How to recruit candidates when you have 1, 3, or 5 hours in a day

A man sitting inside at a desk working on a laptop.

A woman seated at a desk in a home setting, looking at a computer. There are children’s drawings taped to the wall behind her and some personal belongings on the desk.

Creating profiles for ideal candidates brings a laserlike focus to the hiring process and makes recruiting more efficient.

Select essential skills
Align with the hiring team on three to five integral skills an ideal candidate should have. Candidate profiles shouldn’t be static, but should evolve to reflect the realities of today’s talent market.

Establish nonessential traits and skills
Pick the traits, experiences, and skills that aren’t essential, but would bring additional value to the team.

Identify deal-breakers
Determine any red flags like a short job tenure or a lack of professionalism in a candidate’s online presence.

A computer on a desk with a potted plant beside it and sticky notes on the wall. On the screen, a cursor highlights one of eight text boxes in a browser.

A well-written job post helps position your company as a great place to work, engages candidates, and encourages them to apply.

Use a clear title
Avoid gimmicky titles like “rock star” or “ninja.” Jargon doesn’t give candidates a clear picture of the role and can hurt the job post’s discoverability.

Highlight the most important responsibilities
Prioritize four to six short points that communicate goals clearly and concisely, since most candidates skim through posts before deciding to apply.

Share perks and benefits
Give candidates a sense of company culture. Do you offer commuter benefits, a learning stipend, or flexible work hours? Entice candidates with key differentiators.

Don’t start from scratch
Writing job descriptions takes away time better spent attracting great candidates — save time and use job description templates.

A man seated at a desk in a home setting, with a computer screen open before him, a clock on the wall, and a cat under his chair.

A man seated at a desk and working at a computer, with a plant and a fish in a fishbowl nearby.

Identify your upcoming hiring needs and proactively grow a list of people to reach out to when the timing is right.

Build your list of candidates
Search through networks, referrals, and current employees to identify potential candidates. Aim for volume, since many candidates may not be a culture add or available for hire.

Bookmark candidates for future roles
Start the candidate search before a role is even open.

Make connections
Don’t underestimate the power of building relationships with potential candidates outside of work. Spend some out-of-office time recruiting, too. Remember, 85% of jobs are filled through networking.

A close-up of a hand holding a phone. On the screen, there is a portrait of a different person than the one holding the phone, with some information underneath.

Using your candidate profiles as a starting point, begin to map the fit of prospective candidates back to the role and company.

Focus on top performers
Look to your strongest employees to understand the hiring bar. Have a holistic viewpoint of the ideal candidate’s experience, skill set, and background.

Look for signals of a high performer
High-performance indicators vary across companies. At LinkedIn, we look for data-driven results, career growth, and recommendations.

Learn to spot red flags
Be cognizant of discrepancies, short job tenure, vague language, mistakes and typos, and dishonesty on candidate profiles.

A woman holding a mug and seated at a desk, looking at a computer screen. A plant sits beside the computer screen and a dog sits at her feet.

Kick off your outreach to candidates to start interviewing. According to the Radicati Group, a technology market research firm, the average person gets 129 emails a day — so make your message count.

Send emails midweek and in the late morning
Increase the chances of your message being opened by sending it between 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. on a weekday.

Craft smart subject lines
Successful subject lines tap into a candidate’s personal interests listed on their profile. (Ex: “Hello from a fellow scuba diver.”)

End with a call to action
Suggest times to connect with candidates to clearly communicate your interest and decrease back-and-forth.

A woman deep in thought, surrounded by objects like light bulbs, calendars, other people’s portraits, clocks, and sticky notes.

⚐ A woman seated at a desk, looking at a computer that’s displaying the LinkedIn website. There are a mug and a vase of flowers on the desk beside her.

Develop a narrative that humanizes your organization and gives candidates a preview of their future colleagues and company culture.

Create an unforgettable culture
Foster a sense of community in the workplace to engage new talent and increase retention. Happy employees attract great candidates.

Use social media
Showcase your company’s people, not just your products, with photos, videos, and employee testimonials.

Leverage brand ambassadors
Encourage employees to vocalize company culture in their networks, but make sure to also take feedback as opportunities for improvement.

Two people sit in purple chairs across from one another, facing each other as they converse in an office setting.

Identify opportunities to build better relationships with candidates through all stages of the hiring process.

Adequately prepare candidates
Show candidates you’re invested in their success by sharing what they need to succeed, including potential questions, must-bring materials, and interviewers’ LinkedIn profiles.

Ensure a unified interviewing approach
Align decision-makers on the role’s scope and ideal candidate skills, and divide interview questions up to determine who delves deeply into each topic.

Collect candidate feedback
Ask how your company can improve on timeliness, communication, transparency, and other factors that could make or break a candidate’s decision to move forward.

A woman seated at a desk, looking at a computer. In one hand, she holds a mug. With the other hand, she waves at a group of four diverse people in a video call on the screen.

Find your next great hire