How to recruit on LinkedIn for small businesses

The negative implications of the current situation is felt most by small businesses who being are pit against larger organisations who have more resources to invest in the acquisition of new staff. However it’s the UK’s smaller businesses who are most in need to talent in order to grow.

If you are a small business feeling the pressures of recruitment, take a look at the infographic created by Lucas Blake that incorporates key findings from the recently published Recruiting for Small Business: The Ultimate LinkedIn Guide. It features valuable insights on using LinkedIn as a resource for attracting new talent.

Below we have a summarised the takeaways from the infographic, such as maximising your company page, the best content to share with followers, sourcing talent and making contact with candidates with InMail.

Your Company Page

The best way to attract talent is to position your company (no matter the size) as a place where potential candidates will want to work. If you are going to use LinkedIn as a means of attracting and sourcing talent, you need to ensure that your company page sets you apart from your competitors. Start by writing an opening that lists your core values and the reasons why candidates would want to work with you. You can also share content to compliment this such as the successes and career progression of your employees. This can help to highlight the opportunities your company has to offer.

What Content to Share

As LinkedIn is a social media platform, it’s important to engage with your followers. The content you share should perform two factions. The first is to drive engagement, and the second is to showcase your business. The content you share should be both relevant and valuable to your followers. As well as providing expert insights relating to your industry, make sure that you share updates that contain video and rich media. Some examples of sharable content includes links to coverage, your website and blogs, and engaging content such as videos, images and infographics.

Sourcing on LinkedIn

There are two main types of candidates on LinkedIn, active candidates and passive candidates.

According to research from LinkedIn, 25% of candidates are active meaning that they are actively looking for opportunities. 45% however are passive, these candidates are not looking for a job, but they are open to talking to recruiters about potential career opportunities. If you want to hire through LinkedIn, you should aim to connect with passive candidates.

Tips for contacting candidates with InMail

Once you find potential candidates that you want to approach about a role, the best way to make contact is through InMail, the LinkedIn messaging service. When you do make initial contact there are a number of things to keep in mind. Most importantly, personalisation is key. Before you send a message do some research into the candidate’s profile, find out whether you have mutual connections and what about their experience makes you want to contact them. When you do contact the candidate explain why you are choosing to contact them, mention the role you are trying to fill and ask whether or not they are interested in new opportunities. This shouldn’t be a hard sell of the role, but instead a chance for you to gauge the candidates interest. Remember to be patient when waiting for a reply, you have opened up the lines of communication but that does not mean that the candidate should come back to you straight away.

We hope that these suggestions have given you an insight into the ways that small businesses can use LinkedIn in order to attract new talent.

Author Bio: Ian Butterworth is the Director and Senior Consultant at Lucas Blake. Lucas Blake specialises in the recruitment of Sales Professionals within the Information Technology and Telecommunications sectors throughout the UK and Europe.