill one other position in Senior Compensation and Benefits for a leading medical device company. Most of our candidates come from either our own internal database, referrals, cold-calling, and non-online networking associations. However, when I can't find that very specific candidate through those means, I will definitely keep LinkedIn as a serious recruit networking source. I'm a member of other popular top social networks as well, and find them all very useful, although LinkedIn is currently my most preferred.
Links:
Wendy H
Vice President, Product Strategy and Marketing, Life Sciences, Thomson Reuters
Hi. I joined linkedin to keep track of ex-coworker friends as they changed jobs and positions. I haven't used it for recruiting yet but might today.
Hi Susan,
I don't use Linked in for straight recruiting as much as I use it for networking w/ industry peers and former colleagues. Maintaining those connections is important for many reasons, recruiting is one of them. When I need a referral, I send an email directly to one of my trusted contacts asking if they know of anyone. So I guess you could say I use it as much more of a personal contact tool than an anonymous recruiting tool.
On the flip side, I occasionally get anonymous messages from recruiters who say I look "interesting". :-) Of course I ignore them because I am not in the market for a new job. I purposefully left most of my profile blank because I felt putting my resume up there was a bit like putting my sign out when I know I'm not available. I only put enough there so that my friends and colleagues would know it was me.
Hope this helps.
Good luck to you and your article.
Jody
Susan G
Hewlett Packard, Staffing Strategic Initiative Manager
Best Answers in: Staffing and Recruiting (4), Personnel Policies (1), Organizational Development (1)
I have been part of the LinkedIn network for over three years.
I use the LinkedIn network in a number of different ways to find employees including:
Search by employer (current/past)
Search by references
Using Inmail
Purchasing advertising
Networking
Sharing my contact information so others can easily contact me
What jobs have I filled by networking on LinkedIn?
Everything from sales to executive level roles
Would I use LinkedIn to find employees again?
Yes, I think it is a great venue to build and develop long term strategic relationships. It allows us to proactively network and learn on a continual basis.
What other social networks do I belong to?
Doostang
Plaxo
Facebook
MySpace
Jobster
eacademy
My favorite site is LinkedIn. I also like Plaxo for the ability to send e cards and remember important things like birthdays of those in our network.
The question you didn't ask is has anyone used the new professional corporate user licenses that LinkedIn is releasing. I would love to know who has started using this functionality and how they have felt about the new product.
