The #COVID19 pandemic has had an undeniable impact on businesses worldwide. While some businesses have shut down and some are struggling to survive, the pandemic has increased the demand of some service-oriented businesses – healthcare businesses and financial services being examples.

Amidst their struggle to survive and move forward, businesses are also preparing for the fact that the way they work will never be the same again.

One of the key business operations that have undergone a massive transformation in its style of working during the pandemic is that of #recruitment. The recruitment industry has amazingly and rapidly adapted itself to the challenges posed by the pandemic.

Recruiters are moving away from the traditional way of recruiting to meet the precautionary demands of the pandemic as well as the new rules of a post-pandemic workplace.

One of the tools that can benefit recruiters as they evolve continuously to meet the changing demands of businesses and workplaces is LinkedIn. However, we are focussing here on #SMEs who are actually now looking to hire new people to join their teams.

Here are some low-cost or even free ways to utilize LinkedIn for your recruitment needs:

1. Join relevant LinkedIn Groups.

Find active groups in the field you are recruiting for. Post jobs in the feeds here if it’s allowed in the group rules!

2. Search for passive candidates.

Look at talent in similar roles to the one you are hiring for. Along the same lines, talent can discreetly mark that they are open to new roles. This makes your job easier!

3. Gain insights from competitor companies.

Look at job postings from top companies. You can search on LinkedIn to see what keywords they use and emulate this to see if it works for you.

4. Create a stellar LinkedIn company page to enhance your employer brand.

Use your LinkedIn company page to show potential candidates what you are all about as an employer. This can include:

1. Curated content for inbound recruiting;
2. Consistent graphics and header images;
3. Recruitment videos;
4. Press releases;
5. Employee testimonials, and more!

5. Utilise your employees’ professional network.

LinkedIn is great at showing your connections in searches and on profiles. Use this to your advantage!

6. Use Boolean search to find candidate LinkedIn profiles.

For this, you won’t even have to leave the familiar Google search bar.

Here’s how to use LinkedIn to make your hiring less complex, faster, and more efficient in a post-pandemic business landscape:

Avail LinkedIn’s new features for faster hiring in critical segments

Healthcare workers are the frontline warriors fighting the COVID-19 battle to keep the public safe. Healthcare jobs are also one of the most in-demand jobs at the moment. Timing is critical when looking to fill job vacancies in this sector in particular.

To make recruitment faster for such urgent roles, LinkedIn introduced the following features:

• Job posting was free for critical business sectors. Healthcare organisations such as hospitals, and non-profit entities offering COVID-19-related relief and support services, could post vacancies on LinkedIn for free for 3 months and now there is still an option to post for free.  
• To make recruitment faster, LinkedIn has introduced features that increase the reach of such job postings. Potential candidates are informed of such postings through real-time alerts, and push notifications, in job search and LinkedIn feeds.
• Frontline healthcare vacancies that are critical such as those of doctors and nurses will be tagged as urgent for rapid reach to candidates with the essential skills. Such listings will appear on LinkedIn’s homepage as well as the homepage of LinkedIn jobs section.
• LinkedIn’s own team is part of the recruitment process for filling in critical frontline positions.

Tap local candidates to meet social distancing demands with LinkedIn pipeline builder.

With social distancing becoming the new norm, businesses have become keener on tapping local talent before engaging someone that they may have to fly in. More and more businesses are starting to cut down advertisements for global and national recruitment.

LinkedIn’s Pipeline Builder can boost your local talent search, especially if you are an established business. With Pipeline Builder, you can:

• Reach the right local talent with personalised content and targeted recruitment ads. These highly-targeted ads become visible to your select candidate pool when they visit LinkedIn.
• Create a landing page that is completely personalized to your target audience. Rich media content such as images and videos can be added to the landing page to attract candidate interest.
• Interested candidates can reach you with their complete profile and contact details with a single click.

If you are already a member of LinkedIn Recruiter, then you can make your hiring process even faster by integrating Pipeline Builder with your Recruiter account. You will be able to source talent faster and make decisions quicker with this integration.

Shift to Video Interviewing with LinkedIn Video Introduction

Face-to-face hiring interviews are being replaced by remote interviews. While interviews through video conferencing are possible, it always helps to be assisted by specialist technology.

LinkedIn has launched a new video introduction tool, specifically for the recruitment process. Candidates answer a question posed by the recruiter through video submission on LinkedIn. Recruiters then assess the reply on the video to evaluate the candidate’s soft skills and creativity of presentation.

Candidates have the option to present their response as a video or in a written copy format. You can use this video feature to assess candidates that you find most qualified for the role.

LinkedIn’s video recording enables you to select from a pool of candidates more efficiently, especially when you are not able to meet candidates in person to make an assessment.

LinkedIn’s video tool allows you to pose a maximum of 2 questions to your candidates. Critical questions such as “How would you introduce yourself?” or “Describe your biggest success,” can give you insights into the candidate’s expertise and personality.

With LinkedIn also introducing an AI-based interview feedback tool, you may find candidates well-prepared for the task ahead.

Discover Talent with LinkedIn Connections

With 30 million companies active on LinkedIn, and 675 million users engaging with the platform every month, LinkedIn is easily one of the most widely-spread professional networking sources available. (Statistics Source: Hootsuite)

You can use LinkedIn to connect with people on a regular basis and build a network. With connections, you can ensure that your job postings have a wider and faster reach, which in turn makes recruitment quicker and efficient.

You can build meaningful connections through a variety of ways, including LinkedIn InMail messaging, groups, events and discussions.

In Conclusion

An evolving business landscape necessitates the use of a tool that is always a step ahead. With its timely and innovative approach, LinkedIn surely fits the bill. Make your recruitment process simpler, faster and more efficient with LinkedIn.

For bespoke LinkedIn marketing advice schedule an initial phone consultation with me here