LINKEDIN RECRUITER RULE CHANGES & RESTRICTIONS

LinkedIn recently has begun cracking down on some of the below listed offenses. LinkedIn Recruiter users with an InMail response rate of 13% will be suspended from sending messages for 14 days. LinkedIn Recruiter product users whose reponse rate dips below 14% will no longer be able to send bulk InMail messages to candidates for a period of 14 days.

Earlier this year, Recruiter users were no longer allowed to send group messages to second and third degree connections. I’m certain we will see more restrictions and guidelines with regard to messaging and recruiting on LinkedIn.

Personally, I like this change. LinkedIn is a great recruiting resource. However, it’s one that many recruiters have begun to rely on too heavily focusing more on mass messaging than building relationships and engaging potential hot leads and candidates.

How to Increase Your LinkedIn InMail Response Rate

The key to increasing your open rate can be accomplished in just 5 easy steps:

• Get Customized. Focus on customized messages that clearly establish that you have took the time to research and learn about the candidate. This means leaving the mass messaging behind and focusing on customized notes, emails and phone calls that let the candidate know they are important and that you aren’t sending the same mass message to 500 other candidates just like him/her.

• The Referral Email. The referral email is a favorite strategy of mine and is a common tactic of recruiters looking for new candidates to source that might be considering a change but haven’t actively applied for a job opening. I personally, focus on referers who have spent the effort and time building relationships with peers. My favorite referers are the ones who have an active LinkedIn or Meetup.com group that I’m able to tap into rather quickly. Personally, I prefer the referral phone call over the email to let the person know I’m a recruiter who is focused on quality relationships with candidates.

•  The LinkedIn Twitter Punch. Twitter is also an effective social network to engage beyond automated job postings and messages. The LinkedIn Twitter punch is a great way to ensure that your InMail actually gets read. I like to go the extra mile and tweet and follow the candidate I’ve just messaged on LinkedIn. A simple tweet to the candidate can be, “@twittername, just shot you over a LinkedIn note. Let’s connect. Love your tweets about Dr. Who too.”

• High Quality Less Messaging. Whether we like it or not LinkedIn’s restrictions and response rate requirement is forcing recruiters to slow down and focus more on quality than mass messaging. No candidate wants to feel like one of the lucky 200 that received the same InMail note. Focus on just messaging a handful of candidates, do the research and customize your message to dramatically increase your response rate.

• Time Saving Templates. I’m all about shortcuts that make the best use of my time and having a handful of InMail and email templates is a simple way to quickly copy and paste a message to a candidate and still allow for time to customize it appropriately. I like to use the Drafts section of my email or create multiple email signatures allowing me to quickly and easily send a candidate message without spending 15 minutes hunting for that Word doc I saved to the company share drive.

The key to increasing any type of engagement or marketing response is by understanding your intended audience and researching the best and most effectively ways to gain their attention and ultimately a response either a candidate referral or a qualified candidate that is interested in your job requisition and opening.