The document is a guide for small businesses on how to effectively utilize LinkedIn for hiring. It covers strategies for defining ideal candidates, building a strong LinkedIn presence, connecting with potential hires, and using LinkedIn's features to identify and engage talent. Additionally, it offers tips on creating job postings, screening candidates, and leveraging recruitment agencies.

1. Small Business Hiring Playbook

2. linkedin.com | 2
Finding talent
on LinkedIn
Grow your company and hire more effectively with
the world’s most advanced professional network.
In this guide, you will learn the ways that LinkedIn can
supportandacceleratehiringforyourcompany. Evenif
you’renotanexperiencedrecruitingprofessional,these
tips will help you effectively hire on LInkedIn.
Find candidates
Polish your LinkedIn presence 03
07
Screen, interview, hire 11
3 Steps to Hiring

3. Polish your LinkedIn presence
Establish your presence on LinkedIn and prepare to search for candidates.

4. Get ready
The first step is to paint a clear picture of your
ideal candidate. Define the specific skills,
experience, and attributes that would make a
candidate successful in a particular role.
linkedin.com | 4
Tips for defining your ideal candidate
Agree with the hiring manager, hiring committee,
and the HR team what traits are “must have” and
“nice to have” for the role.
Have a plan
Look to successful employees within your company for
clues on what traits you desire in your next hire.
Look within
Look at job postings for similar roles to spark ideas
on what to look for in a candidate and how roles
are described.
Put this down on paper to share with candidates and
employees alike. Keep it short and write it with your
audience - your candidates - in mind.
Find inspiration
Write the job description

5. Get connected
Find and connect with colleagues on LinkedIn to
maximize your network and increase the chances of
finding a candidate through people you know.
linkedin.com | 5
Connect to coworkers, classmates, and all
of your professional contacts on LinkedIn to
extend your reach. You never know who may
connect you to a great hire.
LinkedIn Groups can help you reach specialized
talent pools on LinkedIn. Look for groups
relevant to the role to learn more about the
people you’re trying to recruit.
Your network:
Co-workers
(present)
Co-workers
(past)
Groups
Fellow Alumni
Clients
Friends

6. linkedin.com | 6
Create your
Company Page
Establish your company’s presence on LinkedIn
with a free Company Page, which gives potential
hires an easy way to learn more about the company.
Home Careers Products Insights
xyzCO Careers Follow36,894 followers
JOBSUPDATES
PEOPLE
Where will you go with xyzCo?
Connect with us to start today.
View all updates »
To get started, simply upload a logo, banner
image, and a short company description.
Get fellow employees connected! Be sure they
add their current position at your company.
All employees and job postings will automatically
appear on the Company Page.
“I love being able to see who has posted a role and
research the company and its employees all via LinkedIn”
-Moray, Business Development Manager
What members think of Company Pages.
Find inspiration from LinkedIn’s top pages of 2012
http://lnkd.in/companypages
xyzCo

7. Find candidates
Use LinkedIn to identify and contact quality candidates who match your needs.

8. talent.linkedin.com | 8
Job Posts that leverage your network
Post a job, and let the network find candidates for you.
You don’t need to be a pro.
LinkedIn is great for small business.
Dozens of top candidates.
Reach passive candidates.
1
2
4
75%
50+
50%
50%
of job posters are managers, not
professional recruiters
average applicants for each job post
of jobs posters are at companies with
50 employees or less
of applicants discover the opportunity
through LinkedIn recommendations.
“Simply way more
effective than any
other recruiting
tool we have ever
used.”
-Small business CEO
3
For more info on LinkedIn Jobs visit
http://lnkd.in/aboutjobs

9. Search
Easily identify the perfect candidates by
searching on LinkedIn. Join the many people
who search LinkedIn to find great talent. In 2012,
over 5.7 billion professionally oriented searches
were conducted on LinkedIn.
linkedin.com | 9
Use search filters to zero in on the right
people with a few clicks.



See common connections, background
and education.
Reach out when you find the right
match.
Simple tips to get started
Find members on LinkedIn who
meet your criteria with basic keyword
searches.

10. linkedin.com | 10
Premium Sourcing on LinkedIn
Search like a pro
When does it make sense to use LinkedIn’s Premium
search, instead of a job post, to find candidates?
You have a few hours to dedicate to finding and
reaching out to talent.
You want to reach passive candidates beyond
your network.
You have hard-to-fill roles that require unique skill
sets or experience.




Get richer
results with
premium
visibility
See profiles
of your full
network
See full profiles
for all 200M
members
Contact top
talent with
InMail
25
per month
50
per month
Be more
efficient
with time
saving tools
10 alerts
Profile Notes
One to many
messages
50 alerts
Profile Notes
Option for
multi-user
collaboration
Share
activity with
colleagues

Run more
precise
searches
Premium
facets
Talent
Finder
Recruiter
Premium facets
Learn more about LinkedIn Talent Solutions
http://lnkd.in/sourcingtalent

11. Contact
Once you’ve identified candidates, reach out to them to discuss the opportunity and gauge interest.
If you know someone directly or through a group, you can message them on LinkedIn. LinkedIn Premium
accounts let you reach great candidates outside of your network.
talent.linkedin.com | 11
InMail
InMail lets you contact anyone on
LinkedIn, even if you’re not connected.
It’s a great way to start to engage
potential candidates.
✓
Improve response rates
A great way to improve your InMail
response rate is to mention people
you know in common. Learn how to
craft great InMail messages at
http://lnkd.in/inmail_message_tips
✓
Response Guaranteed
If you don’t get a response to your
InMail message in 7 days, we’ll give you
another InMail to send.
✓

12. Screen, Interview, Hire
Quickly build a shortlist and screen top candidates as you take the final steps in making a hire.

13. linkedin.com | 13
Create your shortlist
Easily create a shortlist, screen candidates, and prepare for your final steps in making a hire.
Quickly review candidates
When you accept applications on
LinkedIn, it’s easier than ever to sort
through candidates. Filter applicants by
company, school, experience, industry,
and function to get a shortlist quickly.
✓
Check references
LinkedIn highlights candidates that are
connected to people in your network.
You can contact mutual connections as
a quick reference check.
✓
Organize candidate profiles
Keep track of quality candidates during
the interview process. Use profile
organizer to manage relationships with
existing and potential candidates on
LinkedIn.
✓

14. Want someone to
help you hire?
For additional help fulfilling your hiring needs,
you can use LinkedIn to find a recruiting agency
that will get the job done for you.
Agencies typically charge a fee as a percentage
of the annual salary of the role they fill, though
some bill on an hourly basis. Discuss and agree
terms of engagement and cost with an agency
before starting to work with them.
linkedin.com | 14
There are over 300,000 agency recruiters on LinkedIn, so
try searching to find one that’s right for you. You
may even have connections to recruiting agencies in
your own network. If so, check your references and
determine if they’re the best fit.
Leverage the LinkedIn network
Review an agency’s Company Page and website to
discover past and existing clients, and to determine
if they can fulfill your hiring needs.
Do your research

15. So, that’s it! Ready to get started? Great!
Remember – we’re always here to help!
Just contact us at hiring@linkedin.com
if you have any questions.