HOW TO: Optimize Your LinkedIn Company Profile for Recruiting

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

LinkedIn offers companies the ability to provide more information about their organization via their company pages. On a company page, you can include information about your products and services along with information about job opportunities.


This is a relatively new feature, relaunched back in November 2010. Several Fortune 500 companies were part of the launch of this new feature including Dell, Eastman Kodak, JetBlue and Microsoft. But company pages are not exclusive to only large businesses — Harvard Business School, Rypple, Squarespace and other well-known, successful organizations have LinkedIn company pages.

Since one of the primary purposes of LinkedIn is career networking, it only seems logical to make sure your company profile is being leveraged as much for recruiting as it is for marketing. Here are five things to consider including in your LinkedIn company profile to attract candidates.

1. List Job Openings

This might sound very obvious but, as we all know, sometimes the obvious gets overlooked. Candidates expect job openings to be listed under the “Careers” tab on your LinkedIn company profile. Job openings should be current and link to information regarding how to apply. Here’s a great example from CVS Caremark Corporation.

As an example, if you select the first position, it takes you to a page with a job description, desired skills and company description. It also indicates how to apply, whether it’s via the company website or an introduction from a connection.

If the position selected doesn’t look like a good match, a candidate’s time has not been wasted — similar positions are listed at the bottom of the screen.

2. Employee Profiles Drive Information

 
Eve Mayer Orsburn, CEO of Social Media Delivered, an international social media optimization firm that offers consulting, training and marketing services, says “90% of information in a LinkedIn Company Page comes from employee personal profiles.” As such, it only benefits a company to make sure its employees know how to use LinkedIn properly.

One of the places that information is aggregated is in the statistics section located at the bottom of the “How you’re connected” box on the Overview page.

This section offers some very valuable information, as reported by employees. For example it includes annual company growth, years of company experience, as well as highest degree attained.

Orsburn adds, “If your company really wants to rule the LinkedIn universe and recruit top-notch talent, make sure ALL employees have completed and fully optimized personal profiles to improve content and effectiveness of the company page.”

3. Let Employees Tell Your Story

Candidates are interested in understanding what it would be like if they came to work for your company. LinkedIn company profiles offer an opportunity for candidates to connect with the organization.

Shannon Seery Gude, vice president of digital and social strategy for Bernard Hodes Group, says, “Nothing communicates the heart and soul of a company like real employees sharing their personal narratives of their work experience.” Bernard Hodes Group helps companies find, keep and engage the best possible talent via recruitment communications and support, hiring process assessments and staffing technology.

One way to provide personal narratives is via video, like the example above from Virginia Mason Medical Center.

Seery Gude also recommends that companies include a variety of diverse employee voices to reflect your organization. “Our social strategy team commonly sees companies that only include quotes from the recruiting team, or from a single business unit in the ‘What employees are saying…’ section.” You want to provide a bigger snapshot of your company’s employees.

4. Talk Corporate Culture

If you’re trying to leverage your LinkedIn company profile for recruiting, it’s important to have it reflect the strengths of your organization. This isn’t the place for marketing spin, and you should take the time to customize the different job opportunities available. Also be careful not to duplicate text, which could be perceived as not putting forth effort. An example would be not using the exact same copy in the “Overview” and the “Work at…” sections.

Shally Steckerl, executive vice president at Arbita, Inc., a global consulting firm connecting leading employers with the best talent on the Internet, says candidates want to connect with interesting people who are doing the work the candidates wants to do. “Candidates want to find exclusive insights about a company’s culture, environment and products on LinkedIn. If they want to see an advertisement (or a job posting), they can go to the company’s website.”

A LinkedIn company profile becomes a great way to showcase your culture and share company best practices, recent awards or news articles, along with partnerships the organization is proud of.