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Are You Using LinkedIn Properly?

LinkedIn-auditStrengthening your staff recruitment doesn’t always mean using a large number of resources. What is important is understanding how to get the best value, and the best return from those that you do use.
Choosing specific advertising platforms to use for your staff recruitment campaigns can be challenging, especially with the large variety available, but a key player for many is LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is the most popular social platform for professional networking, making it a keen favourite for recruiters; and, with the features this platform boasts for recruiting, its popularity as a recruitment tool is not surprising.
In fact, in a survey by the Job Board Doctor, 31% of job board owners revealed that they saw LinkedIn as the single biggest competitive threat to their business. We think this is because the job boards appreciate LinkedIn’s ability to deliver targeted content to users in a non-intrusive environment whereby recruitment isn’t the platform’s sole purpose (despite what it tells you).
There’s a lot of hiring managers who say they use LinkedIn as part of their overall recruitment strategy, but are they using it correctly? Do they know the basics? And are they getting the best returns from it?
If you’re considering including LinkedIn in your recruitment mix or already are, but feel you are not getting maximum results from the platform, read our quick summary of two of the key features this platform offers that can take your LinkedIn recruitment to the next level.

LinkedIn Recruiter Licence – What is it?

Also known as Recruiter Professional Services, this is a sourcing, networking and recruiting tool. The reason why we are highlighting it is because of its ability to search for particular talent; moving away from the spray and pray approach advertising that’s suited to attracting the ‘active’ job seeker.
There are many criteria you can look at when assessing the benefits of paying for a Recruiter Licence for your organisation. Of course, it depends on what your objectives are for both hiring and the application of the tool itself.
But, with a licence, your team can conduct advanced searches within the LinkedIn database, get really targeted with the search filters, and approach talent using InMails. Where it gets really clever is in its reporting and analytics, as well as the ability to allow your team to work collaboratively via projects.

The Difference between a Job Post and a Job Slot

What’s the difference between a Job Post and a Job Slot on LinkedIn?
You may have spoken to recruiters who use LinkedIn to promote their clients’ vacancies. But it’s important to drill down to the fundamentals and understand in what way the platform can be used to promote a vacancy.
Job Posts vs. Job Slots – it’s mainly tied to how often you need to hire.
Job Slots are priced so that companies that usually have openings can post more flexibly and at a lower price. They’ll also allow you to change your posting as often as you like, and keep a position open for over 30 days.
They’re great for analytics too. You can pull jobs from your careers site, send applicants straight to your ATS and add a 3rd party tracking URL to your post. Job Posts cost more on a per-post basis, but are better for companies with less frequent hiring needs.
In summary: LinkedIn are obviously going to push you more towards job slots, however, the level of reporting and analytics you unlock by using this product is very impressive.

Metrics for Measuring Your Activity

There are many metrics you can use when it comes to evaluating your use of LinkedIn, to help identify its true value. For example, we use:
• InMails sent versus response rate
• Average number of profile visits per seat
• Connections made after InMail
• Job slot utilisation rate
• Average number of applications per job
• Career page views
• Talent Brand Index – vs peers, & engagement with talent by job function, location.
Are you looking at alternative ways to manage your recruitment mix? It’s worth considering partnering with a recruitment agency. Webrecruit Ireland offers a resourcing solution to help you find the right person; and our status as an Official LinkedIn Partner™ gives us a wide reach into the passive candidates’ pool. Request further information today.


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