With two new members joining every second and 300 million signed up overall, it’s no wonder that LinkedIn has become a ‘must-have’ for recruitment.

However, how do you know if your social media strategies are finding the best candidates for your organisation? Webrecruit Ireland looks at how you can make the most of LinkedIn to enhance your search for talent.

1. Develop Your Brand

If your company page or group is continually being updated, and sharing interesting content, candidates will want to hear what you have to say.

Once your brand has developed on social media, there will be an increasing number of candidates who will want to know if you have job openings both now and in the future.

So, ensure that you are creating and sharing insights into your culture, to attract individuals to your page. Look to get employees doing the same, to increase the audience looking at your content.

2. Post Jobs in the Right Places

Simply posting a job vacancy may not be enough to attract the best. With a large percentage of LinkedIn members being passive jobseekers, it’s better to avoid treating it as just another job board.

Use groups, employee’s profiles, and your company page to post jobs to ensure that it gets seen by larger number of people.

3. Use LinkedIn Groups or Create Your Own

Groups are a great way of looking for target audiences that may be interested in your vacancy. For example, if you are looking for a developer, seek to start discussions within IT/Tech groups to attract the attention of the right individuals.

Creating your own group can also be a way to build up a following. With this, you are able to send messages to all of those in your group, start discussions, and invite candidates from your own talent pool to join.

4. Consider Job Descriptions

Job descriptions can make all the difference. If you have a passive candidate who is happy in their job, they’re going to want to read something eye-catching if they are to apply for your vacancy.

Think about how your job description sounds to a candidate; why would they want to apply? What impact or difference could they make at your organisation?

Keep it simple, friendly, and direct. Also, go beyond thinking about the initial salary attraction, as many will be looking for much more.

5. Search by Companies

If you have a certain type of candidate in mind, it can help to search by company. You can then find and connect with candidates who are working with companies of a particular type (e.g. start-ups) or industry.

Once you have created a search, you can save this on LinkedIn to automatically provide you with notifications when results of new candidates come in.

Conclusion

Remember, sharing interesting or useful information can be a great way to attract people to your company page. Features such as LinkedIn Pulse cleverly look at an individual’s activity, before suggesting particular articles to read. Therefore, creating blog posts for Pulse can help to build your following.

The more you build your network, the more candidates you will reach and therefore increasing the chances of finding the best talent.

Want to learn how Webrecruit Ireland can source top candidates for your organisation? Find out more.