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Two weeks ago I wrote about LinkedIn and how it can help you if you are interested in exploring new IT opportunities and perhaps making the next move in your career. This week focuses on what your company should be doing on LinkedIn and how it can help you attract and find the IT talent you need to grow and prosper.

LinkedIn is a two way street, you can search for people who might meet your requirements, and job seekers can search for you. The first use seems pretty obvious and if you, your HR department or your staffing agency are not using LinkedIn to post open positions and locate candidates then you are really missing out and perhaps even dangerously behind the times. LinkedIn’s search capabilities can find IT personnel with the skills and experience that you need and the functionality of the site makes it easy to reach out and connect if you like. Adding LinkedIn to your recruiting toolbox just makes sense. It’s solely business focus makes it especially relevant and helpful.

But you may not have thought a lot about the other side, the fact that people are searching for your company on LinkedIn. What are they finding? Here are two things you can do to help ensure your company is representing itself in the best possible way on LinkedIn when potential employees, or even customers, find you.

1. Make sure your company profile is accurate and up to date – you’ll get the most out of LinkedIn if you provide accurate and complete information. You won’t show up in the right search results if you haven’t indicated your industry and business capabilities correctly. Survey after survey tells us that a significant percentage of workers are thinking about a job change in the next 6-12 months and you want the most talented IT candidates to find you when they start looking. Keywords can help you here as well. Think of your profile as a sort of extension of your website, and think about the message and brand presence you want to present. Your company’s profile page is also another opportunity to connect people to your website, Blog, Twitter, Facebook and other social media pages. Create a complete and up to date profile so that you present a positive, professional image when experience IT candidates find you.

2. Recognize that your employee’s individual pages are important as well – Encourage your employees to create good profiles that are complete and accurate and represent the company appropriately. Laws governing what companies can and can’t do in terms of regulating social media are evolving as social media itself evolves and, certainly, I don’t advise running afoul of any of these. But I’m not talking about a heavy handed approach or ban. I’m simply pointing out that people who are interested in your firm will search for the president and other key executives; job seekers will look for your HR personnel or recruiters and the connections between your employees and others is an exponential ongoing networking session whose power you will want to tap into. Encourage LinkedIn usage as is appropriate for your company and its culture but don’t waste this valuable opportunity. The competition for top IT talent is only going to get tougher, so every advantage you can get is important!

LinkedIn can be a great addition to your recruiting process but recruiting still takes time and experience and the more competitive the hiring landscape, the more time it will take and the more experience you have will help. If your company needs assistance finding the right IT contractors or other highly skilled employees, give us a call. We’ve got the experience you need, with LinkedIn and much, much more!

Jerry Brenholz
President and CEO