I really don’t understand why candidates do this.
I like to think I’m pretty good at my job especially “the hunt”, finding the candidate that has 5 year-old contact details on the CV, even the one that doesn’t have any contact details.
I once found the 3 real CVs that a competing agency merged to create a fake spec Cv to send into a client. I’m not quite Liam Neeson but you get the point.
What never seizes to amaze me is unemployed candidates setting their profiles on Linkedin to private and visible only as “Linkedin Member”.
Hold on, before you ask me, “how do you know they are candidates and unemployed?”
I’ll just show you instead:
What is the point?
Yes, okay, I get it. People value privacy. Surely, if you’re on Linkedin and unemployed you want to be seen.
Not even Liam Neeson on his best day could find this candidate, unless it’s right under my nose, and his current employer’s name is “Currently Unemployed”.
Seriously though, for recruiters to help you, help yourself first.
Start by:
- Making sure your contact details are up to date on your CV and Socials.
- Open your profile up. (Doesn’t need to be set to public but at least visible)
- Turning up when you say you will turn up.
- Do your research on the employer.
- Keep your profile updated when you start a new job.
- You don’t want to update it whilst you’re employed as alarm bells will ring.
If you don’t want to be contacted you can quite simply block people outside of your network from messaging you. (Even InMails)
Here’s how:
I’ve got my profile set to open, maybe I’ve been blaming candidates for this but really it’s Linkedin’s fault:
I hope it’s not Linkedin being greedy and charging jobseekers for the luxury of being visible to other users.
Please tell me that I am right, it’s candidates wanting to remain anonymous and not Linkedin trying to make money out of people that quite possibly can’t afford a £50 pcm subscription to find a job.
This would explain the lack of blue-collar candidates using Linkedin as a “job board”. With all the other free boards out there, why would they?
So, someone please answer my question. Is it Linkedin being greedy or candidates valuing anonymity?