Cutting
to the chase, Lets face it, if you're looking to socialize - You're on
Facebook, & if you want to excel at your career, you're engaging with recruiters on Linkedin.
[Webster definition of ENGAGING: To get and keep (someone's attention, interest, etc.)Tending to draw favorable attention or interest]
In
my personal opinion, & mine alone, I've always found job sites
cumbersome. Job posts have always led to way too many irrelevant cvs
coming in by the hundreds, time, energy & money spent on a resource
where just about anyone will send you their cv whether or not they fit
the job profile. More than half the people who are any good, aren't on
job sites! Most employers ban their employees from keeping their cvs on
job portals (company policy & all that..jeez.) & most people
think they will sign up on a job site ONLY & ONLY when they start
actively looking out for a job..& come on, who knows when one is
ready, right? The right opportunities may just pass you by.
Now comes the game changer. LinkedIn. A networking website, made so well, an almost flawless creation, that not only lets you have your resume up & online for potential recruiters to see & engage with, but you also get to have your Boss or Supervising Manager RECOMMEND you for the world to see!!! Kudos Reid Hoffman!
So, HAVE you really taken advantage of this amazing site yet?
The Plus Points:
- 225 Million Members Globally in 200 countries
- 20 Million Members in India [As of September 2013]
- Globally, almost 77% of all jobs are posted on Linkedin
- 48% of Recruiters post jobs only on Linkedin & nowhere else on the web
The Deal Breakers:
- Only 50% of LinkedIn users have complete, legit profiles
- Time spent per week is a measly 1-2 hours on Linkedin as compared to a 4-5 hours a day for sites like Facebook, Twitter, etc.
WHY RECRUITERS LOVE LINKEDIN.
SO. Why are you not engaging as well as you can with RECRUITERS on LinkedIn?
Food for thought.
Food for thought.
Incomplete profiles
Not
mentioning basic details like the years of completion of your
education, dates for joining & leaving employers, current location,
current complete in depth job
profile [As what you do, becomes key words for search for recruiters.
So don't shy away from mentioning everything you do, software you use,
your KRA's, etc)
Lack of RELEVANT recommendations
(written ones, not the new click to endorse buttons, also ONLY from
people you have actually worked with, the recommendations, when
verified show whether or not they come from people who do or don't belong to any
of the companies you have worked with before, & if not, you lose your own
credibility)
Smaller local networks
(If you have less than 500 people locally, hopefully a mix of people
from your own industry from HR, IT, Finance, Legal, Marketing, Sales,
etc..(I feel an eclectic mix of contacts is better to connect with GOOD
recruiters, who may be the 2nd degree connections of these
contacts)...you are losing out on connecting with some of the best
recruiters, Which cut short your chances to connect with local
recruiters)
Grammatical errors on your profile
(Recruiters stay away from profiles with incorrect usage of the
language as most employers today insist on applicants who have perfect
written & spoken communication skills.)
Unflattering profile picture or
one that's not yours (A picture speaks a thousand words, remember?
Human interactions are smoother when a visual of the person you're
engaging with is present, also lending to visual cues which enable a
recruiter to judge you on culture fitment, personal grooming,
professionalism & other factors)
Not checking your Linkedin Mail enough
As I mentioned earlier, most people spend not more than 1-2 hours a
week on Linkedin, which is not nearly enough, if a recruiter contacts
you, & you reply after a week, the position is mostly closed. I
advise checking linkedin on a daily basis, which now most of my contacts
do. Its better than Facebook for me, personally. In India atleast,
recruiting on Facebook is at a very nascent stage, & everybody is so
privacy conscious, most people don't out up their details on Facebook,
so LINKEDIN it is!
This time its personal! :)
Fun as always, shall be coming back with more soon.
Happy Monday & have a great week ahead.
Neha Asthana
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheNehaAsthana
Email: careerconnect.neha@gmail.com
Mumbai | India
View Neha Asthana's profile
Neha, Nice insights. I was wondering, though, whether recruiters really look for full profiles (dates of leaving organization, and so forth) on a LinkedIn profile. Shouldn't that be in the next step? I mean, LinkedIn is not primarily meant as a job site, so "candidates" may not be comfortable sharing all their "resume details" with the general public.
ReplyDeleteHello Shashidhar! Thank you for that query. I'll try to answer it as best as I can. :)
ReplyDeleteJob boards & cvs reaching recruiters through any other channels like being sent directly can happen at any stage of the process. A recruiter may or may not have a relevant job opening the moment a cv comes in. At any given time, I'm looking at Linkedin assessing various profiles for openings I currently have or may have soon. The person whose profile is being assessed may not even know it. As on Linkedin we have what's called a massive pool of 'Passive' Applicants/Candidates. Which means, though they may not be looking for jobs, but wouldnn't mind reviewing or exploring opportunities that a passing recruiter may present to them. Hence, better the chances for a particular individual if he/she has all the information on their Linkedin profile, that they may have on their cvs on any job site. Its pretty much the same thing. Expect more freedom to keep your cv on Linkedin, it doesn't mention salaries, so that is one thing that can still be kept private & checked depending on applicant interest levels. :)