You’re a startup founder or owner, and your company is growing. You’re hiring more employees than ever, but you still have trouble finding the right people. This can be frustrating—especially if it feels like everyone else is getting all the good talent. However, if you use LinkedIn correctly and strategically, you can get ahead of this problem and hire top-notch personnel to keep your business moving forward.
If you’re not using LinkedIn for hiring, you’re missing out on your best chance at finding the talent your startup needs to succeed. Here’s how to use LinkedIn to hire top talent for your startup:
1. LINKEDIN IS A VALUABLE RECRUITING TOOL FOR STARTUPS
LinkedIn is a great place to find new candidates, especially if your startup has fewer than a hundred employees. If you’re looking for passive candidates, LinkedIn can help you narrow down your search by filtering out people who are actively searching for jobs on the job board sites like Monster or CareerBuilder.
This way, LinkedIn can help you attract passive candidates who may not be actively seeking a new job but would still be interested in hearing about an opportunity at your startup if they knew about it. Once you have found potential candidates on LinkedIn and narrowed down your list based on specific criteria (like job title, location, or even industry), then it’s time to reach out via email and phone calls—something we’ll go over later in this post!
If LinkedIn is a crucial part of your startup’s recruiting strategy, it’s not enough to just passively let job posts and referrals do their work.
2. STAY AHEAD OF THE CURVE
You need to be active on LinkedIn — posting jobs, but also engaging with candidates and getting in touch with potential employees. You need to make sure your company profile is up to date, so users can find the information they want about you easily.
You should check each piece of content on that page regularly so that it reflects what’s currently happening within the company (new hires or promotions) or industry trends (like new partnerships). And while you’re at it, consider creating or updating a short video introducing yourself and where the business is headed next.
3. TAP INTO YOUR PROFESSIONAL NETWORK
One of the best ways to do this is by asking for references from your LinkedIn professional network. Look through your connections and see if any people might be a good fit for your company. You can also tap your LinkedIn network to get more information about your shortlisted candidate and look for people who might have worked with them in the past. Reach out to these connections and ask them about their experience working with the candidate, what they learned from working with them, and whether or not they would recommend that person for an open position at your startup.
LinkedIn groups are a great place to post about jobs and get in touch with potential hires. You can also post jobs right into the group itself by clicking “Post” at the top of the group’s homepage—this will make sure that members have easy access to all of your open positions without having to sift through everything else going on in the group.
4. GET CREATIVE WITH YOUR JOB POSTS
You can use LinkedIn to get creative with your job posts. When posting about open positions on LinkedIn, make sure you’re using keywords that would be relevant for someone looking for work at a startup—this will help ensure that they’ll see what you’ve posted. Some of the best ways to stand out are:
- Using a catchy title that grabs attention.
- Including a photo or video that shows off the work environment and culture of your company.
- Adding links to your website, blog, social media accounts, career page, and more! At this point in the hiring process, you’re giving candidates a closer look at what life is like at your company—don’t hesitate to show them something interesting about it!
- Including an appealing call-to-action (CTA). This is what will prompt someone reading the post to apply for the job if they’re interested enough in learning more about it.
5. ONCE YOU’VE IDENTIFIED THE BEST AVAILABLE TALENT, MAKE THEM WANT TO COME TO YOU
To do this, you need to be prepared with a well-thought-out offer. You should already know what kind of role they would be most interested in and how your company fits their needs. Once they’re ready to talk, make sure they are hearing from a person with authority who is willing to listen and negotiate on their behalf (even if it means putting yourself out there).
This is where LinkedIn comes in handy: if someone has been using their profile for years, then chances are that person has some good work experience under their belt—information that can help prepare an offer letter or contract negotiation process.
For example: did they mention something about wanting more responsibility? Did they mention making more money? Did one project stand out as particularly impressive? This information can help guide conversations so that everyone involved knows exactly what kind of conversation should take place during negotiations — whether via email or phone call — before things get too far along into the hiring process without understanding each other’s expectations from day one!
6. GET ON THE RADAR OF IN-DEMAND CANDIDATES
There are a few ways to get on the radar of in-demand candidates. Here again, your LinkedIn network will help. This may mean going straight to the source and finding someone you know who knows a candidate, or it could be asking for referrals from people who have worked with you in the past. You can also use LinkedIn as a way to reach out and connect with potential candidates by connecting with them directly through their profile or by sending them an InMail message.
7. YOU CAN’T BE PASSIVE ABOUT LINKEDIN IF YOU WANT IT TO DELIVER TOP TALENT FOR YOUR STARTUP
LinkedIn is a powerful tool for recruiting, but it requires active engagement. Like any other tool, you can’t be passive about how you use LinkedIn if you want it to deliver top talent for your startup.
I’ve found that the most successful companies do more than just post a job opening on their company page; they develop relationships with candidates through messaging and conversations before the candidate even applies for a position. They don’t just rely on what’s in front of them; they proactively seek out candidates who might be interested in joining their team by reaching out directly or forming an ongoing dialogue with them via direct messages and comments on posts related to jobs within the company (including reading articles about various industries).
CONCLUSION
Now, your startup is ready to start recruiting the best talent in the business using LinkedIn. By taking action on these strategies and being proactive with your efforts, you’ll be able to take advantage of new opportunities and build a stronger company that can stand out even in a crowded market.
