How to easily find recruiters and active candidates on LinkedIn

The trick to using LinkedIn well is to put yourself in the mindset of the 'other side'. So if you are a candidate think like a recruiter, and if you are a recruiter, think like a candidate. As I have said many times, LinkedIn (as is all social media) is governed by the law of UGC - User Generated Content (which is actually everything on LinkedIn!)

So let's look at LinkedIn it from a candidate perspective.

How do you find recruiters that are posting jobs that may well be of interest to you?

1. Don't use the main search bar at the top of the LinkedIn page, click on the advanced search to the side. Now you can use the extra field you are presented with.
   In the Title box enter the the job title you are looking for, in this case something like:
   "recruitment consultant" OR Recruiter OR "Recruitment manager" OR "recruitment director"
   
   **Warning** Just because they are recruiters don't assume they know how to use LinkedIn properly, many still have beginners armbands on!! They are also part of the UGC conundrum - they don't always call themselves recruiters!!
   
   Now in the Keywords box add the industry words you are looking for remembering to add the words AND after each word (with a space of course), if you have more than one.
   This will give you recruiters that recruit for your particular industry. Click on their profile and reach out to them as normal.
2. What about searching for the jobs that recruiters are actually posting. Well first click on the jobs tab right at the top of the toolbar and search there - these will be the jobs that some recruiters pay to place.
   But most recruiters post their jobs through their status updates. For this you need to jump across to Linkedin.com/Signal as it is the feed of all the status updates on LinkedIn - and of course you can search them!
   
   Try a different approach this time - use a search that uses some of the terms that recruiters use when posting jobs, like this adding in your keywords for your sector/industry at the end:
   
   ('recruiting for' OR hiring OR 'looking for' OR 'new role for' OR 'is seeking' OR 'looking to recruit' OR 'currently recruiting for' OR 'fantastic opportunity for') AND Keyword1 AND keyword2
   
   You can add in a Location filter and specific companies if you want down the left hand side. Also if you are looking for a contract role then add in words like:
   
   contract' OR contractor OR interim OR temporary
   
   This will give you any jobs that recruiters have posted in their status updates. Then SAVE THE SEARCH (at the top of the screen hit the word Save, and then name your search. Every time you click the saved search it will update in real time.)

So let's look at LinkedIn it from a recruiter perspective.

How do you find candidates that are looking for a new role on LinkedIn NOW and the complete article.