9 years ago
January 5, 2015

Sales Recruiters vs LinkedIn: Round 1

Here is a glimpse of how the social network LinkedIn stacks up as a recruiting method against qualified sales recruiters.

Rhys Metler

Technology is rapidly changing the job market and how organizations recruit new sales people, but not all technologies are as useful as they appear on the surface. Hiring mistakes are too expensive to leave recruiting to unproven methods, especially those that have serious drawbacks such as social networks. Here is a glimpse of how the social network LinkedIn stacks up as a recruiting method against qualified sales recruiters.

LinkedIn Occasional Recruiting vs. Sales Recruiters Always Recruiting

Even at organizations that update a LinkedIn profile on a regular basis, social networking tends to be the purview of the marketing department. Though valuable connections may come through this, the type of interested, motivated, highly qualified job candidates who will form a connection with an organization are hard to tell apart from connections made for other reasons. A hiring manager viewing the LinkedIn profiles will spend a great deal of time and frustration sorting candidates from marketers from spam. Organizations that do not have a regularly updated profile may not even have connections to sort.

Sales recruiters, on the other hand, are constantly recruiting, and through all avenues. When sales recruiters are contacted on- or offline, they are sure to ascertain the reason for the contact and will add qualified and interested job seekers to the candidate pool immediately, following up periodically to update profiles as necessary.

Advantage: Sales Recruiters

LinkedIn Recommendations vs. Sales Recruiters References

LinkedIn makes it easy for anyone to provide a written recommendation on an individual job candidate’s profile. Unfortunately for employers, there are very few ways to determine whether the profiles for those making the recommendations are legitimate. Furthermore, when they are legitimate, it can still be difficult to sort the relationship between the recommendation and the candidate.

Compare this approach to the approach of sales recruiters. One of the first things that a sales recruiter does when screening a candidate is to check for references. A sales recruiter is able to verify the organization, position, and relationship of the reference to the candidate before giving a reference any weight. A sales recruiter can also ask questions of a reference in real time in a conversational setting, providing deeper information about candidates than other channels can provide.

Advantage: Sales Recruiters

LinkedIn Candidates of Unknown Availability vs. Sales Recruiters Interested Candidates

Few employed sales people openly advertise that they are looking for a new position on social networks, knowing that this could cause issues for and with their current employer. This fairly limits the candidate search utility on LinkedIn to those who are not currently working. Though these candidates can certainly be as qualified as any other, it still shuts out a significant block of potential candidates: Well qualified, senior sales people who are employed but quietly or passively looking.

These passive sales candidates tend to network into new positions using word of mouth and sales recruiters. Moreover, sales recruiters are attracting these candidates while maintaining access to qualified candidates from other employment situations and can assess the candidate’s interest and availability prior to your organization spending time on the search.

Advantage: Sales Recruiters

LinkedIn Template Recruiting vs. Sales Recruiters Personalized Recruiting

Undoubtedly, LinkedIn has a more professional tone and purpose than any other social network. However, LinkedIn is still a social network, designed to provide basic utility to the greatest possible number of individuals. This is not a good fit for an organization that has specific needs and goals in its recruiting.

Sales recruiters take a more positive, personalized approach to recruiting. Before even beginning to search for candidates, sales recruiters sit down with you to understand your organization’s needs, ideal candidate picture, and hiring timeline. Sales recruiters ask questions to ascertain exactly who your organization needs and when, and can tailor the entire recruiting process to your expectations. No internet technologies can replace the value of that personal touch.

Total Score: Sales Recruiters 4, LinkedIn 0

Rhys Metler

Rhys is a tenacious, top performing Senior Sales Recruiter with 15+ years of focused experience in the Digital Media, Mobile, Software, Technology and B2B verticals. He has a successful track record of headhunting top performing sales candidates for some of the most exciting brands in North America. He is a Certified Recruitment Specialist (CRS) and has expert experience in prospecting new business, client retention/renewals and managing top performing sales and recruitment teams. Rhys enjoys spending quality time with his wife, son, and daughters, BBQing on a hot summer day and tropical vacations.

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