If you want to attract candidates on LinkedIn, you need to go beyond the general solutions of just listing jobs and waiting for applications to roll in. The new way to attract top talent on LinkedIn requires a strategic approach to build your personal and company brand, besides engaging potential candidates.
Build a Company Brand
If you want to attract job candidates on LinkedIn, you must first build a company brand. When potential candidates want a job, the first thing they consider is the company brand. A strong, appealing brand can help attract top talent on LinkedIn.
To check out your brand, those candidates visit your company’s LinkedIn page, even before responding to your outreach message. An outdated, inactive, or unappealing page can turn them off. As such, you should improve your business page on LinkedIn before doing anything else.
Besides putting your company logo, a professional cover photo, and a clear mission statement on your page, consider implementing the following tips to build your brand and attract candidates on LinkedIn:
- Keep your company’s LinkedIn page up-to-date with engaging content;
- Share updates, news, team wins, and milestones on a regular basis;
- Post content that highlights your company’s culture, values, and achievements;
- Post real employee stories with real pictures, instead of using stock photos or templated content;
- Highlight your team culture with behind-the-scenes posts;
- Showcase your work atmosphere through photos, videos, and employee testimonials;
- Post valuable, well-researched content highlighting your company’s expertise;
- Highlight employee promotions, career advancements, and learning opportunities.
Build Recruiter’s Personal Brand
Recruiter’s personal brand on LinkedIn is also important as well as company brand.
Potential candidates often check out the recruiter’s LinkedIn profile before applying to a job or responding to an outreach message. They want to know whether you’re knowledgeable, approachable, and genuinely interested in their career growth.
To recruit on LinkedIn, incorporate the following tips to improve your personal profile:
- Upload a professional profile photo and banner image that shows that you’re approachable;
- Write a clear, professional, and approachable headline (e.g., “Tech Recruiter | Helping Top Talent Grow With Innovative Companies”);
- The About section should clearly describe what you do and why candidates should engage with you;
- Add testimonials from past hires to build credibility;
- Post regularly about hiring trends, job search tips, and industry insights;
- Engage with relevant posts in your field in the form of thoughtful comments and insights.
When candidates see you as a helpful and trustworthy recruiter, they’re more likely to respond to your messages.
Outreach Candidates Through Recruiter’s Personal LinkedIn Profile
Reaching out to potential talent through your personal profile is one of the best strategies to draw their attention, so they get headhunted on LinkedIn. But LinkedIn outreach doesn’t mean sending out cold DMs to anyone who comes across. It means thoughtful, timely engagement with people who might be a match.
To start this process, you need to have the LinkedIn profiles of potential candidates. You can use the built-in filters to find candidates on LinkedIn and create a list for your outreach.
Second, you must connect with those candidates before you can send them messages. So, open each candidate’s profile and send them personalized connection requests.
For example, you can mention a mutual connection or anything available publicly on their profile to tailor your invitation.
Once they accept your connection request, engage with their content to warm them up. This includes reacting to or leaving a thoughtful comment on their posts.
Then, go ahead and send them a personalized message. Since you’re connected, you can now see more information on their profile that you can use to personalize your message.
If the candidate doesn’t accept your connection request, you can use LinkedIn InMail to send them your outreach message. In any case, your tone should show genuine interest without creating urgency.
However, this manual, repetitive approach can be overwhelming and draining. Many seasoned recruiters use Octopus CRM to streamline this process and save time. This LinkedIn automation tool allows you to automate many repetitive tasks like finding relevant profiles, sending tailored connection requests, endorsing skills, and sending personalized messages at scale.
Engage Candidates Through Recruiter’s Personal LinkedIn Profile
To attract qualified candidates on LinkedIn, you need to stay active and visible. Engagement is vital for warming up potential candidates before reaching out. That means leaving insightful comments on relevant posts, sharing valuable content, and interacting with potential candidates.
It is a good idea to regularly post updates about your company, share niche-related articles, and offer insights that can help candidates in their career. Company milestones and updates show growth, while niche-related insights, industry stats, or even open questions help start conversations.
For example, you can post news about new hires, office events, or industry awards. This can draw comments and start conversations.
Plus, you can write articles or short-form posts about hiring trends, interview tips, or career advice. This will help position you as a thought leader who adds value and genuinely helps people in their career.
Interaction With LinkedIn Connections
Interacting with your LinkedIn connections is also essential for building our brand as a recruiter. This includes responding to comments and messages. When you respond, it shows that you’re listening and that you actually care. You can also share content from your connections and even tag people in relevant conversations.
Offering rewards like a bonus or gift card for successful referrals is also a part of interactions with your contacts. This can motivate your connections to refer qualified candidates, expanding your talent pool and increasing your chances of finding the right fit.
In doing so, keep the monetary rewards transparent and fair and explain how the entire process works. This way, you may even get access to pre-vetted candidates who may not be actively applying elsewhere.
Grow Your Talent Pool on LinkedIn
Growing your talent pool on LinkedIn is an ongoing process.
To build a talent pool, organize your LinkedIn contacts in a spreadsheet and group them on the basis of skills, industries, or past interactions. Also, keep a list of candidates who showed interest in past roles but weren’t a match then.
Moreover, keep in touch with candidates even if they’re not a fit today and send occasional check-ins. It is also a good idea to invite them to virtual events or webinars hosted by your company.
You can also use LinkedIn features like Saved Searches and Job Alerts to stay updated on new profiles that match your criteria. Attending virtual events, LinkedIn Live sessions, and collaborating with other recruiters and industry professionals can also help grow your talent pool.
Conclusion
The modern approach to attracting candidates on LinkedIn involves building your personal and company brand, engaging and interacting with potential candidates, building trust, and sending out personalized outreach messages.
If you focus on building relationships rather than just filling roles, it will help you attract top talent on LinkedIn on a consistent basis. And as you scale, you can use Octopus CRM LinkedIn automation tool to automate the many repetitive, manual activities like finding profiles, sending connection requests, and following up with leads.