Small Business Hiring Playbook

linkedin.com | 2

Finding talent on LinkedInGrow your company and hire more effectively with the world’s most advanced professional network.In this guide, you will learn the ways that LinkedIn can support and accelerate hiring for your company. Even if you’re not an experienced recruiting professional, these tips will help you effectively hire on LInkedIn.

Find candidates

Polish your LinkedIn presence 03

07

Screen, interview, hire 11

3 Steps to Hiring

Polish your LinkedIn presenceEstablish your presence on LinkedIn and prepare to search for candidates.

Get readyThe first step is to paint a clear picture of your ideal candidate. Define the specific skills, experience, and attributes that would make a candidate successful in a particular role.

linkedin.com | 4

Tips for defining your ideal candidate

Agree with the hiring manager, hiring committee, and the HR team what traits are “must have” and “nice to have” for the role.

Have a plan

Look to successful employees within your company for clues on what traits you desire in your next hire.

Look within

Look at job postings for similar roles to spark ideas on what to look for in a candidate and how roles are described.

Put this down on paper to share with candidates and employees alike. Keep it short and write it with your audience - your candidates - in mind.

Find inspiration

Write the job description

Get connectedFind and connect with colleagues on LinkedIn to maximize your network and increase the chances of finding a candidate through people you know.

linkedin.com | 5

Connect to coworkers, classmates, and all of your professional contacts on LinkedIn to extend your reach. You never know who may connect you to a great hire.

LinkedIn Groups can help you reach specialized talent pools on LinkedIn. Look for groups relevant to the role to learn more about the people you’re trying to recruit.

Your network:

Co-workers(present)

Co-workers(past)

Groups

Fellow Alumni

Clients

Friends

linkedin.com | 6

Create your Company PageEstablish your company’s presence on LinkedIn with a free Company Page, which gives potential hires an easy way to learn more about the company.

Home Careers Products Insights

xyzCO Careers Follow36,894 followers

JOBSUPDATES

PEOPLE

Where will you go with xyzCo?Connect with us to start today.

View all updates »

To get started, simply upload a logo, banner image, and a short company description.

Get fellow employees connected! Be sure they add their current position at your company.

All employees and job postings will automatically appear on the Company Page.

“I love being able to see who has posted a role and research the company and its employees all via LinkedIn”

-Moray, Business Development Manager

What members think of Company Pages.

Find inspiration from LinkedIn’s top pages of 2012 http://lnkd.in/companypages

xyzCo

Find candidatesUse LinkedIn to identify and contact quality candidates who match your needs.

talent.linkedin.com | 8

Job Posts that leverage your networkPost a job, and let the network find candidates for you.

You don’t need to be a pro.

LinkedIn is great for small business.

Dozens of top candidates.

Reach passive candidates.

1

2

4

75%

50+

50%

50%

of job posters are managers, not professional recruiters

average applicants for each job post

of jobs posters are at companies with 50 employees or less

of applicants discover the opportunity through LinkedIn recommendations.

“Simply way more effective than any other recruiting tool we have ever used.”

-Small business CEO

3

For more info on LinkedIn Jobs visithttp://lnkd.in/aboutjobs

SearchEasily identify the perfect candidates by searching on LinkedIn. Join the many people who search LinkedIn to find great talent. In 2012, over 5.7 billion professionally oriented searches were conducted on LinkedIn.

linkedin.com | 9

Use search filters to zero in on the right people with a few clicks.

See common connections, background and education.

Reach out when you find the right match.

Simple tips to get started

Find members on LinkedIn who meet your criteria with basic keyword searches.

linkedin.com | 10

Premium Sourcing on LinkedIn

Search like a proWhen does it make sense to use LinkedIn’s Premium search, instead of a job post, to find candidates?

You have a few hours to dedicate to finding and reaching out to talent.

You want to reach passive candidates beyond your network.

You have hard-to-fill roles that require unique skill sets or experience.

Get richer results with

premium visibility

See profiles of your full

network

See full profiles for all 200M

members

Contact top talent with

InMail

25 per month

50 per month

Be more efficient

with time saving tools

10 alertsProfile Notes

One to many messages50 alerts

Profile Notes

Option for multi-user

collaboration

Share activity with colleagues

Run more

precise searches

Premium facets

TalentFinder Recruiter

Premium facets

Learn more about LinkedIn Talent Solutionshttp://lnkd.in/sourcingtalent

ContactOnce you’ve identified candidates, reach out to them to discuss the opportunity and gauge interest.If you know someone directly or through a group, you can message them on LinkedIn. LinkedIn Premium accounts let you reach great candidates outside of your network.

talent.linkedin.com | 11

InMail

InMail lets you contact anyone on LinkedIn, even if you’re not connected. It’s a great way to start to engage potential candidates.

✓Improve response rates

A great way to improve your InMail response rate is to mention people you know in common. Learn how to craft great InMail messages at http://lnkd.in/inmail_message_tips

✓Response Guaranteed

If you don’t get a response to your InMail message in 7 days, we’ll give you another InMail to send.

✓

Screen, Interview, HireQuickly build a shortlist and screen top candidates as you take the final steps in making a hire.

linkedin.com | 13

Create your shortlistEasily create a shortlist, screen candidates, and prepare for your final steps in making a hire.

Quickly review candidates

When you accept applications on LinkedIn, it’s easier than ever to sort through candidates. Filter applicants by company, school, experience, industry, and function to get a shortlist quickly.

✓Check references

LinkedIn highlights candidates that are connected to people in your network. You can contact mutual connections as a quick reference check.

✓Organize candidate profiles Keep track of quality candidates during the interview process. Use profile organizer to manage relationships with existing and potential candidates on LinkedIn.

✓

Want someone to help you hire?For additional help fulfilling your hiring needs, you can use LinkedIn to find a recruiting agency that will get the job done for you.

Agencies typically charge a fee as a percentage of the annual salary of the role they fill, though some bill on an hourly basis. Discuss and agree terms of engagement and cost with an agency before starting to work with them.

linkedin.com | 14

There are over 300,000 agency recruiters on LinkedIn, sotry searching to find one that’s right for you. You may even have connections to recruiting agencies in your own network. If so, check your references and determine if they’re the best fit.

Leverage the LinkedIn network

Review an agency’s Company Page and website to discover past and existing clients, and to determine if they can fulfill your hiring needs.

Do your research

So, that’s it! Ready to get started? Great!

Remember – we’re always here to help! Just contact us at hiring@linkedin.com if you have any questions.