LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with more than 722 million members and counting. These members are spread across the globe, so if you need support with your international recruiting strategy, LinkedIn can be a valuable tool. We’ll look at some ways you can find international talent on LinkedIn, as well as some other key considerations when you’re recruiting international employees.
The Advantages of Global Recruiting With LinkedIn
Most international recruitment strategies will be multifaceted, but there are some solid reasons to consider making LinkedIn a part of your international recruitment plan. LinkedIn has some notable advantages as a recruitment method.
1. International Reach
LinkedIn was founded in the U.S., but with members in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide, the networking site has become decidedly international. LinkedIn does not rival social networking platforms like Facebook, which has more than 2.7 billion monthly active users around the world, or WhatsApp with 2 billion active users. However, compared to other sites focused on professional networking, LinkedIn is in a league of its own in terms of its global reach.
2. Professional Networking
Compared to other social networking sites, LinkedIn has the distinct advantage of being focused on professional networking. While other social networks may have some functionality for professional networking or recruiting, these are typically only tangential features and not the main focus. On LinkedIn, you’ll find multiple opportunities to connect with professionals in your field, including ways that go beyond recruiting and help you build a professional network in another country.
3. Passive Candidate Recruitment
If you simply want to post job ads online, you have plenty of options. However, if you want to recruit top talent who may not be actively looking for a job, LinkedIn is the place to do that. You can contact people directly with job propositions if they look like an ideal fit. This international recruitment method may be especially helpful in a country like Japan, where the job market is tight and there are relatively few professionals actively looking for a new position.
4. Targeted Job Ads
Whereas many job board sites are designed to function as databases job seekers can search through, LinkedIn takes a more targeted approach to sharing job ads with users — LinkedIn’s algorithms can automatically match job ads with qualified members. That means you’re less likely to end up with an overwhelming number of applications from candidates who are not qualified for the position you’re advertising.
5. Thorough Applicant Information
Job seekers use many other job sites as they would a search engine because they don’t need a profile to access ads or apply to open positions. That means you only see the information they submit as part of their application packet. On LinkedIn, in addition to an applicant’s resumé, cover letter, and any other information in their application, you can look at their profile to learn more about their skills and interests. You can even note how they network or interact with other people in groups.
How to Find Global Employees With LinkedIn
If you choose to use LinkedIn for global hiring, there are several ways you can do so. International LinkedIn recruiting can look like seeking out individuals, posting in groups, or sharing job ads of various kinds. Let’s take a look at the options recruiters can use to find global talent. You may want to use a combination of these methods.
1. Post a Free Job Ad
LinkedIn does allow employers to advertise jobs for free, but this feature is limited to one free job posting at a time for each LinkedIn user. That means free job advertising on LinkedIn is only feasible if you have just one open position in one city.
On a job post, you can choose whether to list a particular city as the location or choose “Remote” in the location field. The ability to list job locations as remote is a recent feature from LinkedIn. Identifying a job as remote will make it viewable to job searchers on LinkedIn regardless of their location, so this is an effective option if you’re willing to hire employees from a variety of countries. However, keep in mind that the language you use to write your post may limit your audience.
If you want to target a particular country, you’re likely better off listing a location within that country, even if the position is remote. Of course, if you’re setting up an office, manufacturing plant, or any type of physical workplace in a country, you should list that specific location in the job ad.
When you’re targeting a specific country, consider the languages spoken there and whether speaking the native language of your company headquarters is part of the job requirements. If not, you may want to work with a translator to write your job ad in a language that will be familiar to more job seekers in the country where you’re recruiting.
Free job postings appear alongside other job ads on LinkedIn, and LinkedIn users can discover them through searching. However, free job posts will be buried by new job ads over time so users can see new results. That doesn’t mean your job post will disappear — people can still access it through the direct URL — but it will become less visible to job seekers. If you want to increase your exposure so more LinkedIn users see your job post, consider opting for a promoted post instead.
2. Post Sponsored Job Ads
If you want to boost your ad’s visibility or post multiple job ads at a time, you should use the sponsored jobs feature on LinkedIn. You’ll write your job ad just as you would with a free job posting. Again, consider the best language for your job ad. In some cases, you may want to include the ad in two languages so you can reach more people.
Rather than post your ad for free, select the option to sponsor the ad. Then, LinkedIn will ask you about the price you want to pay. Promoted job ads use a pay-per-click model. This means you select a price to bid on getting placed at the top of the “Jobs You May Be Interested In” section that LinkedIn users will see on their homepage. LinkedIn job seekers may also see your job ad as a recommendation in an email or text from LinkedIn. Of course, LinkedIn users can also find your ad by searching.
The average bid price is between $1.75 to $2.25. Whatever bid price you choose, you’ll only pay that when someone clicks on your job ad. You will also set the maximum amount of money you are willing to spend. Your bid price and budget are all LinkedIn needs to know to start displaying your sponsored ad.
3. Use a Recruiter or Talent Hub Account to Post Job Ads
LinkedIn Talent Hub and Recruiter accounts offer additional options for job posting. If you have one of these accounts, you should use it to post your job ads rather than using your personal LinkedIn account. This will ensure you’re able to manage the ads on one unified platform.
LinkedIn Recruiter is a paid account option that gives companies access to advanced search filters, information on LinkedIn users, and recommendations for which users are most open to hearing from you. LinkedIn will also give suggestions for your job description when you create a post through Recruiter.
When you post a job ad through your Recruiter account, you can view up to 50 profile matches and use InMail messages to correspond with candidates during the 30-day period that your job is open. LinkedIn users can also find your ad by searching and may see it as a recommendation.
While you can integrate Recruiter with an existing applicant tracking system (ATS), Talent Hub is itself an ATS, so if you have a Talent Hub account, you can manage the whole recruiting process through LinkedIn on one platform. As with jobs posted through Recruiter, job ads posted through Talent Hub are searchable to LinkedIn users and may be recommended to relevant users through the “Jobs You May Be Interested In” section. You must choose whether to post your job as a basic, free listing or to promote the ad.
Some companies may be hesitant to pay for a Recruiter or Talent Hub account when there’s a more affordable LinkedIn Premium account option. However, if you plan to do a lot of recruiting, these account types may be worth your consideration. Paying for a corporate Recruiter membership will still cost less than paying a full-time staffing firm or recruiter if you’re hiring executive-level employees.
4. Post in a LinkedIn Group Thread
You can also advertise a job without actually posting an ad. One way some recruiters get around the costs of paid job ads is to post in a discussion thread in a LinkedIn Group. LinkedIn Groups are intended to bring together professionals who share interests or work in the same industry to network with each other, discuss relevant topics, and ask and answer questions.
By starting a conversation in a group within your industry, you can let people know about your company’s open job position. This method allows you to target members of a particular group and share your job openings more informally. Make sure you let job seekers know how to submit their applications since they won’t have the option to click a button to apply as they would on a job ad. You may want to provide an email address to collect applications.
Keep in mind that some groups will expect you to be an active participant in a group, so you shouldn’t join just to post your job positions. Take some time to participate in discussions before posting your job information. This will also help you establish a positive reputation with group members and increase their interest in your job opening.
5. Use InMail Messages to Contact Professionals Directly
You can also skip posting a job ad of any kind and reach out to individuals directly to see if they would be interested in working for your company. You may even want to use this recruitment method alongside posting job ads. Note that you need a paid LinkedIn account to message people who are not a part of your existing network.
Generally, the more expensive the account, the more InMail messages per month you are afforded. You may also be able to purchase additional InMail credits. However, no matter how many InMail credits you have each month, it’s best to avoid sending messages out indiscriminately.InMail is ideal for targeted recruiting. Reach out to people who look like ideal candidates for a position, introduce yourself, describe the job, and ask them if they are interested in learning more or meeting virtually for an interview.
This is a great way to find passive candidates who aren’t searching for jobs but may, nonetheless, be interested in a job proposition from your company. How do you find these LinkedIn users? The best way is to use the advanced search capabilities that you get with paid accounts. For example, you could identify a competitor that operates in the country you’re recruiting in and search for employees who have worked for or are currently working for that competitor. You can search by a person’s job title, seniority level, interests, and other information listed on their profile.
You can also search by location, which is a valuable tool when you’re recruiting internationally. Look for candidates in the country or city where you’re recruiting and see who looks like a valuable candidate before messaging them.
The Limitations of Using LinkedIn for Global Hiring
While LinkedIn can be a great tool, it may not always be the best method for international recruitment. One of the biggest factors is the country where you’re recruiting. LinkedIn’s popularity among professionals varies widely from country to country. You can look for the total number of LinkedIn users in a country, but a more useful metric tends to be LinkedIn’s penetration rate in a country — that is, the percentage of the population as a whole or of the workforce that uses LinkedIn. Some of the countries with the highest LinkedIn penetration rates include:
- The U.S.
- The UK
- Canada
- Australia
- The Netherlands
- Sweden
- United Arab Emirates
- Iceland
In all of these countries, more than one-quarter of the population uses LinkedIn.
Even if LinkedIn is a popular recruitment channel in the country, you may still want to post job ads in other places online to maximize your exposure. The key is to research the specific country you’re recruiting in since the go-to job boards and other sources job seekers use differ from country to country. There is no one-size-fits-all plan for international recruitment.
A Key Consideration in International Recruiting
Recruiting international employees through LinkedIn may seem like an exciting prospect, but some important preliminary steps must occur before you start hiring internationally. No matter how you find your job candidates, as an employer from another country, you cannot legally enter into an employment relationship with these international employees. This is why you need a legal presence in the country where you’re recruiting. Having a business entity in the country you’re hiring in also allows you to conduct other business operations there.
Establishing a business presence in another country can be a significant undertaking that is costly and time-consuming. In addition to the time and expenses involved in the process of incorporating your business, you also have to factor in the research and legal assistance needed to follow all the relevant laws. When you start hiring, you need to carefully follow the country’s employment laws, which in many cases can be quite complex.
Fortunately, there is a simpler solution available for international recruiters. You can avoid establishing an entity in another country by partnering with an Employer of Record (EOR), or professional employment organization (PEO), in the country. An EOR will take your place as the legal employer of your employees, handling legal compliance and HR tasks. Meanwhile, these employees will carry out work for your company, and you can focus on managing your team and ensuring a successful international expansion.
Globalization Partners Can Help Make International Hiring Easier
If you’re interested in LinkedIn global hiring, you need an entity or an EOR so you can start recruiting. Globalization Partners offers an EOR solution with a presence in 187 countries across the world.
When you work with Globalization Partners, you can still handle recruiting the way you want to, but Globalization Partners will take over when it comes time to onboard your candidates, establish payroll, offer competitive compensation and benefits packages, follow employment laws, handle taxes, and manage other complicated tasks. You simply get to focus on enjoying a positive working relationship with your international employees. To learn more about international recruitment, check out our Global Hiring Handbook.
To know more about G-P Recruit, visit our website and let us know how we can help you find the best talent, in the right location, at the right cost.