Putting the recruitment value of LinkedIn into perspective! By Claire Tuffin

Putting the recruitment value of LinkedIn into perspective! By Claire Tuffin

Is avoiding a fee the only reason so many clients are opting to use LinkedIn as their first route to filling a vacancy? Having talked to numerous clients and other recruiters, the resounding answer seems to be yes!

Of course, it’s fully understandable when we are all being tasked with driving down costs and getting value for money. LinkedIn certainly delivers on the former point, but will never deliver on the latter as it is the electronic equivalent of placing an advertisement in the relevant trade publication and then sifting through the response, hoping that somewhere in the pile of cvs is the gem you’re looking for. It takes time and resource to wade through your LinkedIn list and even then you are only reading what the candidate has written about themselves and who would ever include a poor recommendation in their profile?

So you may get volume, but what you will never get is an objective opinion about the individual’s capabilities; competency tested skills assessment; and importantly, some indication of personality and culture fit - never mind their remuneration details. Bearing in mind that the most requested requirement these days is “culture fit” it would be an extreme stroke of luck to identify someone with the requisite skills who just happens to be right for your business, all through the one dimensional medium of a computer screen.

And anyway, what about finding the very best person for the position - not just someone who will do? How can you be sure that the profiles from your LinkedIn search are the very best people out there? The answer is that you can’t. It’s a gamble and gambles can be costly. It takes years of developing market knowledge to be able to identify who the best people are and then know where to find them. That’s what adds value and ultimately saves you time and money.

Of course, I would say this though wouldn’t I as VMA Group is an executive recruitment consultancy! But it’s true. This knowledge takes years to develop and we spend a lot of money building our networks, marketing our business to attract talent, and training our consultants to provide a truly consultative and knowledgeable service. VMA Group has spent 35 years tracking and meeting the very best PR and Corporate Communications professionals in the business and has extended this globally through our offices in Brussels and Hong Kong, plus our affiliate partnership in North America. We also have over 13 years of developing interim and permanent contacts in Human Resources across the UK so VMA Group is well placed to find those elusive star candidates who can make such a difference to a business and the effectiveness of a team.

But don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of LinkedIn. It’s just a case of bearing in mind its limitations and understanding that, although initially a recruitment fee can feel painful, if you do the maths it really is the most cost effective way of filling a specialist role quickly and efficiently.

Of course we use LinkedIn ourselves to ensure that we’re aware of all the relevant talent in the market and to ensure that we have them on our radar. And I admit, we use the site when looking to grow our own team but we always remain mindful of its limitations.

In fact we’re currently looking for a new marketing manager and more recruitment consultants to join our team of 55 so.......do feel free to get in touch if we haven’t already said hello to you via LinkedIn that is!