It's hard to get a job these days. Everyone is looking but no one is hiring. It's the kind of job market where you think "maybe I'll hold onto that retail job after graduation, just in case."
Or maybe you should update your LinkedIn profile.
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| You've heard of it before, I swear |
Okay, I know. People always say "make sure your LinkedIn profile is up to date! This is really important! If you don't, you'll never get a job and you'll starve on the streets!" and it seems a little over-dramatic. I mean, chances are pretty good you won't starve (you have that retail job to fall back on, remember? You love working retail!). But it turns out they're onto something with that advice: companies care about LinkedIn a little more than you might think.
Like a lot more.
Like they probably won't hire you if you don't have one.
Ed Nathanson, the director of talent acquisition (read: the guy in charge of getting you hired) at software security company Rapid7 talked to Wired magazine about the importance of LinkedIn and hiring for an April article (which you can check out in full here).
Nathanson says that Rapid7 now uses LinkedIn Recruiter for all of its recruiting purposes, and that the company’s recruiters spend anywhere from four to five hours on LinkedIn each day. He and his team have used LinkedIn to more than double the size of Rapid7 in the last year and a half.
In other words, Nathanson finds the vast majority of future employees on LinkedIn. And if you aren’t on LinkedIn? He’ll probably never find you. And even if he did, he probably wouldn’t hire you. “I’m always amazed at people who aren’t there now,” Nathanson says. “When I talk to candidates and they aren’t on there that’s a big red flag for me.”Let's emphasize that last part. It's not just that having a LinkedIn profile helps. Not having one can ruin your chance of getting a job, regardless of how qualified you are. And this isn't just Rapid7. There are tons of companies that have, instead of hiring their own talent-seeking team of professional recruiters, been switching to LinkedIn as their method of searching for and screening potential employees.
So maybe it's a good idea to have a LinkedIn profile that you keep updated. Polish it up every now and then. Reassess your skills. Make yourself look employable. Because if you don't...well, I hope you really like retail.
Hi Katharine,
ReplyDeleteExcellent post.
Although some companies may employ the method that Rapid7 does when searching for potential candidates, I'm sure that there are still plenty of companies who use LinkedIn as one of the many tools in their arsenal to find potential employees. As with the Rapid7 method you are really restricting your company's hiring options by saying "No LinkedIn = Big Red Flag" when that person may not have a LinkedIn account due to personal reasons such as privacy. And with the Big Red Flag in your mind, you are already getting into the mindset of not hiring this person even though they may be very talented and well qualified for the job.
Katherine,
ReplyDeleteNice take on this theme.
Your blog is very informative and effectively depicts YOUR opinion on the every important tool called LinkedIn. You describe your ideology and what you (along with tech gurus) think about LinkedIn and how it can help you in the best way possible. Your links are very accessible and appropriate, good job!
By the way, the last sentence of the blog... kudos!
Cheers!
- Tushar