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How Headhunters Use LinkedIn to Find Talented Candidates

By U.S. News & World Report

Today, about 95 percent of recruiters utilize LinkedIn as a major sourcing tool to find candidates to present to their client companies seeking top-tier talent. But if you want to be found by one of them, it’s important to understand how they use LinkedIn to source their candidates and position yourself accordingly.

RiseSmart’s Kimberly Schneiderman presented results of a recent extensive poll of recruiters to the Career Thought Leaders Conference in Baltimore last month. Confirming popular belief, the poll revealed that LinkedIn is, by far, regarded as the best consistent source of quality candidates online.

[See: 10 Ways Social Media Can Help You Land a Job.]

Meanwhile, keyword searches are the most common way of finding ideal job candidates with the right skills and accomplishments, followed by searching previous employers, searching through contacts and then searching contacts of their contacts.

At the same conference, Shally Steckerl, one of the leading sourcers helping Fortune 500 companies efficiently find talent, suggested that in order to figure out what keywords to utilize in your profile, find a job ad for a position you seek or one similar to the one you have, and use the URL to create a Wordle diagram of the important words. Make sure to use them in your profile summary and everywhere else on your profile, as well. Matching as many keywords to a job type as you can will help recruiters locate your profile.

[See: 16 Things You’re Doing All Wrong on LinkedIn.]

Here are some other ways recruiters find candidates:

— Industry groups. Savvy recruiters spend time visiting LinkedIn’s groups, particularly in the industries they serve. They peruse the discussions and see who actively contributes by asking intelligent questions, who posts articles of relevant professional interest to colleagues and who adds their insightful voice to discussions in a helpful manner.

— Search of rival companies. An ideal target for recruiters is someone who is already doing the same or a very similar job as the one they are seeking to fill at a rival company. To find these people, they will search by company name associated with titles and skills.

— Observing who is recommending and endorsing people. When you recommend or endorse someone on LinkedIn, not only does it go into their profile, but it goes on yours, as well. Recruiters are able to search for people who recommend or endorse others. When you recommend others, you show yourself to be a team player who respects others for their work. Moreover, it shows that you know enough to make a positive evaluation of them — both strong characteristics. Think about people whose work you respect and those who have brought value to your team. Use a mix of people above, equal to you and subordinate to you on your company’s organizational charts. Then write recommendations that highlight their values and accomplishments, being specific. You should aim to create between five and 10 quality recommendations.

— Finding similar people to those they already know. When you conduct a search, you will often find that LinkedIn provides a list of other people for you to review who have similar characteristics to the people you actually searched for. Recruiters are continually conducting LinkedIn searches, and these added suggestions from LinkedIn provide them a bonanza of additional candidates who are similar to their original searches. You should have a large network on LinkedIn, because you never know when you will show up as “someone else” worth viewing, even if you aren’t the exact match to a recruiter’s search.

— Finding alumni from specific colleges. Often companies will find that they have clusters of strong-fit employees from a set of particular colleges or universities, and when recruiters know this they will search out those particular alumni networks.

— Using Google to search LinkedIn’s public profiles. Creative sourcers will employ complex searches for LinkedIn public profiles using Google rather than even going into LinkedIn. Make sure that you review what your public profile shows, and make it visible to everyone so that you can be found!

[See: 10 Ways to Perfect Your Personal Brand.]

In order to be found on LinkedIn, it is important to complete your entire profile. You never know which piece of data about yourself will be the priority item that a recruiter will be looking for. Include a nonwork email address so that you can be contacted if you aren’t part of a given recruiter’s network already. It is critically important that your headline field describe your personal brand rather than simply stating your job title, and make sure your profile is about your accomplishments in each of your jobs rather than just listing the positions you’ve held.

Happy hunting!

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How Headhunters Use LinkedIn to Find Talented Candidates originally appeared on usnews.com

Don’t Settle for Student Loans to Pay for Online Education

By WTOP Staff
Online college programs are becoming a more popular choice for prospective students, with one study finding that more than 6 million students enrolled in at least one online course in fall 2015. The popularity of these courses can be attributed in part to their flexibility with working adults' schedules, students' ability to progress more quickly through online programs and, oftentimes, cheaper tuition. [See 10 low-cost online bachelor's programs for out-of-state students.]Online degrees can be beneficial to many college students, but some studies have shown online learners complete their programs at lower rates than students at traditional brick-and-mortar campuses. Individuals with student loans but no degree comprise two-thirds of defaulted borrowers. Though these numbers are not encouraging, just like for traditional programs, there are ways to reduce how much you'll need to borrow for an online program to ensure you won't become one of these statistics. Don't just settle on borrowing student loans to cover the whole cost of your program and living expenses. Instead, start thinking about how to cut costs and cover your balance in different ways, such as the following. -- Grants and scholarships: Even though you are taking an online course, you can still apply and receive grants and scholarships. But your first step should be to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, commonly referred to as the FAFSA, which will allow you to receive a Pell Grant if your expected family contribution is low enough. The EFC criteria and award amounts are adjusted annually, but the 2017-2018 academic year awards range from $606 to $5,920, which could significantly lower the amount you borrow annually. Your next step is to apply for scholarships. You can start by checking online scholarship search engines, such as the Salt Scholarship Search, College Board's BigFuture and Peterson's. But don't forget to take advantage of local organizations and your school's financial aid office. Both may offer scholarships that you can't find with a national scholarship search. [Review these 10 sites to kick off your scholarship search.]For instance, organizations like the Elks Club, Knights of Columbus or the Rotary Club typically offer scholarships annually to local students. Just because you're going to school online doesn't mean you're ineligible. Visit your local library for scholarship listings, and ask around town. You might be surprised how many local organizations offer scholarships. While these scholarships typically aren't large, every little bit counts. Each dollar you receive in a scholarship is a dollar you don't have to borrow and pay interest on. -- Work-study: Another option for online students may be work-study awards. Not all students enrolled in online programs are eligible, but students at some schools -- including, for example, SUNY Empire State College and Liberty University -- are. Work-study awards are not given upfront like scholarships and grants. In most cases, they are an offer to earn up to the awarded amount if you secure an eligible work-study job. While there is a misconception that all work-study jobs must be on campus, students can work for off-campus, nonprofit or public employers as long as the work is in the public's interest. You may be able to work for a for-profit employer if the job is relevant to your course of study. No matter who the outside employer is, it will need to have an established agreement with your college for you to receive work-study funds. Remember, to be eligible for federal financial aid, you must be enrolled and pursuing a degree or certificate. If you're not working toward a credential, Pell Grants and work-study won't be option, but you may still be able to take advantage of private scholarships -- just be sure to read the eligibility criteria carefully. [Explore what to know about financial aid in online programs.]-- Pay as you go: One of the great benefits to enrolling online is the flexible schedule, which can allow you to complete your college coursework around your responsibilities. But prospective students often overlook using their part- or full-time job earnings as an option for paying for college. Almost 80 percent of college students in 2015 worked at least part time while attending classes, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. By budgeting and thinking strategically about your college costs, you can likely reduce your dependence on student loans by paying a portion out of pocket. Many -- but not all -- online programs are less expensive than traditional programs and often have shorter payment periods. Six, eight or 10 weeks are common course durations. Because of the frequency of payments in an online setting, you may be well-placed to pay as you go and possibly avoid borrowing altogether. Attending college online and avoiding student loans may be challenging, but if you are willing to put in the effort, you can limit the amount you need to borrow. More from U.S. News Q&A: Understanding Student Loan Discharge Eligibility Student Loan Refinancing Isn't Right for All Borrowers
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