Why You Should Never Go Off A Candidates LinkedIn Profile Alone...

Why You Should Never Go Off A Candidates LinkedIn Profile Alone... When recruiting for new candidates, LinkedIn is normally top of the list when it comes to checking out a candidates social media profiles for obvious reasons. Why? Because its a business networking site and its essentially there for candidates to make key connections and show off their employment history and key skills. Now, while the majority of employers and recruiters use  LinkedIn to back up job applications and access additional information regarding the candidate, there are others out there (namely recruiters) that search for potential candidates on LinkedIn and assess their suitability for a particular role off their LinkedIn profile alone. If youre currently doing this or considering doing this, Id urge you to put a stop to it for a number of reasons. Here are my top five reasons you should never go off a candidates LinkedIn profile (and LinkedIn profile alone) when recruiting for new employees. 1. Profile May Be Out Of Date: When it comes to LinkedIn, the majority of users dont tend to update their profile regularly in fact, many only update it when they come to actively look and apply for new jobs so theres a good chance their profile could be out of date. Now, just to clarify; Im not talking about their job title and employee Im actually talking about their role responsibilities, existing and new skills and experience which could be just what youre looking for! 2. Endorsements/Recommendations May Not Be Genuine: The problem with LinkedIn recommendations and endorsements is that theyre not necessarily genuine so its hard to know if you can trust them. With both recommendations and endorsements, it can be a bit of an Ill scratch your back if you scratch mine scenario so you can never really be sure what to trust or believe. Similarly, people can and are being endorsed for skills they dont even have meaning their profile may not be representative of their actual skillset.  That said; Id take endorsements and recommendations with a pinch of salt. 3. Profile May Not Have The Correct Contact Details: On LinkedIn, you only have a couple of ways to contact a candidate try to connect or send them an InMail and while thats great if theyre active on LinkedIn, theres a chance that theyre not so will never see your message or request. OK, so in most cases theyll be sent an email notifying them of the InMail or request but what if they dont even use that email anymore or check it regularly? 4. Profile May Not Be Accurate: From endorsements to location, theres lots of room for inaccuracies on LinkedIn profiles so you need to keep this in mind. Similarly, a candidate may be willing to relocate but its highly unlikely theyll actually have that written anywhere on their LinkedIn profile this means many LinkedIn profiles dont actually tell the full story and may mean you end up discounting a candidate who may be perfect for the role in question. 5. Profile Wont Be Tailored To Application: At Bubble we always advise candidates to tailor their CV and cover letter for each individual job application because it allows them to demonstrate how suitable they are for the role and may help them to get further along in the process. With LinkedIn, theres no way candidates can tailor their profile for every possible job opportunity or recruiter that may come along which again means theres a chance you might end up discounting the ideal candidate because their skills or suitability for the role arent immediately apparent. Im really keen to hear your thoughts on this one. Do you use LinkedIn to find candidates? And if so, how much emphasis do you place on their profile? Leave me a comment below.