What Can I Do on LinkedIn to Connect With Recruiters and Hiring Managers?

LinkedIn can be a terrific place to identify and engage with recruiters and hiring managers within your field of expertise. Frequently job seekers wonder “What comes next?” after identifying a recruiter with an industry specific focus, or a  hiring manager that works for a company of interest,

LinkedIn offers a variety of ways to engage with your targeted audience:

• Follow companies, so you can be notified of newsworthy announcements
• Follow individuals, and also send them an invitation to connect.
• When sending out invitations, be sure to customize your invite, adding a note to let them know that you are indeed interested in sharing networks and have done some homework, rather than using the standard boilerplate invite that LinkedIn provides.
• Check out the person’s profile, and look at their previous posts. By adding insightful commentary, you can easily communicate with them, getting on their radar screen. While it is virtually impossible to have the opportunity to have a live conversation with a hiring manager or many recruiters for that matter at the onset of your search, by corresponding with them on LinkedIn you can start to build a dialog that can then put you at the front of the line when applying for a role.

Utilizing social media, primarily LinkedIn and Twitter,  job seekers now have  an unprecedented opportunity to engage with persons of influence.

Invest the time in researching who you want to be connecting with, and then set aside some time every day to check out the activity in your news feed, and respond appropriately.

By consistently commenting on posts, and sharing your thoughts and insights, you can easily position yourself in front of your peers.

Ask Ann,

Have a question you’d like a recruiter to answer? Write to me at AskAnn@execunet.com

Ann Zaslow-Rethaber

A recruiter since 1996, Ann Zaslow-Rethaber is the president of International Search Consultants, a global executive recruiting firm launched in 1999.

ISC has become one of the country’s most reputable search firms, earning more recommendations on Linked In than any other 3rd party recruiting agency in the entire country. With a team of 15 talented recruiters, utilizing the very best high- tech tools available, ISC can produce highly qualified candidates for companies with hi-volume recruiting needs.