Don't Luck Out on LinkedIn

A while back I was at a conference for recruitment researchers. When the subject of LinkedIn came up I was surprised such a low percentage of the people I talked with appeared to be making use of this fabulous tool for sourcing passive candidates.

LinkedIn is an online network of more than 7.5 million business professionals. Each person on LinkedIn has his or her own profile. It’s simple to set up a profile. It can be very basic with just your name and the company you work for or can work as a biography, CV and marketing tool.

Really LinkedIn is far more powerful than just a way to source passive candidates as part of a search. It enables you to market yourself, source business contacts and build relationships. Everyone in your network will have his or her own network that doesn't exist on line. By building your LinkedIn network you have access to an enormous pool of individuals and in turn to their knowledge, expertise, etc.

However, I digress. What I really wanted to talk about is a two-page document, called the "LinkedIn CheatSheet”, which can help recruiters get the most from LinkedIn. Shally Steckerl has produced it and you can read about Shally via his LinkedIn profile. He's a really well respected guy, especially well known in the US, who is an authority in Internet search and an expert in recruitment technologies.

The "CheatSheet" gives advanced search tricks and shortcuts to get the most out of searching on LinkedIn. To quote Shally, it has:

• 10+ advanced search methods with clear, easily-adaptable examples to get better sourcing results from LinkedIn
• 5 never-before-seen hacks that take you above LinkedIn's built-in limitations: blow away the 500 maximum profiles per search limit, and get results that go far beyond your own network reach
• A 2-page free bonus revealing over 30 ways to build your network and online credibility to improve your results, developed by one of LinkedIn's most-connected users.

It's a really useful tool for anyone who wants to get the most out of LinkedIn. I've used some the techniques myself to help a client run a search for a Sales Director role within the mobile arena. The results I got back were far better than anything I've managed before.

The cost is $9.95. I'd have thought it was well worth the money in terms of time saving the first time you use it.

If you want to use LinkIn to connect to my you can view my profile at here

I'll hopefully be talking more about LinkedIn shortly as we're involved in a development on the site ourselves.