Introducing the 2016 Industry Reports Featuring Exclusive LinkedIn Candidate Data

Centuries ago, the Polynesians, who lived on islands scattered throughout the Pacific Ocean, were among the best sailors in the world.

Why? They were among the first people to use the stars to navigate. That allowed them to sail further and more confidently than anyone else, thanks to the information the night skies provided them.

Here at LinkedIn, we are happy to introduce our new Industry Talent Reports. And, much like the stars did for the Polynesians, the reports provide organizations with the data they need to confidently navigate the world of talent, and ultimately find the people they need to stay competitive.

What are these reports, exactly? Well, depending on your industry and geography, they tell you the best places to look for talent, where your target candidates spend time online, what talent in your industry is looking for in a job and the colleges producing the most graduates working in your industry, among other things.

Who are they useful for? Any organization looking to create the best recruiting strategy possible. Using the information in the reports, you’ll be able to confidently determine exactly where and how to source candidates, so you’ll be able to create the best recruiting strategy possible.

You can get the full reports here and below you can read how to use them:

How a you can use a LinkedIn Industry Talent Report

To start, pick the geography and industry your organization is in. For this example, we’ll use the US information technology and services industry.

The first thing the report will show you is if your industry has added talent or lost talent over the past year. If the number is shrinking, that means it might be time to start looking at other industries to recruit talent. If it is growing, and therefore adding talent, it means the supply of talent is increasing and competition may be fiercer.

In the case of the US IT and services industry, there’s been a 1 percent increase in talent in the past year. That indicates an increase in supply. If demand from employers is leading more talent to join the industry, then competition for talent may be fierce.

Next, the reports will show you the cities in your target region that have gained the most talent in your industry over the past year. In this example, you’ll see that there are some surprising cities with a growing percent of professionals in the IT and services industry: Kansas City, Missouri, Fort Myers, Florida, and Naples, Florida, just to name a few.

Therefore, these three cities might be good places to look for IT and services workers. The talent supply is growing there and they aren’t common cities for employers to recruit from so there may be less competition.

Moving on, one of the next sections within the report shows what colleges produce the most professionals in your industry and region. This is helpful to talent leaders, as these universities would make good partners for your student recruiting efforts.

In the case of the US IT and services industry, the University of Phoenix is producing the most talent working in that field, just ahead of the University of Maryland and Western Governors University in Utah.

Next, the reports will show you the most sought-after skills in your industry. Recruiting people with these skills will likely take additional resources, as there’s a lot of competition for them within your industry.

In this example, professionals with management and cloud computing skills are the most sought after in the US IT and services. They will not be easy to recruit.

Using survey data, another section within the report shows you what people in your industry are looking for in a job. This should help inform your employer branding and your conversations with candidates, as your conversations and content should address the issues your targets care about.

In this example, US IT and services professionals are looking for great pay and benefits, a good work/life balance and challenging work.

Additionally, LinkedIn’s Industry Reports show you what LinkedIn Groups are most popular among people in your industry. These are great groups for you to join and start participating in, as they are filled with the talent your are looking for.

In this example, the LinkedIn Group Software & Technology is the most popular one among US IT and services professionals, ahead of The Project Manager Network. 

Finally, using LinkedIn data, the reports end with the topics people in your target industry and region want to read about. These are good topics for your employer branding content to focus on, as they are of interest to your targets.

In the case of US IT and services professionals, they are most interested in reading content about cloud computing, employee engagement, business intelligence, SAP, and confidence building.

Tying it all together

Recruiting without data is like sailing in ancient times at night, without the stars to guide you. Since there’s no clear path for where to go or what to do, you are left guessing, hoping your instincts are right.

The right data can change all that. These reports, which have even more in them than what appears in this article, make it so you don’t have to guess anymore. Instead, they give you the navigational tools you need to know exactly where to find the best talent out there and what to say to them, so you can confidently move forward.

In total, we’ve released 50 industry talent reports for 25 geographical areas. Click here to find yours today.

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