Will LinkedIn Profiles Replace Resumes At Your Recruiting or Staffing Agency?

Industry standards are hard things to change.  And most times – they are still in use because they still work.

Take resumes for example.  When it comes to staffing and recruiting, they’re required reading – whether you choose to read each in detail or automate resume reading with staffing or recruitment software. But the resume has new a force threatening to take its place as the industry standard: the LinkedIn profile.

The question is: Will LinkedIn profiles completely overtake resumes as the prime way for your recruiting, employment or staffing agency to learn what it needs to know about candidates and job seekers?

Personally, I don’t see it as an either-or situation just yet.  That said, I don’t think any true candidate picture is complete without a powerful LinkedIn profile, regardless of the strength of their resume.   Here are 3 reasons why:

1. Personal Branding Is Here To Stay
Branding isn’t just for businesses any more.  Now candidates have ample opportunity to present themselves to your recruiting or staffing agency in a compelling fashion through their customized profiles.

Rather than the traditionally brief resume, a personal profile can be a more creative platform for showcasing a candidate’s unique interests.  In addition to listing job experience, the profile can link to a blog, share a reading list and even offer SlideShare presentations.

2. Messaging Makes A Difference
A candidate’s online profile is the ideal place for you to get a better sense of a job seeker’s communication skills.  With all the added information a candidate can include, you can assess not only how qualified a person is for the job but also how they communicate their strengths.

Candidates can use a more conversational tone to expand upon their experience and interests and recruiters can get a better sense of the person’s personality and creativity.

3. Referrals Can Complete The Picture
A candidate’s profile can provide you with a treasure trove of referrals and recommendations.

It can also offer a road map of a person’s career path by showing how well connected that candidate is within their chosen industry.  The profile is the online fulfillment of the traditional “Recommendations Provided Upon Request.”

With a finite universe of qualified candidates, enterprising recruiters and staffing professionals need a variety of tools to discover the cream of the crop.  The LinkedIn profile combined with a resume – rather than one or the other – offers the most complete and powerful overview.

To learn more about how your recruiting or staffing agency can best take advantage of social media, and how our recruiting and staffing software can help, contact us or request a free demo.