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20660 Stevens Creek Blvd., Suite 210

Cupertino, CA 95014

Happy About LinkedIn forRecruiting

By Bill Vickand Des WalshForeword by Conrad Taylor,

President & Past Chairman of theNational Association of Personnel Services (NAPS)

***This book is no longer for sale!******Made available for reference purposes***


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ii

Happy About LinkedIn for Recruiting

Copyright 2006, 2008 by Happy About

All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, storedin a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means electronic,mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without writtenpermission from the publisher. No patent liability is assumed withrespect to the use of the information contained herein. Althoughevery precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, thepublisher and author(s) assume no responsibility for errors oromissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting

from the use of the information contained herein.First Printing: March 2006Second Printing: November 2008Paperback ISBN: 978-1-60005-002-2 (1-60005-002-6)Place of Publication: Silicon Valley, California, USAPaperback Library of Congress Number: 2006922728

eBook ISBN: 978-1-60005-003-9 (1-60005-003-4)

Trademarks

All terms mentioned in this book that are known to be trademarks or

service marks have been appropriately capitalized. Happy Aboutcannot attest to the accuracy of this information. Use of a term in thisbook should not be regarded as affecting the validity of anytrademark or service mark.

Warning and Disclaimer

Every effort has been made to make this book as complete and asaccurate as possible, but no warranty of fitness is implied. Theinformation provided is on an as is basis. The authors and thepublisher shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any personor entity with respect to any loss or damages arising from the

information contained in this book.


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iii

Praise for this Book

"Reading Happy About LinkedIn for Recruiting was like having aconversation with 100 Different industry professionals all at thesame time. This is the definitive guide for recruiters looking to utilizeall that LinkedIn has to offer."Jason Patino, Division Head, Latitude Technical Resources

"Having created the first job board on the Internet and watching/supporting the industry as President of Monster and nowas Executive Director of Direct Employers Association, I have a

broad view of the overall recruiting marketplace. If you are arecruiter today, you should be using LinkedIn as one of the tools in

your arsenal. If you are using LinkedIn as a recruiter, you need toread this book to pick up some of the hidden nuggets that often takemonths, if not years to unravel."Bill Warren, Founder and Executive Director of DirectEmployers Association

"If the primary goal of recruiting and search professionals is to cash fee checks from happy clientsand it isthen 'Happy About LinkedIn for Recruiting' is a tremendous leap forward in making that happen. This book and the use of LinkedIn is truly an innovation in

recruiting!"Paul Hawkinson, Publisher - The Fordyce Letter(www.fordyceletter.com )

"The 'Happy About LinkedIn for Recruiting' book has beenincredibly helpful in both finding alternate ways to recruit, as well asrefining our recruiting process."Jim Sullivan, President & CEO, JCSI Corporate Staffing


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"Bill Vick is a visionary who has been on the cutting edge of technology his entire career. 'Happy About LinkedIn for Recruiting' is another example of Bill developing a tool that will turbo charge

your recruiting and marketing efforts. LinkedIn allows you todevelop rapport and relationships with individuals who willdramatically increase your ability to reach levels of top production.

It is important today to utilize cutting edge tools available, in order for you to 'stand out from the crowd.'"Barbara J. Bruno, CPC, President - Good as Gold Training, PastNAPS Chairman of the Board

"I picked up a copy of the book and it is AWESOME! It is geared towards recruiters and gives us tips on how best to use LinkedIn. I highly recommend everyone buying a copy."Tanya Steffen, Recruiter, Right Staff

"It is a great read, I am actually on my second go around."Brice Benefiel, Sr. Recruiter - Information Technology,Omnikron Systems Inc

"LinkedIn is a phenomenal tool for business networkers, job seekers,and recruiters alike. Everyone has different objectives behind thenetworking they do. Bill Vick's book is a fantastic resource for anyrecruiter who wants to understand how to get the most out of

LinkedIn. The book's value isn't limited to recruiters however. Thebook is also a great resource for job seekers desiring to maximizetheir exposure to opportunity by understanding how recruiters utilize

LinkedIn to identify great candidates, in addition to having obviousapplicability to business networkers in general."Ron Bates, Managing Principal, Executive Advantage Group,Inc. and #1 most connected person on LinkedIn.

"You can be sure that in my role as President of the National Association of Personnel Services (NAPS) I will be recommendingour members to get LinkedIn and to read and listen to this book."Conrad G. Taylor, CPC/CTS, President, Past Chairman, NAPS


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"Bill Vick and Desmond Walsh have written a very good book, onethat every recruiter using LinkedIn should have. (I also think non-Recruiters may also benefit from insights in 'Happy About

LinkedIn for Recruiting.')

From its inception, I knew that if Bill Vick were to get involved,'Happy About LinkedIn for Recruiting' would be a successful book

project. Bill pulled out all the stops to interview top recruiters and sourcing professionals in the staffing industry to get their take onbest practices for Recruiters who are looking to maximize the valueof LinkedIn in their daily business lives.

I haven't really added up the numbers for the 7 bonuses that comewith the book but, it appears that if an astute Recruiter purchased thebook and used all 7 bonuses, they could make at least 10 times thecost of the book from the bonuses, alone. Of course, they could make

MANY times that were they to put the book into practice.

Because there are many Recruiters on MLPF and a number of otherswho might benefit from a close reading of 'Happy About LinkedIn for

Recruiting,' I'm happy about recommending it to you, your staff, and all members of My LinkedIn Power Forum.

Kudos to Bill and Des for a job well done!"Vincent Wright, Moderator, My LinkedIn Power Forum


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Acknowledgments by Bill Vick

This book was first and foremost a work of love and joy. Im only themessenger for others and in sharing their wisdom I have been forcedto re-evaluate my view of networking, recruiting and using LinkedIn.

Many people were involved in making this book possible but I wantto thank Bob Bassman , Anthony Byrne , Des Walsh , Patty Vickand the United States Marine Corps .

The USMC for teaching me the values I live by.

Bob Bassman , owner of Management Recruiters of Plano, and the

person who taught me what recruiting could be and led the way byexample.

Anthony Byrne , trainer extraordinary, a friend and mentor whoconstantly challenged me to be all I could be.

Des Walsh , for his intelligence, can-do attitude and true partnershipin this effort.

Mitchell Levy, and the team at Happy About are a joy to work withand I'm better off for the experience.

My wife Patty , for always believing that I could become the personI wanted to be.

Being ready is not what matters. What matters iswinning after you get there.

Lieutenant General Victor H. Krulak, USMC, April 1965.


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vii

Acknowledgments by Des Walsh

It has been a privilege to work on this book and I wish toacknowledge in particular the following people:

Suzie Cheel , for her dedicated support and masterful organizing.

Bill Vick , for being a great colleague to work with and a superbexplainer of how the recruitment industry works.

Mitchell Levy , a very supportive publisher and open communicator.

Richard Reardon , a valued colleague and my business coach, for

his always wise counsel and unwavering support.Vincent Wright , for inspiring me to make serious use of LinkedIn,and supporting me as moderator of the LinkedIn Bloggers group.

Dave Taylor and Dennis McDonald , my co-moderators on LinkedInBloggers, who kept the group happy and productive while Iconcentrated on the book.


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viii

A Message from Happy About

Thank you for your purchase of this Happy About book. It isavailable online at http://HappyAbout.info/linkedin4recruiting.phpor at other online and physical book stores.

Please contact us for quantity discounts at [email protected] If you want to be informed by e-mail of upcoming Happy About

books, please e-mail [email protected]

Happy About is interested in you if you are an author who would liketo submit a non-fiction book proposal or a corporation that would

like to have a book written for you. Please contact us by [email protected] or phone (1-408-257-3000).

Other Happy About books available include:

Im on LinkedIn -- Now What???:http://happyabout.info/linkedinhelp.php

Im on Facebook -- Now What???:http://happyabout.info/facebook.php

42 Rules for 24-Hour Success with LinkedIn:http://happyabout.info/42rules/24hr-success-linkedin.php

Twitter Means Business:

http://happyabout.info/twitter/tweet2success.php 18 Rules of Community Engagement:

http://happyabout.info/community-engagement.php 42 Rules of Social Media for Small Business:

http://happyabout.info/42rules/social-media-business.php #THINKtweet:

http://happyabout.info/thinktweet01.php The Successful Introvert:

http://happyabout.info/thesuccessfulintrovert.php Internet Your Way To a New Job:

http://www.happyabout.info/InternetYourWaytoaNewJob.php Happy About My Resume:

http://happyabout.info/myresume.php


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C o n t e n t s

Happy About LinkedIn for Recruiting ix

Foreword Foreword by Conrad Taylor, President & PastChairman of the National Association of PersonnelServices (NAPS). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Chapter 1 Challenges and Opportunities . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Chapter 2 The LinkedIn Solution to ProfessionalRecruiting: An Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

General. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Getting Known . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Getting Connected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Quality vs. Quantity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Using the Search and Reference Tools Effectively . 22LinkedIns Premium Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Checklist for Action. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Chapter 3 LinkedIn for Marketing and Finding NewClients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

A Path of Trusted Connections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Standing Out From the Crowd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Checklist for Action. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Chapter 4 LinkedIn for Candidate Sourcing . . . . . . . . .43Checklist for Action. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Chapter 5 LinkedIn for Collaboration and Third PartySplits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57

A Key Element of Collaboration and Splits is BuildingTrust and Rapport. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61A Challenge for LinkedIn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Finding Split Partners Through LinkedIn . . . . . . . . . 63Step-by-Step Illustration of a Search for a Split Partner64Checklist for Action. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Chapter 6 LinkedIna Superior Networking Tool . . . . 67


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LinkedInMore Than a Database . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Developing Trust Relationships Virtually . . . . . . . . . 70Using the LinkedIn Network To Find A PassiveCandidate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Networking: A Key to Accessing Difficult-to-FindCandidates and Clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72No More Cold-Calling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73Being Findable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74The Power of Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76A Core Competency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Checklist for Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Chapter 7 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83Key Lessons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84Checklist for Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

Appendix 87 References and Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

LinkedIn Selected Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87LinkedIn Groups Search Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88Other Groups on LinkedIn Topics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Appendix 91 People and Their LinkedIn Profile Links . . . 91

Appendix 99 Leadership Thoughts on LinkedIn. . . . . . . . 99

Authors About the Authors, Bill Vick and Des Walsh . . . . . 103

Your Book Create Thought Leadership for your Company . . . 105Why Wait to Write Your Book?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Books Other Happy About Books. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107


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Happy About LinkedIn for Recruiting 1

F o r e w o r d

Foreword by Conrad Taylor,President & Past Chairman of the National Association of Personnel Services (NAPS)When asked to write an introduction for this book onLinkedIn, I was challenged since I did not use

LinkedIn. Given my respect for Bill Vick and hisaccomplishments both professionally and for thestaffing industry, I decided to explore this tool. I wasconsumed from the minute I started reviewing this

book. I followed the message and the examples of how to get the results that were possible from the

beginning to the end. I am anxious to listen to eachinterview conducted. I started with 48 direct contactsand now have access to over 506,800 professionalsthrough those initial contacts. To say I have beenWOWed would be an understatement. This book is agold mine of tips and information.

In my career in the US Navy (where I was a Master Chief, Warrant officer and Mustang Lieutenant), Ilearned that it was important to be good at what youdo, but more importantly to have key contacts withinevery area you interfaced with. No matter what Ineeded to accomplish, someone in my network knewa guy that could make it happen.

In my Staffing Industry career, I have certainly usedthe basic concept I practiced in my Navy career andhave tracked the use of technology to automate all the

processes that lead to success. I remember introducing Bill Vick in 1994 to a large audience at a

NAPS national meeting where only three hands went


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2 Foreword

up when Bill asked who had any automation in their

office. From there, Recruiters on Line and a number of other automation systems have become thefoundation of tools used to be effective in our industry.

I spent one weekend reading this book, joiningLinkedIn and putting into practical use the examplesthat the interviewees in this book provided. What atremendous example of shared value. If you didnothing more that read this book, you will receivevalue! But, I submit that you cannot stop there!90,000 plus recruiters are not wasting their time by

being actively involved with LinkedIn.

LinkedIn can help you on many levels protect your investment in this industry.

You can be sure that in my role as President of the National Association of Personnel Services (NAPS) Iwill be recommending our members to get LinkedInand to read and listen to this book.

Conrad G. Taylor, CPC/CTSPresidentPast Chairman

[email protected]


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C h a p t e r

1 Challenges andOpportunitiesAlthough the online business network LinkedIn was

not designed specifically for the recruiting industry, ithas become a favorite tool of recruiters. This book, based on many interviews with recruiters who havelearned how to leverage LinkedIns capabilities,shows why.

Like so much else in our era, the recruiting industry ischanging rapidly; sometimes it seems to change on adaily basis. At the same time, there are aspects of the

business which stay constant and procedures and practices which are effectively timeless.

The basic driver of change in the recruiting industry,as in industries across the spectrum, is technology;specifically, Internet technology. And what makes somany procedures and practices timeless is that, nomatter how smart and fast the technology becomes,recruiting, by definition, is and always will be a

people business about people, by people, for people.

While there is state-of-the-art technology to supportthe recruiting industry, the core challenge for anyrecruiter in this first decade of the twenty-first centuryis the same core challenge a recruiter has alwaysfaced: to find the most placeable candidate for a


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4 Chapter 1: Challenges and Opportunities

nominated position and to ensure that particular

candidate is selected and hired, whether working on acontingency or retainer basis.

To meet that challenge successfully, the recruiter isrequired to manage some specific challenges, whether solely or in collaboration with others:

find jobs and businesses with jobs to offer (hiringauthorities)

research the available field of candidates present the most placeable candidates to the hiring

authorities control the process s tep-by-step repeat the process

Ron Bates,Managing Principal,Executive

Advantage Group,and the top

LinkedIn member in terms of number

of connections

Ultimately what a recruiter is being paid for is todo the best possible job covering a viablecandidate population and from that put the best

possible candidates in front of their clients.

In addition, on the broader business development

front, the recruiter will need to meet the followingchallenges:

planning and conducting marketing developing and maintaining databases and systems finding and collaborating with other recruiters establishing and maintaining business continuity

Technology helps recruiters with each of thesechallenges, turning them into opportunities. Wellused, technology enhances effectiveness withoutreplacing the time-tested, people-focused processes,such as picking up the phone and making a call. For

all the capabilities of Internet technology andsophisticated databases, the telephone is often the


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shortest distance between two points! But technology,

and specifically the Internet and World Wide Web,have made the processes much faster and moreefficient, to a degree probably unthinkable by most

people twenty and more years ago.

The increase in speed is very significant. For example, because many of the processes of recruitment can be carried out more rapidly, recruiterscan now bill at higher volumes relative to the timethey spend on tasks.

By the same token, hiring authorities have alwayswanted positions filled promptly and technology has

given them heightened expectations of satisfaction.Thus, while the technology provides the recruiter with ways to streamline and speed up the process,there is increased pressure on the recruiter to deliver soonerand from a more widely and deeplysearchable population.

Gerry Crispin,Principal ,

CareerXroads ,and pioneer in

using the Internet

for recruiting

Technology has improved the efficiency and productivity of the recruiter and the employer.

One particular challenge the new technologyrepresents for recruiters is that it enables clientcompanies to do for themselves much of what theyhave previously engaged third-party recruiters to do.This threat to recruiters is more likely to affect thosewhose focus is on the middle range of

positionsthose which pay between about $50,000and $100,000 annually.


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Also, all recruiters have access to the new search,

matching and applicant-tracking databasetechnology, so that objectively, all recruiters are onthe same footing when it comes to technology.

The operative word is objectively. We know that eventhough a whole industry or group of people can facethe same challenges, not everyone finds or takes upthe available ways, including technology, to deal withthose challenges. LinkedIn is a case in point.

There are many online resources and tools.Increasingly, recruiters are coming to see LinkedIn asthe premier online tool for recruiters. This is borne

out by the interviews conducted for Happy About LinkedIn for Recruiting . From these interviews withrecruiters, including some big billing industryleaders, it is evident that LinkedIn is the leadingonline tool to facilitate and enhance a twenty-firstcentury recruiters success.

On the other hand, it is also evident from theinterviews that:

some recruiters do not see how LinkedIn can helpthem

some recruiters who are LinkedIn members do not

make full use of its features

Joe Pelayo,ExecutiveRecruiter ;

Chief ExecutiveOfficer , Joseph

Michaels Inc., andPinnacle member

LinkedIn is a breakthrough tool that most people dont understand.


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For LinkedIn, that lack of understanding or utilization

is a significant challenge. But for recruiters who findout what LinkedIn has to offer and decide to seizethe day it represents an unparalleled opportunity todramatically enhance their business. This book showshow recruiters are doing this right now.

Some key reasons for lack of understanding or underutilization of LinkedIn are:

seeing LinkedIn too simply, as just another databaseof candidates

not investigating or utilizing the advanced features of LinkedIn

Arthur Young,Founder at Delta

ResourcesInternational,

Recruiter.com andthe Recruitment

Consulting Group

Industry specialist Arthur Young, founder at DeltaResources International, Recruiter.com and theRecruitment Consulting Group, commented on theimpressive achievement of LinkedIn, in bringingtogether so many people from the recruiting industry.Speaking of numbers of people in the industry, in

North America, he said If we include staffing and weinclude the staff at the retained companies, as well asthird party recruiters, were probably looking at about100,000 people. That would also include contractrecruiters who operate on a company site, or using

company resources, corporate resources, but are notemployees. Add to that an estimated 30,000recruiters in other countries and it is immediatelyevident that the more than 90,000 recruiters who areLinkedIn members constitute a very high proportionof the global recruitment industrys population.

It is quite natural that when recruiters first come intocontact with LinkedIn, one of the first things to strikethem is that with over 25 million members, largely inthe executive and professional sectors, LinkedIn is agreat source of candidates for a wide range of

positions, especially the higher paying ones. And they

are not wrong.


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There is no question that LinkedIn represents a

formidable database of potential candidates. Oftenmany of them are the hard-to-find passive candidatesthat so much of the recruiting effort is designed touncover. LinkedIn also represents an incomparablenetwork of people, business owners, vice presidentsand others in key positions to decide or influencehiring decisions across a range of industry sectors andmany companies.

CraigSilverman,

Executive Vice

President of Salesand Marketing ,HireAbility

What Ive learned since becoming an avid user of the application is that it aids a large number of recruitment functions and services. LinkedIn has

been a great way for our recruiters to locate somenew business opportunities and buildrelationships with hiring managers that want totake advantage of recruitment services. At thesame time, its a great way for people to findcandidates that might be either passively or actively looking for work.

But LinkedIn is much more than a database of potential candidates and hiring authorities. As theinterviews conducted for this book have consistentlyconfirmed, LinkedIn has great value beyond its role

as a database. In fact, for many very successfulrecruiters, LinkedIns value as a networking andmarketing tool is seen as being, if anything, greater than its value as a database.

Gerry Crispin LinkedIn is a tool for building relationships tocontribute to long-term business.

What has also emerged from the interviews is thatLinkedIn enables recruiters to find and connect moreeffectively with other recruiters interested in working

collaboratively. LinkedIn has a significant role to play for recruiters looking for such collaborative


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deals and splits, arrangements in which two or more

recruiters agree to share the search for candidates andsplit the fees. Through the introduction and referralsystem on LinkedIn, the availability of detailed

profiles, and the provision of endorsements, recruiterscan find other individual recruitment specialists andfirms with whom they can establish relationships of trust and broach possible collaborative arrangements.In the past year, some 16 per cent of all recruitmentdeals industry-wide were splits, and interviewresponses suggest that this percentage can beexpected to grow, especially with the help of LinkedIn.

Another way in which recruiters on LinkedInleverage their membership is by joiningLinkedIn-related groups, either the officiallyrecognized LinkedIn groups or one or more of thevarious online discussion and mailing list groups.

In short, the recruiter who will stand out and excel inthe industry today will be someone who has learnedto harness the power of LinkedIn and related groupsas a marketing and networking tool as well as a highlyvalued database and aid to managing the recruitment

process.

Shally Steckerl,Leading

Recruitment Speaker and

Consultant

I may not necessarily be the person everybodylooks for, but I want to be connected or associated with many of the people everybodyelse looks for. Because being that connector,that node in this network, increases my value as arecruiter. So its not that I use LinkedIn as a hugedatabase like Monster where I can do a search,

pull up a rsum and recruit that person.Typically what I do with LinkedIn is marketmyself, market the opportunity to network withme, and market my company and what I do.


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Chris Forman,

CEO , AIRS

"LinkedIn's a great tool. Learn about it. Use it. It

changes a lot. One of the things I love about theteam at LinkedIn is that they're innovators. Theyare a rapid prototyping shop of great ideas. Andso every day that tool is new and interesting andvaluable. And you know I have to go in and learnhow to use it. And our labs team goes and looksat it on a regular basis. We're constantly amazedat the cool things it has from a capabilitystandpoint. So learn, use. Don't discount. Don'tsay 'I looked at it once,' and not go back to itagain. Continue to use it. But again, it's only atool. It's not a panacea."

The following chapters discuss:

Why and how high-billing recruiters use LinkedIn asa very effective means to market their services andbuild their networks

Why LinkedIn is the smart way to start a search for candidates and often the best tool to complete asearch

How LinkedIn can be used to find and develop newbusiness in a trust-based network

How using LinkedIn effectively can turn cold callsinto warm calls, with door-opening introductions andthird-party endorsements.

How to stand out from the crowd How LinkedIn facilitates collaboration and splits Practical action steps to leverage membership in

LinkedIn


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C h a p t e r

2 The LinkedIn Solutionto ProfessionalRecruiting: AnOverview

General

Bret Hollander,Sr.

Recruiter/Talent Acquisition

Director,NETRECRUITER

LinkedIn has a tremendous amount of resources. I think the biggest problem from therecruiting perspective is that most people are notutilizing everything LinkedIn has to offer, or dont know how to leverage whats there.

MarcFreedman, Chief

Marketing Officer ,

WeMeUsCEO and Founder ,Dallas Blue

Business Network

Theres a lot of shockwhen people firstexperience LinkedIn. It can be very exciting. It isvery complicated. There is a lot going on.


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12 Chapter 2: The LinkedIn Solution to Professional Recruiting: An Overview

This chapter provides an overview of what users must

know and do to get maximum leverage from their LinkedIn membership:

getting known getting connected getting endorsements using the search and reference tools effectively LinkedIns premium services

Particular attention is paid to the quality vs.quantity issue, probably the most commonly debatedtopic online and offline among serious users of LinkedIn.

Getting KnownThe first step in getting known through LinkedIn is toensure your LinkedIn profile is complete and up todate and it is important to ensure you are listed in theright services category.

The importance of a complete, current profile

For a job seeker, a complete, current profile on

LinkedIn is clearly an advantage. Recruiters onLinkedIn also recognize the importance of their own

profiles being complete and up to date, to supportthem in finding and building business via LinkedIn.That means making full use of the way the LinkedIn

profile format enables members to list what they arelooking for, in terms of positions, businessopportunities or collaborations.

David Teten,Co-Managing

Director ,

Evalueserve Circleof Experts

At Nitron Advisors, we focus on leveraging people's virtual presence, via online networks,LinkedIn, blogs, social network sites, virtual

communities, and so on. It is more and morenormative that people have a virtual presence.


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Particularly in the tech industry, its almost

standard that before you meet with someone youGoogle them, search for their digital trail. Andeven people not in the technology industryalmost always have a digital trail.

David Allen,President , Century

Associates and35-year veteran

recruiter

I think that if you can list the kinds of work thatyouve done on your profile, you build up your own individual network, and you respond tothose individuals on your network to let themknow of your specialties and your successes, thatenables individuals to be comfortable with you,which in turn makes them feel more comfortable

in giving you assignments and in giving yousearches to work on.

Shally Steckerl Put every job youve ever had on your profile,everything going back all the way to when youwere flipping hamburgers at McDonalds,

because every one of those experiences can yieldother opportunities.

Jim Stroud,Social Media

Development Manager ,EnglishCafe.com

I would tell recruiters to optimize their profile.Thats paramount. Then I would tell them to list

very conclusively what they have to offer, andthen list what they are in need of. People want tohelp people. But you have to help them help you.So listing what you have to give and what yourein need of helps both parties.

SuzanneTonini, Manager ,Internet Research

(Center of Excellence) at

Deloitte

List your strengths and accomplishments. Anduse keywords. Keywords are important anywhereon the Internet. As many keywords as apply toyour industry, background, accomplishments,whatever youve doneput them in there. Thenanybody who wants to network with you will be

able to find you easier.


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On the LinkedIn website there is a Learning Center,

which includes a good introduction to setting up a profile. 3

Endorsements demonstrate respect andtrustworthiness

LinkedIns unique endorsement feature is highlyvalued by recruiters and sourcing specialists.

Shally Steckerl Get a lot of endorsements from people you trust. Not fake endorsements, not just asking anybodythat you knowGo out there and develop

stronger relationships with the people youalready know and have them put their name onyour page.

Tina Boone,Branch Manager at

Controller'sGroup, Inc.

Ive leveraged LinkedIn into a marketing toolfor myself: the endorsements and my statementthere, my profile, are very important. I guide mycandidates to it. I will send my LinkedIn link tocandidates. They can take a look at myendorsements. It helps me build a level of trustwith them.I think the endorsements are huge.

Join LinkedIn Groups

A number of recruiters make use of groups within theofficial LinkedIn Groups category, such as groups for college alumni, professional organizations andindustry conference groups. 4 One advantage of beinga member of one or more of these groups is the extrasearch functionality provided within the respectivegroups.

3. http://learn.linkedin.com/profiles/4. There is a directory of these officially recognized LinkedIn

groups at http://www.linkedin.com/groupsDirectory .
http://www.linkedin.com/groupsDirectoryhttp://www.linkedin.com/groupsDirectoryhttp://www.linkedin.com/groupsDirectoryhttps://www.linkedin.com/static?key=about_providing_services


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There are also LinkedIn related groups on other

systems, such as the many LinkedIn-related groups onYahoo! Groups. 5 These groups, which are set up asforums or discussion groups with mailing lists,

provide a way of comparing notes on how best toleverage LinkedIn.

The subject of using groups is discussed further inChapter 6 in the context of networking.

Getting ConnectedLinkedIn provides some very helpful tools for quickly

building a LinkedIn network, based on people themember knows and trusts. One such tool is thedownloadable Outlook Toolbar which automates the

process of collecting the members existing emailcontacts, checking whether they are on LinkedIn andthen enabling the member to invite them to join themembers LinkedIn network. 6 The toolbar helps you

build your network with people you contactfrequently, manage your LinkedIn contacts fromwithin Outlook and stay connected to your network via Outlook.

5. See http://www.yahoogroups.com .6. Download LinkedIn Outlook Toolbar

http://www.linkedin.com/static?key=outlook_toolbar_download
http://www.yahoogroups.com/http://www.yahoogroups.com/


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StuartThompson,

Director of Talent Development , The

McGraw-HillCompanies

The Outlook Toolbar is a great timesaver. Anytime I can consolidate the amount of things I haveopen on my computer and be able to use onesystem to do more than one thing, Im thrilledabout it. Ive really found the Outlook tool hasconsolidated all of the really essential pieces of LinkedIn I really like, such as the searches, and

being able to collect and find peoplesinformation. Giving it to me on a small toolbar has been really beneficial.

TIP For new LinkedIn Users Personalize the standardor boilerplate LinkedIn invitation messages. This willsignificantly increase chances of a positive response rate.


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Quality vs. QuantityA regular topic of discussion in various newsgroups,online and privately, is the concept of a qualitynetwork versus a quantity network:

quality in the sense of a small, tight network of people one can work with, know and trust, or

quantity as in a lot of people, who can provide agreat deal of access

LinkedIn is understandably very protective of thequality of the network, and this view is expressed in aconservative view of how people should connect,using the word in the LinkedIn sense of someoneactually joining a network and being a first-degreeconnection, not in the broader sense of makingcontact.

LinkedIn managements approach is indicated by thetext that a member sees when he or she is about toreply to a request for a connection:

LinkedInManagement

We recommend that you only connect with professionals you know well and who you aregenerally willing to recommend to your other

business contacts.

Commenting on LinkedIns rules for connecting,Konstantin Guericke, then VP Marketing andCo-Founder at LinkedIn, observed that this issueneeds to be looked at on two levels, a basic level of what members are allowed to do in connecting withother members and a level of best practice for networking, which allows for a variety of approaches.


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Konstantin

Guericke,CEO, jaxtr Former VP

Marketing and Co-Founder ,

LinkedIn

The first level is what is allowed by the user

agreement, because those are the rules thateverybody needs to adhere to when theyre joining LinkedIn. That means that when youinvite people, those people already know you. Itmeans that when you contact people, you use thecontact mechanisms provided by LinkedIn.

The interviews for this book indicate that recruiterswho use LinkedIn on a daily basis have generally

been focused on building a large network.

JonWilliamson,

President ,Southron Dreams

As I understand it, there are two schools of philosophy on online networking. One is whatLinkedIn suggests that you do, which is toconnect only with people who you know and trustvery well. The other is that you should be open toconnection with almost anybody, because youdont know if some gentleman or lady in Belarusmay not be acquainted with a software developer in Topeka, Kansas, who knows a hiring manager in Chicago, who may offer you a job.

Marc Freedman A recruiters objective is to get business. Its togenerate leads, its to be known and its to reach

people. So in that context, because thats your business objective, Ive seen it work verysuccessfully. And I highly recommend thatactive, aggressive recruiters focus on buildingtheir connections, because once theyve built alarge list of connections it works multiple waysfor them.

It will allow a recruiter to reach candidates thatyou didnt have access to and it will bring thosecandidates closer than otherwise. Instead of

being three connections away maybe theyre onlyone connection away.


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Peter Weddle,

Owner ,WEDDLEs LLC

Networking is about relationships. Its about

building trust and confidence and familiarity.And you cant do that simply with an e-mailmessage that invites somebody to come into anetwork. It has to be developed and worked, inmy opinion.

The feedback that Im getting is that a messagefrom someone who is not known by somebodyelse, which comes in through networkingtechnology, is viewed as intrusive. In fact, at asummit that Yahoo! held last week suchmessages were actually described as spam thenew spam on the Internet. So I would argue thatthe quantity idea really does nothing more thanfacilitate access to the low-hanging fruit, the

people who are already likely to move. If theyarent active job seekers they are just about readyto be active.

If youre trying to connect with the truly greattalent, the best talent, the people whoseemployers already take good care of them, whoare highly valued in their field, who make anextraordinary contribution to their employer,then that kind of contact requires a qualitativedimension that I think can be facilitated by theInternet but cant be replaced with a broad,

shotgun approach to networking.

Others interviewed for this book emphasize quality,although not to the exclusion of quantity.

StuartThompson

You want to be selective on whom you bring into your connections and who you have on your list, that theyre people that add value to yourself and to what youre looking to do with LinkedIn.And I would encourage people to be selective on

bringing in people that you can help and will be


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able to help you, so that you really create those

networking relationships, create mutually beneficial relationships.

Gerry Crispin I am not into a quantity model and this is the guywho has 700 people connected to him onLinkedIn and who also believes that I cannetwork with more than 25,000 people inrecruiting every month. So when I say I am notinto quantity I mean that a bit tongue in cheek.But the point is Im not focused on quantity, Imfocused on a quality relationship with another individual, a very specific one.

I will not engage as a connection anyone that Ihaven't met, and meeting with someone meanshaving a conversation with them after aconference meeting, it means talking to them onthe phone, it means engaging them in any number of different ways. I want to have some sense of who this person is and what they're about, and Iwant them to have some sense of me. So, if thatstrue and they opt in to a connection with me,thats great.

CraigSilverman

At HireAbility we encourage people to go in thequality direction because the belief is strong thata good relationship is going to be much morevaluable to you. But at the same time, its almostlike a startup company. You need revenue. Youneed some activity. And with LinkedIn theressome of that quantity activity there as well.

So, for example, I have a newsletter. 25,000 people read the newsletter that we put out everymonth. So when I see high volumes of peoplewho read that newsletter and click through, itsvery easy for me to see who those people are and

potentially invite some of those people and see if


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they could be interested in being in my LinkedIn

network.

A balancing act? What seems to be at issue here is thatthere are two different perspectives on how best tonetwork. The quality argument is for building astrong network by establishing connections with

people one knows professionally or personally andwith whom there is mutual trust. The quantityargument, at least as many recruiters see it, is for

building a large network because one does not knowat the outset what connections will be needed in thefuture.

Among the recruiters who use LinkedIn as a key partof their business, the current consensus seems to bethat by building a large network as quickly as possiblethey will have a greater pool of contacts to network with, be they candidates, clients or other recruiters.

It is worth noting however, as Konstantin Guericke pointed out, that with the Business or Pro membershipsystem, searching on LinkedIn is no longer limited to

people in an individuals own network, so evenrecruiters with few connections can now access theentire LinkedIn network.

KonstantinGuericke

Its really a trade-off that recruiters make between time and money. Some recruiters have alot more time available than money. They focuson things they can do for free within their ownnetwork. For people where time is more at a

premium, they tend to go with a Pro account.

Basically, recruiters building their networks need astrategy that works for everyone they deal with, andeach of those people will be in one of the followingfive groups:


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a current or potential candidate

a current or potential client a current or potential reference a current or potential center of influence a current or potential recruiter for split activity.

There is no doubt that everyone wants qualityconnections. But recruiters also need to have a lot of connections, including both those currently neededconnections and potential future connections, for their businesses to develop and grow. They need todig the well before they are thirsty.

None of the interviewees argued for quantity at any price, but there is little doubt that the moredetermined recruiters on LinkedIn are keen to havelarge networks as well as quality relationships.

Using the Search andReference Tools EffectivelySeveral recruiters emphasize the importance of usingthe powerful search capacity built into LinkedIn. 7

Ron Bates pointed out that as a searchable database,LinkedIn provides an excellent resource withinformation about millions of people, albeit limited

by how much somebody chose to put in his or her profile.

As LinkedIn is an opt-in database, with membershaving complete control over the content of their

profiles and also being able to indicate the types of

7. There is a useful guide to the various search possibilities at theLinkedIn website Learning Center, under Search:http://learn.linkedin.com/linkedin-search/


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requests they are open to receiving, people are more

likely to respond to requests than if their contactdetails have been found from some other database.

Speaking of LinkedIns comparative effectiveness asan organized database, Shally Steckerl used the imageof an offline library and, in a dramatic image, likenedother search engines to a library card index system,

but with the library cards strewn on the floor:

Shally Steckerl A lot of times the privileges of membership inLinkedIn allow you access to information thatwouldnt normally be publicly available. In other

words, its not part of that card catalog on thefloor, its actually part of one of the books youhave to take out of the library and open. But

because of that its much more organized.

MaureenSharib,

Human ResourcesResearcher;

NamesSourcer/Sourcing Methods Trainer;Names Generator

at techtrak.com

I think sourcers are using LinkedIn in the sameway as they are using other information portals.Theyre going to LinkedIn in order to get atoehold.


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More than one power user of LinkedIn remarked on

its value for finding people in strongly specialized positions, who may be deep down in a company andnot readily located. Keith Halperin was looking for aRF engineer in Denver and had used other searchtools without success. He drilled down in LinkedInand found someone.

Ron Bates demonstrated how to use the search featureof LinkedIn to connect with an individual therecruiter is not yet acquainted with. His approach is touse LinkedIn to identify relevant companies togenerate a peer level search, find people who wouldknow the individual the recruiter is seeking to contact,

and then network through those people to connectwith that individual.

David Perry,Managing Partner ,

Perry-MartelInternational Inc.

LinkedIn is a great tool! Whenever you search,the hardest part is, you know, starting. Where doyou find them? Who are the people you need totalk to? LinkedIn is a great tool for primarysourcing. Its a great tool for trying to break intoa company to find out who to talk to, becauseeven if the perfect prospect is not directly inLinkedIn, one of their co-workers probably is.

Some of the search features of LinkedIn may not beimmediately evident to a new user but can acceleratea search considerably. For example, you can searchfor a particular person by name, or search with or without a name, using various search parameters,such as location, industry, area of expertise, and/or company name.


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The capacity to search for references is another valued tool for a recruiter or sourcer. It can save agreat deal of time in locating people who may knowthe person a member is interested in contacting,whether as a prospective candidate or for businessdevelopment. Any member can search for people whohave worked at particular companies during specified

periods. A member with a Business or Pro accountcan then check on the most appropriate way to contactthe individuals concerned.

Business or Pro accountholders have access to the

powerful one click reference tool, which is linked toeach of the profiles displayed in the reference searchresults. This tool allows you to quickly see who in thenetwork may have worked with the person inquestion, and refine the search progressively.

RondaWoodcox,

Owner and President, TalentScout Recruiting

I was conducting a search for a Fortune 100company, where Id used the connections andreferrals approach on LinkedIn. One of the

people contacted me back and said Im notqualified for this. However, I do have a group thatIm involved with, that I run, and I would very

much like to be able to post your informationabout this position. At that time, none of these


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people were involved with LinkedIn and I was

able, through this contact, to tap into thisamazing resource of people who were incrediblyqualified and exactly what my client was lookingfor. From there, I was able to place them and itworked out very successfully. I never would haveknown of that person without LinkedIn.

LinkedIns PremiumServices

For any recruiter wanting to use LinkedIn for their business, one of the Premium accounts is amust-have. There are three levels of Premiumaccount: Business, Business Plus and Pro. Amongother benefits, there is no question that the searchcapability is significantly enhanced by upgrading to aPremium account.

There is a list of account types online, with features, benefits and pricing for each, in the LinkedIn FAQand Help section, under the heading PremiumAccounts. 8 This list also includes the Personal Plusaccount type, which is more modestly priced and islimited in its search capacity, compared to the other account types in the list.

The same page links to an account type comparisontable (see image on next page) which does not includethe Personal Pro or Pro accounts but does include acolumn for the relatively new Enterprise levelaccount type, Corporate Solutions .

Any of the premium accounts provide expanded profiles for candidates outside the members ownnetwork. According to LinkedIn, the typical user has

8. http://www.linkedin.com/static?key=customer_service_premium


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fewer than 80 connections and a network of fewer

than 30,000, so upgrading to a premium account hasa dramatic multiplier effect on the members reach, because it provides access to the whole, 25 million plus network. The premium member is also able tocontact any of these members directly.

A Business, Business Plus or Pro account gives muchmore access to the LinkedIn network than a Personal(free) account. These premium accounts also provideaccess to LinkedIn's InMail service and render themember more accessible (in a personally controllableway) to other LinkedIn members, through theOpenLink system. They also allow the member to

send more invitations and InMails, the numbersincreasing with the level of premium account, fromthree a month for a Business account to fifty a monthfor a Pro account. There is also a response guarantee:if a candidate doesn't respond within seven days,

premium account holders automatically get a freeInMail credit to contact another candidate directly.

As indicated in the table below, LinkedIn has recentlyintroduced a new Enterprise level of service,designated as Corporate Solutions and offering ahigher level of service, including a superior level of access to the network, exclusive tools, dedicatedaccount managers and customized training. Theservice is designed for corporate staffingdepartments. There is an onsite demo and companieswishing to know more should contact LinkedIn viathe form provided for the purpose on the LinkedInsite. 9

9. http://www.linkedin.com/static?key=corporate_landing


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Randy Bogue,Managing Director,

Venator Partners

We use InMail frequently. We find that were pleased with the value we receive from it. Andwe use it on pretty much every search. Its notexclusively what we use, but we use it.

Another premium service, tailor made for recruiters

with multiple positions to fill, provides for: Purchasing job packs in multiples of five or ten Arranging directly with LinkedIn to advertise jobs on

the basis of a corporate subscription. 10

Because responses to the job advertisements comethrough the LinkedIn system, the recruiter who isadvertising is able to see any connections theapplicant shares with them and whether any of therecruiters connections has worked with the applicantat some stage.

10. See http://www.linkedin.com/hiring .


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Recruiters using this service can also let their own

network know about advertised positions, whichcould result in a passive candidate being attracted toapply.

Roger King,CEO , Chief People

We started out with InMail when InMail firstcame out and we really see the value of InMail,in that it gives us the opportunity to contact

people directly, rather than going through thechain of our two to three referrals that might be

between us and the person that were trying to getto.

I think we go through 50 to 100 InMails amonth. I think the success rates pretty high. Onthe one hand were pretty conservative on howwe use InMails, because we want to keep out fivestar rating, meaning we make sure the InMails wesend out are appropriate to the profiles of thecandidates were posting to. So were not doinglarge InMail blasts. And I would say the responseweve had has been probably 80% Yes, Iminterested and 20% No, but thank you.

The response is high because (a) you can readthe profiles of the candidates, whether or nottheyre open to a career opportunity, and (b) you

can read something about their background andwhat theyre doing and get a feel for whether theyare or might be a fit for your current client.


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Checklist for ActionBecome known on LinkedInHave an up-to-date profileSeek quality endorsementsJoin LinkedIn GroupsGet connected building a large network based onquality connectionsUse search and reference tools effectivelyUpgrade to a Premium account


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C h a p t e r

3 LinkedIn for Marketingand Finding NewClients

LinkedIn, with its four million-plus members and a

powerful search engine, is obviously a potential toolfor recruiters seeking candidates for various positions. The bigger picture, which is not alwaysobvious at first glance, but clear to expert recruiterswho are experienced LinkedIn users, is this: LinkedInis a powerful networking tool, with significant

benefits for recruiters marketing their own services,finding opportunities for business development, andlocating candidates.

Vincent Wright,Founder and

President , WrightEnterprises

I think LinkedIns strength shows up in findingclients. It gives you a huge, almost inexhaustible

array of companies and executives you can readabout in unusual detail. You have their profilesthere, in most instances. You have an opportunityto see who they know as well. So it gives you arich pool of knowledge.


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32 Chapter 3: LinkedIn for Marketing and Finding New Clients

The importance of a complete, current profile

As several quotes in the previous chapter showed, anumber of people interviewed stressed theimportance of the LinkedIn profile for marketing andattracting new business. Having a well-constructed,up-to-date LinkedIn profile is clearly an essential stepfor a LinkedIn member seeking to be hired. Individualrecruiters should also ensure that their profilescommunicate their own messages to the market ascomprehensively and with as much detail as possible.

Shally Steckerl says a profile that works for LinkedInnetworking will be different from a rsum-style

profile, where most people put in what they think arethe highlights of their careers. He recommendshaving a profile that tells your story: what you are likeand what makes you who you are, and to put every jobyou have ever had on your profile, using as anexample his own profiles reference to having been inthe Peace Corps as one more way I can connect.

But a good profile needs more than an interestingstory. An effective profile in LinkedIns elaboratelyconstructed, highly searchable database system willincorporate the key words for the LinkedIn membersinterests, employment history and industry, even

casual or vacation jobs. It will also include accuratetitles, as this is a specific, well-used field for LinkedInsearches.


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Case Study: Improving theValue of Travel byConnecting withProspective ClientsThe geographic search capability of LinkedIn is veryhelpful when recruiters are looking for prospectiveclients in specific locations.

Carl Kutsmode,Human Capital

Management

Consultant ,Expertise inRecruitment

ProcessOptimization and

Outsourcing

About a year ago I was traveling to the Pacific Northwest. I only had one client meeting set up inSeattle, didnt have any other prospects out there.I thought, well, lets see whos in LinkedInconnected to me and what companies are outthere. Sure enough, through a LinkedInconnection, I got a connection at Expedia.com.Didnt end up doing business yet, but got ameeting and some great insights into theorganization. Im staying in touch with them andhave actually gotten referrals to candidates fromthat person.

Rick Shull, President at RGS Research Partners, alsouses the geographic area search capability of

LinkedIn to look for potential new clients in areaswhere his firm does business:

Rick Shull,President, RGS

Research Partners

I have utilized LinkedIn from a marketing perspective. Oftentimes, what I will do is I look for members of LinkedIn that are in thegeographical areas in which we do business andoftentimes will reach out to them throughLinkedIn to see if they would be open to whatyou might call meet and greet sessions, tointroduce our services, and to hear more about


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what they do. Thats been somewhat effective,

especially in the geographical markets where our firm is known.

Gerry Crispin talked about how a small recruiting business can better utilize LinkedIn to find newclients:

Gerry Crispin I would be focusing in on clients, and looking atidentifying potential clients, using LinkedIn, andwould stay away from multi-national firms. Iwould be focusing on firms where I can have an

introduction and would work my way down achain that allowed me to engage small firmsabout their interests, their needs and what gaps Imight be able to fill.

Gerry also spoke about how he uses LinkedIn as partof his marketing:

Gerry Crispin So number one, I think its part of my sales andmarketing strategy. My interest in using LinkedInand a couple of other services, is in connecting or meeting every person that influences staffing in amajor corporation in the United States. So thatsa finite number of companies, thats a finitenumber of people. I know the names and the titlesof everybody in this country that I want to meetand I know what percentage of them Ive alreadymet.

My accessed information on LinkedIn gives mea list of companies, the people in them and their titles and often their contact information, as wellas who I know who knows them.


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LinkedIn broadens the recruiters field of possibilities

for new business:

Doug Beabout,Professional

Speaker, Training and Coaching

Consultant and Contractor

I think LinkedIn has become widely popular for a very good reason. It provides us with anelectronic means to get to know others on alllevels, who can help us to do business, whereotherwise we would not even be aware. And so itexpands our vista. It gives us an opportunity, notonly to hook up with people who may use us asrecruiters, or may become a placed candidate.But it goes so far beyond that, because it gives meopportunities to meet people in other cultures. It

gives me an opportunity to meet people in other venues where Im not involved directly at myown recruiting desk. And it gives me a chance tounderstand whats going on somewhere else andwhats hot and whats not. I mean, just on a rawlevel its a great networking tool.

But it also leads me towards people who lead metowards people who are clients. And I dont knowwhat that old saying is, but I think were all,what, seven people removed from everybodyelse? And LinkedIn cuts that number downconsiderably. Ive had so many interesting peoplecontact me because I put a profile on, I contactedothers, I worked the system. And people havecontacted me that I had no idea I might be able todo business with and did do business with,simply because LinkedIn was there and it worksso well.


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David Perry finds new clients by seeking

opportunities for candidates who have beenshort-listed for positions but not hired for those positions:

David Perry Every time I find a search I finish up with fiveor six guys that are great and youre only ever going to have one of them. And if youve doneyour job right as a recruiter it usually comesdown to a fit of chemistry. So the question

becomes, what do I do with the other five guys?

The answer to that question is that I get hold of them and I say, You went through the dance andyou werent successful, for whatever reason. Areyou interested in continuing the process? And if they say yes, then Ill log on to LinkedIn and Illdo a search for companies in the same area, either in the same area of industry or the samegeographic area, or both. Ill find who thePresident is and the VP of Engineering, or whoever I happen to need. And Ill go and do a

presentation of one or two of those candidates tothat employer.

In a comment with special resonance for people with

in-house recruitment responsibilities, Kevin Wheeler explained the value to be gained for a companysemployment brand by encouraging peoplewell-disposed to the company to join LinkedIn.

Kevin Wheeler,President/Founder

Global LearningResources, Inc.

"If you can get people who have a positive viewof your company to be in the LinkedIn network and to talk about it in positive ways in their communication with their friends and in any of their social activities, youre promoting the

brand. And the more people you have, the more'friends of the company' you can get into your

network, the broader and better your corporateemployment brand is going to become."


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A Path of TrustedConnectionsOne of the advantages of LinkedIn for recruiterswanting to connect with potential clients is thatLinkedIn provides a path of trusted connections tokey people in companies the recruiter would like toengage as clients. The internal LinkedIn e-mailsystem, InMail, is also helpful, especially as therecipient knows the sender paid to reach the recipient,unlike regular free email, and the InMail Feedback system shows the recipient how the last ten peoplecontacted by this person via InMail responded tothose contacts, whether favorably or not.

David Teten Its easier to get to people on LinkedIn becausetheres a path to get to them. One of the reasonswhy LinkedIn is successful is that, to quote RossMayfield 11, email is broken. Its more and moredifficult to get peoples attention with just anemail, because email is so overburdened withspam, bulk cc'ing, and so on. With LinkedInsInMail system, as well as their standardreferral system, there is a way to get peoplesattention much more effectively than with asimple, direct mail.

11. Ross Mayfield is CEO and founder of SocialText


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Case Study: BuildingBusiness by HelpingAnother with StrategicIntroductions

Josh Arnold,Owner , Arnold

Career Services,a nationwide

recruiting service

I try to find anybody in the recruiting field or people who would have use of recruiters or people who are in our industry, and I respond todifferent newsgroups.

These are great opportunities to post, to look atthe kinds of challenges recruiters are faced with,those charged with acquiring professional staff,talent, for companies, and its a great way tointeract with people. So the more people you canreach out and help, the better off you are. Let megive you a little story. I received this messagefrom LinkedIn where someone asked me, Willyou link me up to so-and-so?

I got it and Im reviewing it. The man is anauditor of workers compensation profiles for companies. So I asked him the question, I wrote

back and I said, Ive made your referral asrequested: do you do work for the public sector?

And he wrote back, yes, absolutely. So I wroteand introduced him to the local Mayor, theDeputy Mayor and the Personnel Director of our town, and said, This is the service this man

provides, this might be something you coulduse. Then I wrote to a guy I used to work with, aformer colleague, because I was in educationaladministration. Hes now the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Association of SchoolBusiness Officials. I wrote to him and said,Look, this is a good guy, good services, its avalue-added proposition, business officials coulduse this. Then at the same time, I wrote to theauditor guy, I ccd him on the whole thing and


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said, You should write to this guyjoin their

group as a vendor, theres a price involved, andthen get access to the distribution list of the people that are there: thats a great marketopportunity. It took me probably three or four minutes out of my day to help that guy but I just opened upmultiple, you know hundreds or so doors of

business opportunity for him. Hes forever grateful. Thats where you give something back to the industry, and eventually those things filter out and eventually someones going to do thesame thing for you.

Standing Out Fromthe CrowdMarc Freedman pointed out that with tens of thousands of recruiters on LinkedIn today, those whowant to be successful will need to stand out from thecrowd through smarter marketing, including personalor business branding as well as marketing candidates.

Other interviewees emphasized various aspects of marketing that can be enhanced by more effective useof LinkedIn.

Gerry Crispin The market part is how you position yourself asa recruiter. That actually helps you three ways: ithelps you in terms of people who are runningsearches and want to find you; it helps you interms of sending out requests that you want to beaccepted; and it helps you in terms of findingcandidates.

Anybody in any business should start with the

point of who are these prospects out there andwhat are they about? Who do they know? Do any


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of the people I know, know them? Do they show

up in various places that I could also go to andmeet them?

Ron Bates LinkedIns an additional branding tool to help brand myself in the firm that I work for from anexposure perspective. You know youve got a

profile in there, it can be hit by people that aredoing searches, when they are looking for services, for example.

In terms of reaching out to people, if I identify acompany that I think could precipitate either animmediate or a future opportunity, I canobviously identify an executive and then figureout how I want to approach them. Being able touse LinkedIn as a database to identify corporateexecutives, from a business development

perspective is, I think, of huge value.

Jerry Bernhart,Owner , Bernhart

AssociatesExecutive Search

Its natural just to send a message through tosomebody saying, Hey, I may have a greatcandidate. Can I contact you? I know about your

business. Ive checked your website. Ive lookedat your bio on LinkedIn, so I know somethingabout you and your background and your

business, what you do. I may have someone thatyou may be interested in. I mean, what a greatway to market candidates! Because thats more of a warm marketing contact. Its not callingsomeone out of the blue.


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Checklist for ActionHave a well-constructed, up-to-date LinkedIn ProfileDevelop trusted connectionsHelp others with introductionsStand out from the crowdCheck a potential clients profile before makingcontact (create a warm marketing contact)


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C h a p t e r

4 LinkedIn for Candidate SourcingIn using LinkedIn for finding candidates, recruiters

need to recognize that they are operating in a climateof intense change. They are facing a boom or bubble,where the aging population will depart from theworkforce and there will be an immense talent gap.That coming gap represents many opportunities, bothgood and bad, for recruiters. The good part is thatrecruiters will have as much work as they can handle,the bad part is that it will be increasingly difficult tofind the right people with the right talents for companies.

Networks like LinkedIn give the recruiter anopportunity to interact and interface with the passivecandidate who is not knocking on the recruiters door,and allows the recruiter to knock on the candidatesdoor. Because a LinkedIn profile is provided directly

by the owner and is completely and directly editableat any time by the profiles owner, it can be expectedto be much more accurate than profiles on other databases built by automatically generating profiles

based on information from the Web and/or SECfilings. Additionally, many professionals at theDirector level or in internal roles (like legal, IT and

purchasing) don't show up in press releases or indatabases compiled from mentions on the Web, butmay maintain their professional profile on LinkedIn.


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44 Chapter 4: LinkedIn for Candidate Sourcing

Roger King "We start the recruiting process by wrapping our

arms around what the ideal profile is of thecandidate the client's looking for, what type of company they need to come from, the specificindustry, the specific role that individuals held inthe past and the challenges they might be facingmoving forward. So the beginning of our processis basically research, meaning where are thosecompanies, where are those individuals, wheredo they hang, where do they meet, where do theyspeak, and of course where they are currentlyworking? LinkedIn is a valuable tool in terms of finding those passive candidates and getting intotheir network and starting preliminary

conversations."

GlennGutmacher,

Recruiting Researcher at

MicrosoftCorporation and

Founder of Recruiting-online.

com

LinkedIn is the largest portal, in terms of number of professional users, that would be of value to a recruiter. There may be other, larger networks in total, but if youre trying to find thekind of information about potential candidatesthat a recruiter would need to act on, LinkedInhas the critical mass for that.

Among the various candidate search resourcesavailable to recruiters, LinkedIn may in manyinstances be the most appropriate place to startsearching:

Keith Halperin,Recruiting Lead,

Senior Recruiter,Recruiting Strategist ,

RecruitmentProcess

Outsourcing (RPO)Consultant

Many LinkedIn people are available throughother channels but youre able to find themthrough LinkedIn first, and more efficiently.


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LinkedIns search options lend themselves to

systematic searching for candidates and some lateralthinking about search parameters: 12

BrianAnderson,

President ,BA Search Group ;

ExecutiveSearch Consultant

If Ive got a search that Ill conduct Ill get onLinkedIn and populate the keyword search. Or Imay use the competitive companies, I may usethe academic tie, I may use the geographic tie.But Ill try to go at it with four or five differentapproaches. I may tap into any associations that

person may belong to, whether its a triple Egroup or specific category, and then Ill work itfour or five different ways. And you know that

sometimes you may tap into a contact who maynot be an exact fit, but that persons going toguide you to the perfect candidate.

I kind of use it with the idea that if youre not thetarget youre still going to be a great opportunityfor me to network with.

Vincent Wright described how he would go aboutconducting a typical search for a candidate,emphasizing his use of Boolean search operators:

Vincent Wright Start with what you need: who do you need tohave for this particular job? Id start with awell-constructed argument for what Im lookingfor, Id construct a good, healthy Boolean searchstring. It really doesnt take that much work toconstruct those search strings. Id let the Booleansearch strings help me out as much as possible.Id then go through my searches and Id look atthe results.

12. There is an excellent post by Adam Nash, "5 Tips on How toSearch LinkedIn Like a Pro" on the LinkedIn blog, explaining

LinkedIn's search capability and especially its excellent use of Boolean search operators:http://blog.linkedin.com/blog/2007/07/5-tips-on-how-t.html


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What LinkedIn then does, it gives you a table of

ten people at a time that you can look at. It alsogives you a little snippet about what the personsexperience is, and some of the keywords will

probably be highlighted there as well.

Id review the persons profile as I wouldnormally review a rsum. Id then click to seewho they know. If they make those detailsavailable, that could be very, very helpful. Andthat means you can get additional informationfrom your own contacts who may know the

person, who may help you with an introduction.

In speaking about searching for candidates, severalrecruiters spoke of the need to realize that whileLinkedIn might not produce the specific candidate arecruiter wants, it is an excellent resource for narrowing the search for that candidate.

Ron Bates LinkedIns a database thats searchable, like alot of other databases that you might have at your disposal, either because theyre your corporatedatabases or theyre subscription-based. You goin to find people, you make the keyword searchesthat make sense given what youre trying to do,to narrow it down and identify people that, basedon the information youre exposed to, look likethey have resonant background for the searchyoure trying to fill at any particular time,whether youre a recruiter or youre a hiringexecutive at a company thats trying to fill a

position.

LinkedIn is a great resource, given the fact thatits got over four million people in it. Youresomewhat limited by how much informationsomeone chose to put in a profile, so far as howyou end up hitting them through searches. But

then theres also identifying companies thatwould precipitate a peer-level candidate for a


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search that youre doing. If you cant find that

candidate in LinkedIn, you might then try andfind an individual who would logically know thatcandidate from a peer perspective that you canthen target and network through to get to thatindividual. Its basically using LinkedIn as adatabase to identify people and candidates.

CarmenHudson, Senior

Manager , TalentAcquisition at

Yahoo! Inc

"LinkedIn is an extremely valuable tool thatallows the average corporate or third-partyrecruiter to work like an executive searchconsultant. When I was an executive searchresearcher, we spent hundreds of hours per

position doing the legwork to develop a network of appropriate candidates. With LinkedIn, I cancreate a very targeted network in minutes."

Greg Buechler,COO at GolfTraxx

Founder & CEO ,OffTheHookJobs

"LinkedIn is an exceptionally good tool for certain types of research, identifying individualsdirectly. And that's primarily how I have used ittypically. I've used it as a direct sourcing tool."

A candidate search on LinkedIn can becomplemented by running an advertisement on

LinkedIn Jobs. After an all-day searchingsession, David Perry had a very positive responsefrom an advertisement:

David Perry Very recently I did a project for a productmanager. I probably started about 6 in themorning and didnt bring my head up until about5 oclock at night, but I ended up with anexhaustive list of people that I wanted to talk to.I probably went through about 1,100 profiles.And LinkedIn had just recently come up with theability to put an ad on LinkedIn Jobs and I ended

up running an ad as well.


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The response to the ad on first day was that I got

9 responses, on the second day I got 37, on thethird day 52. I dont remember the fourth or fifthdays, but they kept coming in for probably abouttwo weeks. By the middle of the second day, theresponses that came in saved me the trouble of having to go after these guys. Id found three thatI was definitely interested in and I folded thatdown to one within three days. We closed inabout two weeks, through the interview process.

Several interviewees mentioned the usefulness of LinkedIn for seeking hard-to-find passive candidatesfor specialized positions.

SandySanderson,

Founding Partner,Meridian Executive

Resources

I recently completed a CEO search for ahard-to-locate executive, for an early stagecompany. The usual process would have taken amonth, to make many calls and maybe come upwith twenty contacts and ten candidates. Runningone placement ad on LinkedIn generatedqualified candidates, and over seventy-five newcontacts. I was able to find five candidates in lessthan a week and completed the search in threeweeks.

Taj Haslani,Owner and President ,

NetPixel Inc.

LinkedIn is playing a very important role in avery hard-to-find-talent area. We dont useLinkedIn for finding a Java programmer, but weuse it for locating people with specific businessknowledge and skills in certain areas.


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Eric Misch,

District SalesManager , ADP -Small Business

Services

"We recently worked on a systems architect

position for a software company in the North Eastand this individual traveled roughly up to fifty percent of his time and definitely was not lookingfor employment at that time. And we usedLinkedIn. We found him on LinkedIn. Wecontacted him and he's now deep into their interview process. We expect him to be hired.There really wouldn't have been any other way tofind this individual. They were located in adifferent area, a different marketplace and he wasnot looking for a job at the time. He would nothave had any reason to make himself visible."

"We know in today's recruiting world it's gettingmore and more difficult to find the passive, non

job-seeking candidate. LinkedIn's a great way todo that. I'm not sure how long this revolution, soto speak will last, but as long as it does, I think LinkedIn should be used by everyone."

Case Study: CandidateSearch Against the Odds,With Bellringer Result

Susan Hand,Senior Technical

Recruiter,TheMathWorks

I had a very hard-to-fill position on the WestCoast, in California, in an area I did not know andin an industry I did not know. I was able to searcha database, Susan Hand, Senior TechnicalRecruiter at TheMathWorks , recalled.

This was not a job I could post. We didntexactly have the position yet. I couldnt post the

position, I couldnt solicit rsums. I was able todo a search and drill down through some of mysourcing techniques. So I came up with three leadrsums. Two of these rsums were already

employed by Getronics and one of the rsumswas employed by the chief industry competitor. I


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contacted that person who turned out to be just

two degrees away from me on LinkedIn, and notonly was she successful in filling the position, butshe was offered a more senior level position andnow runs the industry. Also, from that we wereafforded an extension of the business contract

because our candidate was so full of quality thatshe hired other qualified candidates around her.So the client, the staffing augmentation client,gave us $10 million in additional business.

In the light of this experience, its understandablethat Susan remarked, I cant understand whyevery single recruiter in America isnt onLinkedIn!

Case Study: SubstantialFees For Two PositionsSourced From LinkedIn

CraigSilverman

We had a new member come to us about three or four months ago, a small recruitment firm with avery large client, a well-knowntelecommunications company. They had a verygood relationship with the hiring manager, theyhad a lot of job orders that were active. But thesecandidates were extremely difficult for this

person to locate, so they decided to join theHireAbility network so that our team of 130 plusrecruiters could help them to generate candidateflow, in hopes of making split placements. Therecruiter who jumped on these orders happens to

be an avid user of LinkedIn and she went to work networking through her networks and searching,making requests et cetera through the LinkedInsystem, to try and find some people.

8/2/2019 Happy About Linked in R

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