Using Linked In For Recruiting

This CEO Blogger has more than 2,000 people in my Linked In Data Base.  For the most part, these are people in the relocation, household goods, real estate, or mortgage industries; but they also include others that may have valuable skills that we may one day need in our company.   As the CEO of a global company, I presume many people in the work force are interested in being in my Linked In Data Base.   They may think that one day, they will be selling a product or service to one of our companies, which could be true.  I see it very differently.   I see these 2,000 people as a talent pool, at my fingertips, from which I can draw candidates for job openings we may have at our holding company, or one of our subsidiaries. 

Though our Human Resource function is also involved, in some ways, I have become our company's Recruiter in Chief mostly because I like seeing what talent is out there and available to us.  When I have the time, whenever we have a job opening either in management, or sometimes even for one of our lower level positions,  I look to my Linked In Data Base for candidates to fill the particular job.  This capability works really well for small to mid sized companies.  Larger companies can use their Human Resources functions to achieve the same result.  More often than not, I can find the talent we need by just doing a Linked In Search.   It really is pretty simple.  I send an email advising the candidate of the job opening.  Should he or she have an interest, I ask that they email me a resume, which I then forward to the hiring manager within our company.  Further screening and interviews are then set up as appropriate.

We have hired a number of people off my Linked In Data Base that technically were not looking for a job.  It is a very powerful took that can not only be used to connect with prospects, clients or customers; but in my case as CEO of our company to bring talent into our company.  I really like having this talent pool available to me at a moment's notice.  It also saves us a lot of money because more often than not we don't need to use a Recruiter to identify talent.  I like that a lot. 

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