LinkedIn Talent Pool Overfished

A growing number of employers are investing in LinkedIn recruiting licenses and, for less important roles, it can be an effective tool. However, for senior executive, mission critical, and hard-to-fill technology roles, employers are often discovering that LinkedIn does not go the distance. While LinkedIn is a takent pool that spans the globe, many recruiters complain that the LinkedIn talent pool has been overfished.

InMail Burnout

Recently, a number of our clients have observed that an increasing number highly sought-after candidates — the ones you actually want to hire — are experiencing recruiter-fatigue. Passive candidates are getting barraged with LinkedIn InMails from talent acquisition teams. The more they hear from recruiters on LinkedIn, the less inclined they are to respond.

No Competitive Advantage

Another disadvantage of focusing passive recruitment efforts on LinkedIn is that you are competing with every other employer that is vying for your candidate members’ attention. LinkedIn candidates are the proverbial low-hanging fruit ripe for talent acquisition’s plucking. 

Original Research is Better

By climbing higher up in the tree — by conducting original investigative research to identify and recruit top talent that is not so obvious — employers gain a powerful competitive advantage. Investigative research consistently uncovers candidates employers never dreamed existed. Even better, these candidates are not actively marketing their wares on LinkedIn.  In other words, by climbing higher in the tree, you pretty much get candidates all to yourself.

You Can’t Yet Download a Hire

In other words, there is still a lot of recruiting that needs to be done to turn LinkedIn prospects into viable candidates. We regularly provide additional bandwidth to corporate executive search and recruiting teams. In passive candidate sourcing strategy, LinkedIn is a but step in the process. To recruit the best talent, it takes a lot of work to uncover, map, profile, engage, screen, and qualify the contenders. In other words, LinkedIn is a starting place, not the finish line. We invite your observations and comments.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed our post, please show the love and share it with your friends by clicking the buttons below. It makes it easier for others to find the post.