How To Appear in a Recruiter’s LinkedIn Search

When searching for a suitable candidate for vacancies, recruiters will use LinkedIn Recruiter’s search tool, which offers various filters to ensure candidates with the required skills and requirements appear in a search.

The type of search filters available but are not limited to, Location, Keywords, Companies, and Job Titles. For example, in a search for an Instructional Designer with experience using Articulate Storyline based in the UK who had worked at Instinct Resourcing my Boolean a recruiter’s LinkedIn search would look like this: (“instructional Design”) AND (“Articulate Storyline”) AND (“Instinct Resourcing”) with the location search filter in the United Kingdom. If your profile does not have the words in the brackets and quotations above, you will not appear in the search. Therefore, the importance of your LinkedIn profile being current, detailed, and accurate, cannot be overstated.

Here are a few tips to ensure your profile is going to come up in relevant searches:

• Keywords – your LinkedIn profile needs to include all your tools/software used (e.g. Storyline, Illustrator, and HTML) topic areas (e.g. soft skills, onboarding, accessibility), learning materials created (e.g. videos, workshops, digital learning modules), job titles, and day-to-day responsibilities such as team management, SME/stakeholder liaison, and LMS administration/management.
• Location – if you have moved area recently make sure your LinkedIn profile is up to date. Also, if you are open to relocation, make sure your profile reflects this somewhere – job title or bio. Also, radius searches are used, so accuracy is crucial – London? Be specific as to which part of London you are in as you wouldn’t want to miss out on a radius search due to a lack of detail!
• Companies/Industries – If you are a freelancer, make sure you mention industries and companies you have worked with (if you can mention companies). In my experience, clients will often request that candidates have experience working in their relevant industry as prior knowledge can provide insights into ways of working and content topics could be similar.
• Open To Work – If you are looking for a role, make sure you have open to work on your profile. When someone is needed immediately for a position this can be a great tool for recruiters to use to find candidates who are out of work or are soon to be. This is a search filter as well, so it is of maximum importance.

Finally, to appear in a recruiter’s LinkedIn search it is recommended that you do some research into ‘LinkedIn Recruiter’ to explore the filters available to you and keep them up to date. Then sit back and wait for the recruiter messages to come flying in!