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Are you in LinkedIn? If not, become a member if you are looking for a job.
With nearly 240 million professional members globally on LinkedIn, a social networking Web site for professionals, companies such as Cogizant Technology Solutions, Wipro and Ramco Systems are using it as a resource to hire senior level professionals.
At Ramco, nearly 35 per cent of all lateral hires were short listed from LinkedIn, according to its Chief Transformation Officer Richa Pande.
India, 2nd largest
Every second, two members are signing up to join LinkedIn with 65 per cent of them located outside the US. India is the second largest with nearly 21 million members.
There are over 30 million students and recent college graduates on LinkedIn, making them the fastest-growing demographic.
E. Balaji, former CEO of Randstad India, a HR company, said large companies have a dedicated talent acquisition team using different methodologies, including LinkedIn.
With no additional cost, LinkedIn can be used to reach out to both active and passive job seekers in a discreet manner. It has features such as endorsements and recommendations of a person from other professionals.
Professionals express their views on various subjects and even cite their publications and articles (if any). This gives an idea of the persons’ profile to the potential recruiter and helps in the preliminary short listing process, he said.
When there is a cost pressure, companies cut down on expensive methods of talent sourcing like paying the recruitment agency or spending on advertisement or buying job board listings. They would tell the team to reduce cost by 15-20 per cent, or source nearly 20 per cent of the people using methodologies like social media, he said.
Using LinkedIn, the company can reach out to suitable candidates directly and take the discussion ahead ensuring faster closures, said Pande of Ramco.
Cognizant uses LinkedIn to build a network of professionals as part of a “warm pool” that enables just-in-time hiring, said its Vice-President, Human Resources Sriram Rajagopal. It posts jobs, broadcast requirements and identify candidates interested in career opportunities in niche areas and at senior levels.
Career pages
Deepak Jain, Senior Vice-President and Global Head, Work Force Planning and Development at Wipro, said the company has created career pages in LinkedIn and other social media sites such as like Facebook that are actively followed by a varied talent pool.
Jain said 6-7 per cent of the technical hiring at Wipro is done based on leads from social media networking sites, mostly from professional networking sites like LinkedIn.
Linkedin may help corporates in harvesting market intelligence, but cannot replace recruitment firms. It is a huge enabler for recruitment, said Hema Subramaniam, Founder & CEO, Live Connections, an HR firm
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