LinkedIn's Hiring System — Excellent Twist on References and Finding Incremental Revenue

I’m hiring people for a few clients. Some of the hires are in the business development (sales) area and others are in the executive ranks. Two of the companies used Careerbuilder.com to find resumes and another used it at my suggestion. We received a great deal of responses for all of the positions. My problem: I only knew a few of the applicants and that’s only for one of my clients.

Hiring people is tough. We all want trusted referrals to interview. This means that if I know you and trust your opinion about the position I’m hiring for please send me people who you think would fit.

LinkedIn, the online networking site, has uncovered a great opportunity for incremental revenue while providing a great benefit to its members. When I post an open position on the site and receive responses, I can see who each applicant knows in their network. This may eventually lead back to how they know someone in my network.

The connection of multiple social and business networks allows me to ask people I know about someone’s capabilities. Calling people you know to get the truth is a heck of a lot better than calling an applicant’s hand-picked references.

One of the other great things about this system is that you are prompted to tell people in your network about the open position. This allows for immediate responses from people you know about people they know. I netted three potential hires within 15 minutes of sending out my position description. Sure, you could do this with a broadcast e-mail, but LinkedIn helps me combine the two and reach a huge audience at the same time.

At $95/posting, the system is also less expensive than Monster or CareerBuilder. Give it a shot. At this rate, it can’t hurt!

 

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