Over the course of the last few years, I’ve observed what was once ‘channels for the young’ become channels for any number of purposes including business. It’s my firm belief that the staffing industry too will quickly need to hop on the social train or be left in the station.

I noted in a previous post that LinkedIn has a number of helpful tools – and an 80 million member database – to which  staffing professionals should be taking advantage.  What I want to emphasize in this post are some specific ways staffing professionals can leverage LinkedIn to find both client and candidates.

1.      A LinkedIn profile showcases your personal brand. A strong company profile on LinkedIn is a great asset for building credibility and helping a company create visibility in a network hopping with job seekers.  In that sense, it’s like a webpage, and that’s why any company or individual profile should be rich with keywords so that ideal candidates will find your page when searching. It should also include links to parts of your webpage that highlight your best information including blogs, whitepapers, product demos, upcoming webinars, awards your company has won, etc.

2.      LinkedIn promotes trust. Trust and credibility are the key to lead generation, so utilize the positive words of co-workers, colleagues and – especially – satisfied customers to show people who encounter you on LinkedIn that your company is the kind of business that they would like to do business with.

3.      LinkedIn helps you survey the scene. LinkedIn’s most potent advantage is the connections feature, which lets you see the network of your company’s connections. You can use these contacts, as well as the people connected to them, to focus your search for prospects using LinkedIn’s people search. Your company is connected to people it trusts, and they function as automatic referrals to people they trust.

4.      LinkedIn helps you expand your connections. Your company’s connections are not just good places to start looking for your next candidate; they’re good places to increase the network itself. Your company’s connections can be used to get introductions to other companies and professionals who could be of help when it’s time to search for a new employee. Remember, a sales lead – and a hiring lead – is always stronger when a relationship backs it up.

5.      LinkedIn can help your company with its recruiting presentations. Nothing improves a presentation to a potential client or candidate more than incorporating commonalities and shared experiences.  Read your prospect’s LinkedIn profile to find information that can strengthen your bond. You can learn a lot about a person by reading their recommendations, too.  If you know someone who recommended your prospect, be sure to bring up the connection.

By leveraging LinkedIn’s credibility and its ability to generate valuable connections, both staffing professionals and staffing agencies can boost their hiring efforts in ways that will generate solid results.  Insert into your marketing mix and lead generation strategy and watch results improve dramatically.

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