Best Ways to reach out to recruiters on LinkedIn

Reaching out to recruiters on LinkedIn is a great way to get your name out there … as long as you do it right.

If you’ve been job hunting for any length of time, you already know it’s the undiluted truth when I say searching for a job is a rigorous process. It’s hardly any fun, and sometimes it can be downright terrifying.

Reaching out to recruiters directly on LinkedIn might feel strange but is completely acceptable and sometimes applauded. After all, that’s what the platform is for so don’t be shy, most recruiters utilizes LinkedIn to find suitable candidates, so you need to take advantage of this is platform.

If you’re having a hard time on how exactly to reach out to recruiters on LinkedIn, below are a few amazing tips.

Approach the right recruiters

I always drum it in most job seminars I attend that it’s only appropriate that you approach the right recruiter. This should be something you put a whole lot of thought to, even before you start thinking about how to approach recruiters on LinkedIn. Make sure you are certain of the industry you want to work in and search for recruiters within the industry. The best way to search for recruiters is to type your industry and the word “recruiter,” e.g.“finance recruiter.”  You can also narrow your search results by region to find local recruiters in your area. Just don’t forget to make sure the recruiter is still active and hasn’t moved on to a different job or field. By approaching the right recruiters, you increase your chances of landing a job.

Never start with LinkedIn

This may seem counterintuitive, but it’s advisable that you should make your initial point of contact on another platform and not LinkedIn, recognize your name and face.

After connecting with the recruiters outside of LinkedIn, view their LinkedIn profiles and ensure the privacy settings on your profile is tweaked to allow others see your name and headline after you’ve viewed their profile.
This would enable recruiters view your full profile in return and on few occasions the recruiters might even ask to connect with you before you can request to connect with them.

Send a personalized connection request

By now you’ve successfully completed the above processes and now finally ready to connect to the recruiters. But before you click that blue “Connect” button, STOP! DO YOU KNOW WHAT TO SAY? Firstly, you have to figure out what to say because adding a message to your connection requests is essential. Ask yourself “If i got a connection request with no message from someone I’ve never met, would I accept it?” Probably not. So including a message will give you a much better acceptance rate as you begin reaching out to recruiters on LinkedIn.

What’s the best way to write this message? When it comes to contacting recruiters on LinkedIn, it’s paramount to start out with something personal to command their attention. Maybe you attended the same college with a recruiter or maybe you share mutual connections (if so, ask those people for an introduction). Here’s an example LinkedIn connection request to a recruiter:

“Hello, Macent. I noticed you live in California! I grew up there, and I miss it, but I am now an accountant based in New York and looking for new opportunities in the finance industry. I would appreciate any guidance you could give me. Would you like to connect and speak further?”

Send the recruiter your resume

Once you’ve gotten pass the other stages and the recruiters has accepted your connection requests, it’s now time for a more direct approach via email or a LinkedIn message. You can find a recruiter’s email address under the “Contact info” section on their profile, if for any reason it’s not there, you should proceed by sending a message via LinkedIn.

The message been sent to the recruiters should properly describe your qualifications, certifications relating to experiences, and what you’re currently looking for in a few concise sentences, attaching your resume thereafter, Ask if it would be convenient for the two of you to connect via phone and if you get a positive response, you can place a call across to the recruiter at the scheduled time, not a minute before or after, as your want to be as professional as you can be.

SEE ALSO: Ways to reach out to recruiters on LinkedIn

Ensure during the course of the call you highlight why you’d be a good fit for an employer, basically market yourself, don’t be too forward, stay within the line of discussion, do not drift into other unrelated topics when answering a question from the recruiter.  If you impressed the recruiter during the call, you’ve just gotten an ally, who’d recommend you or possibly hire you when the opportunity presents itself.

Stay in touch

Now you know how to reach out to recruiters on LinkedIn and the action that precede it, but what happens afterward? More often than not, jus reaching out to recruiters on LinkedIn won’t produce instantaneous results. You may get a usual response of “I’ll keep your resume on file, and get back to you as soon as something comes up” truthfully this isn’t very encouraging, but there are things you can do to ensure you stay at the top of the mind of the recruiter.

It’s simply staying in touch. Don’t be obnoxious, it’s a terrible idea to email the recruiter weekly asking if anything has come up for you. Instead, simply casually circle back every couple of months in a friendly manner. Take for example you stumbled on an article about a new trend in the recruiter’s industry. You could send the link along with a quick note: “This made me think of you. Hope you’re doing well!”

SEE ALSO: Do health insurance companies drug test?

Always keep the conversation relaxed and warm and this would help the recruiter remember your name, this could also lead to them thinking of you as a friendly and knowledgeable person who is always ready to help. Doesn’t that sound like the kind of person a company wants to hire?

In conclusion, although contacting recruiters via LinkedIn might seem like a scary idea, staying friendly and professional throughout the process could make it run so smoothly like hot knife through butter. With all the knowledge you’ve gathered from this article there’s no need to bother about how to approach recruiters on LinkedIn. Just follow the procedures given and you just might end up with a new job. Good luck.