LinkedIn was first launched as a networking platform for professionals to interact and make new contacts. Today, it has more than 400 million users and 10 million active job listings! It also has approximately 5 million users with paid premium accounts.
But is LinkedIn the best platform to find and recruit talents?
Here are some insights on the pros and cons of using LinkedIn as part of your recruitment strategy!
Pro: Communication
LinkedIn is a platform where you can reach millions of users from different industries. Features such as InMail help recruiters to discuss a job opportunity directly with a potential candidate. Besides sourcing and reaching candidates, you can also add them as your connections. This creates an opportunity to reach their friends or colleagues who might be suitable for an open job position.
Pro: Keyword Targeted Searches
Keywords are an important aspect to source candidates on LinkedIn. It is also one of the most preferred sourcing techniques for recruiters. This helps recruiters save time when they are looking for a candidate with a specific skill or designation. Once a keyword is entered, LinkedIn generates a list of profiles that closely matches the keyword.
Pro: Join Professional Groups
This is another key advantage of using LinkedIn. It allows users to join professional groups on the platform. Joining a group helps users to network with like minded professionals. Recruiters could also interact and build a relationship with passive candidates.
So why isn’t LinkedIn the best platform to find talents?
Con: Passive Candidates
On LinkedIn, there are actually more chances of reaching passive candidates than active ones. This means that these candidates might not be actively looking for a new job. Although the global workforce is made up of 70% passive candidates, convincing a passive candidate to take up a new job is challenging.
HR managers and talent scouts invest a great deal of energy and time connecting with candidates on LinkedIn. And it’s no secret that most of the time, candidates don’t bother replying.
Con: Recruiters Overlook Incomplete Profiles
Users are required to have their profile completed to rank higher on LinkedIn. If a user has an incomplete profile, the platform’s search algorithm misses a potential candidate.
Recruiters hardly have the time to go through profiles in detail. They tend to miss out a potential candidate because of a missing job title or a desired keyword on the candidate’s profile. For example, if a candidate mentions “Jsp” instead of “Java” under his/her skill, LinkedIn will overlook this potential candidate when the recruiter runs a search for “Java Developer”.
Con: Endorsement Against Validation
There is no authenticity of the skill endorsements made on LinkedIn. Anyone can claim a skill and request for endorsements. For example, I could endorse a friend on LinkedIn for a skill and ask for an endorsement in return. That is how simple it is to endorse a skill on LinkedIn. This results in recruiters spending more time to validate the skills of a candidate found on LinkedIn.
Have you heard about Indorse?
Indorse is the first Decentralised Professional Network with an initial focus on programming skills! On the Indorse platform, coding skills are evaluated by expert coders. When a developer claims that he/she is an expert in JavaScript, a panel of expert coders are picked randomly to review his/her coding skill. At the end of this evaluation, the claim will either be indorsed or flagged.
By using the Indorse platform, you won’t need to spend several man-hours to sieve through the barrage of resumes. With this innovative process, recruiters reach the ideal candidates with a minimum effort and budget!
