LinkedIn has long been the recruiters (not so) secret weapon. It’s no surprise that so many consultants flock to the platform. After all, where else are you likely to find 350 million business people?
But has the social media site had its day?
It’s a big question, and one that might sound crazy. After all, the site acts as a core function of any recruiters artillery. Searching for potential candidates, posting jobs, and building alarmingly large networks of connections (most of which they never have, or will, speak to).
But as a normal non-recruiter user of LinkedIn, has the platform become one to avoid? The constant connection requests from recruiters, junk InMail messages pushing jobs, status updates pushing jobs, recruiters prying into your life. Is it all getting a bit much?
As a research tool, I get it. As a platform to publicise job opportunities, I also get it. But combined it all adds up to a frustrating experience for those not looking for a new role. Don’t even mention the endless maths puzzles some people post. No one cares if 99% of people can’t solve it.
SPAM
There is certainly a fine line to tread on LinkedIn between promoting a role and having a news feed clogged with random jobs. Spamming job opportunities is a sure fire way to alienate yourself from your connections and as such render your social recruiting efforts ineffective.
Meanwhile, mindlessly promoting a role that is completely irrelevant to the majority of your connections, can be classed as a cardinal sin.
If the majority of your connections are senior finance professionals, then they simply won’t be interested in the retail assistant role that happened to land on your lap that morning. Similarly don’t blindly add connections that aren’t in the industry that you recruit for. They don’t want to know.
Groupie Love
Joining groups for the sole purpose of posting job opportunities can also ruffle a lot of feathers. I can’t fault the logic of going to the proverbial watering hole and netting yourself a heard of like minded business people. It certainly makes sense. But posting job after job in the forum is likely only to make the best talent up and leave, in search of another hole from which to drink.
Put it in the (b)InMail
Bland and boring messages that make people think, “where exactly are you go with this?”. If a user doesn’t understand why they’re getting an email from you or how to respond to it, you’re not going about your messaging in the right way.
Most people check their profile once or twice a week (if that) which means that when they do check their profile, they’re likely to have quite a few messages from recruiters, which they probably choose to ignore / delete if they look like the usual junk.
Poorly structured, untargeted messages are only going to fall on deaf ears. And with attention spans at an all time low, are they going to take notice of the things you post, the InMails you send or the connection requests you make?
Now, I’m not saying that the end is nigh for the love affair between recruiters and LinkedIn. Far from it in honesty. But recruiters need to be more targeted and have more understanding of how to approach candidates on LinkedIn, with information they want.
People register on LinkedIn to be in touch with like minded people, to network, to exchange ideas regarding their field of interest. And sometimes to be visible to recruiters / employers. Don’t waste the opportunity.
