Four Things You Should Know About LinkedIn From the Recruiter Perspective
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LinkedIn is a recruiter’s best friend, so that means you should get to know the platform a little better. Here are four things you may not know about LinkedIn from the recruiter perspective.



Recruiters can download your LinkedIn profile in resume format



I shared this tidbit on Twitter and it was evident a lot of people didn’t know this. It’s important that you treat your profile just like your resume. Don’t just list the company name and description. List your responsibilities and keep everything current so that when we download it and give it to a hiring manager, it’s easy for them to see what you’ve done…just like they’re looking at your résumé.



When a recruiter posts a job on LinkedIn, he or she automatically sees a list of potential candidates based on headline and keywords.



I won’t beat you over the head with the importance of keywords, but I will reiterate the importance of using a headline that incorporates the job title of the role you’re most interested in. When running a search or posting a position, I’ve never not clicked on a profile that had the target job title I’m looking to fill as its headline. Make sure your previous titles align as well. There’s no rule saying you have to use your exact job title when there’s a better description for what you do. For example, my previous job titles were Talent Associate and Staffing Consultant. I knew nobody would search those so I instead used HR Generalist and Technical Recruiter. Yes, these are more general, but the objective is to increase the odds of being found.



Don’t lie though. Like seriously, don’t lie. You will get exposed.



Anywhere you enter information is searchable…including the companies you follow.



Are there companies you’d love to work for? Follow them on LinkedIn. Think about it. Wouldn’t it be to a recruiters advantage to start with people that are interested in the company? There’s a search field for that and some of us use it. Additionally, if you follow a company, their updates will then show up in your feed…which could mean job opportunities.



Also, there’s a reason LinkedIn asks you to fill in all sections. They’re all searchable!



Recruiters use InMail as the primary way to contact passive candidates.



LinkedIn has stepped its game up when it comes to privacy and communication settings. You can set it up so that you only get direct messages (InMail) to your email inbox. If you’ve turned off all communications and you’re not logging in on a regular basis, you may be missing out on opportunities. Recruiters love to send a message via LinkedIn first rather than try to call into your job or find your contact information some other way. It’s lazy, but it’s reality.



Also, if you’re a gmail user, you may have noticed the new tabs. Make sure you’re checking the social tab since that’s where most messages from LinkedIn and other social networks now end up.



These are some of the features you need to keep in mind as you get more acquainted with the platform. The job search is a numbers game; so whatever you can do to make yourself more visible (and reachable), do it.