Will Linkedin’s Job Application Tool Help Or Hurt Your Job Search?
Jun 2 2011 in Featured, Networking/Social Networking, reCareered Blog by Phil Rosenberg
Yesterday, GigaOm, (a tech industry leading blog) broke the story that Linkedin was planning to launch a job application tool.
The idea is that employers could plug a button into their websites allowing job seekers to “apply with Linkedin”, using your Linkedin profile. On the surface this sounds like a great way for employers and recruiters to collect resumes.
But I examine the job seeker’s side of things … how this could affect you. And I don’t think that I like this development much.
This should sound strange to my long time readers, as I’m a raving fan of Linkedin. I sponsor Linkedin webinars, I’ve written close to 150 articles on using Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter and other social media for job search, I run one of Linkedin’s largest groups for job seekers (Career Central: http://linkd.in/hyZz6a), and I examine most of the new job search online tools and methods that I feel could help job seekers like you.
I also have a ridiculously large Linkedin network of over 24M connections, allowing me to find Elvis and rule games involving Kevin Bacon (you can connect to me at http://linkedin.com/in/philrosenberg).
So why would I dislike a tool that makes it easier for you to apply for jobs through Linkedin?
There are a number of reasons this new development will likely hurt your job search and make it even more frustrating than it is now:
- Your Linkedin profile isn’t the same thing as your resume: Your Linkedin profile should be an introduction and less detailed than your resume (see http://www.recareered.com/blog/2010/06/17/resume-vs-profile-which-should-job-seekers-send/ ).
- You can’t customize your Linkedin profile for a specific reader: Your Linkedin profile is static – you can’t customize it for a specific reader’s needs. However, you can (and should) customize your resume. I’ve written hundreds of articles, and give complimentary resume webinars teaching tens (maybe hundreds?) of thousands how resume customization can accelerate your job search. Linkedin’s approach takes job search progress ten years backwards, when resumes had to be static … because they were delivered on paper. This is in direct conflict with corporate hiring practices that reward heavy resume customization, while penalizing those who send a static resume.
- You can’t bend spoons with your brainpower: Good News – If you are telepathic, an “apply with Linkedin” button will help you if you magically guess the key words a specific employer is searching for. Bad news – you’re not telepathic, nor are employers nor recruiters (see: http://www.recareered.com/blog/2011/02/18/career-advice-are-you-telepathic-then-why-act-like-employers-are/).
- You’ll lose some control: I teach you how to take back control over your job search through my articles and job search webinars. An “apply with Linkedin” button reintroduces mayhem, randomness, luck of the draw, of older job search methods that haven’t worked well for a decade.
- Currently employed workers will lose the ability to apply discretely: For current employees to include enough information on their Linkedin profiles to be selected, this information becomes public. This endangers current employees searching for a better position by making it easier for present employers to see your detailed Linkedin public profile – and figure out that you’re looking.
- Your ability to be searchable depends on your network size: This is already the case, benefiting candidates who have large networks, making them more visible. I sponsor Linkedin webinars to help you build a larger network and become more visible at http://LinkedJobSearchWebinar.com .
- You’ll need to search optimize your Linkedin Profile: If you depend on your Linkedin profile to be selected by employers and you can’t customize it for a specific reader, it will be crucial for you to search optimize it to show highly in rankings for specific terms. The Linkedin webinars I sponsor at http://LinkedJobSearchWebinar.com also help you learn the Linkedin search optimization techniques critical to increase selection odds from a Linkedin-based selection process.
- Affects you even if you don’t “apply with Linkedin”: It affects you because it makes it easier for people to apply, qualified or not. This will increase your competition numbers even higher than today, and lowers the % of applicants that are seen by human eyes – even if you use a resume to apply.
As we’ve seen over the past ten years, when it’s easier to apply for a job, everybody applies – whether they are qualified or not because there’s zero time or monetary cost. So competition for jobs is likely to increase, and we’re already in the middle of the most competitive job market in our lifetime.
- Makes the Hidden Job Market even more critical: As competition increases, it will be even more crucial for you to get ahead of the curve … to be a front-runner for jobs before they are advertised (Full disclosure: I teach basics of ending job board dependence in my complimentary intro webinars at http://ResumeWebinar.com).
But this announcement isn’t bad for everyone, just because it sucks for you. Here’s who will benefit from an “apply with Linkedin” service:
- Linkedin: Duh! Linkedin just went public with a huge IPO, where the company’s valuation skyrocketed to almost $7.5B … even though the company hadn’t turned a profit until 2010, when it barely eaked out enough profit so it wouldn’t scare the bejezus out of potential shareholders. Linkedin needs new ways to make money and who has really deep pockets? Big companies.
- Big Companies: Big companies spend so much (and waste so much) money hiring employees, firing employees, and hiring some more employees that anything that automates the process to get more resumes in the pipeline looks attractive. An “apply with Linkedin” will serve to automate some of the data collection process for large companies, especially for high volume jobs like customer support, sales, technical support, clerical, unskilled manufacturing labor and entry level positions.
- Big Recruiting/Temp Firms: Large recruiting and temp firms that supply companies with high volume jobs should also enjoy increased resume collection, and candidate acquisition costs from an “apply with Linkedin” button.
However, certain types of jobs will likely suffer from the lower candidate quality that a more automated, less personal, more dysfunctional hiring process will bring. This especially effects specialized labor, highly technical/specialized/professional skills, management, experienced candidates and executives.
It’s interesting that these more specialized types of employees are the core of Linkedin users today. Sounds like it’s good for Linkedin, good for entry level and unskilled workers (who aren’t very well represented on Linkedin), but bad for the majority of Linkedin’s current audience. I guess Linkedin is willing to disenfranchise it’s core audience, to compete with Zuck and his Facebook pals.
Stay tuned for next week’s follow up article, where I’ll give detailed tips about what you can do now to prepare for upcoming changes a “apply with Linkedin” will cause, even if you apply outside of Linkedin.
Candidates: Please comment below and let the audience know what you think about these changes.
Recruiters: Do you think an “apply with Linkedin” button will help you, or hurt you?
Employers: Do you think an “apply with Linkedin” button will help you find better qualified candidates, in addition to a lower candidate acquisition cost?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Want to do more than just complain about a bad economy?
To attend our next complimentary live webinar featuring action items to double your resume response rate and number of interviews, plus live career Q&A with Phil Rosenberg of reCareered, register at http://ResumeWebinar.com .
Join our mailing list to for newsletters, announcements of complimentary upcoming webinars and other job search resources. Sign up at http://www.reCareered.com/newsletter/
For access to more information:
Connect to Phil Rosenberg on Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/in/philrosenberg
Follow reCareered on Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/company/recareered.com
"Like" reCareered on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/reCareered
Follow Phil Rosenberg on Google+: http://gplus.to/philrosenberg
Follow reCareered on Twitter: http://twitter.com/philreCareered
Join Career Change Central on Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/e/gis/1800872
Source: http://reCareered.com
Author: Phil Rosenberg
You might also like
 |
 |
 |
 |
I am concerned as an ex-HR Manager that the apply with button may cause a liability in “discrimination in hiring| due to the fact that there is so much personal information on a Linked In profile, starting with a photo! I can’t imagine using LI to hire anyone because of that fact, unless LI has a way to block all that info.
And your right, LI sweet spot is professional and senior level candidates, not the entry level or high volume highs large staffing firms look for.
Other than money for LI, I don’t see this a useful in any way.
And sorry for the typos! That’s you are right and LI’s, and hires and as.
I need more coffee this morning………;>)
This article has some great insights on what might seem valuable “at first blush.” I thought no. 8 was the most poignant – making applying easier will result in more noise for employers to process, and will make the job search more difficult. Thanks for writing.
Tim
I believe this system will be self-defeating, to the extent that any mass tool is. Companies have decreased their use of job boards because of the time spent managing the volume of applicants. Is this any different? Will I use this “tool?” Maybe. It won’t be a priority. If LinkedIn makes money, this tool will continue to exist. If not, it will go away. I don’t see a great deal of value for the jobseeker. So, if you like it, use it. If not, boycott it. The market will decide its fate.
This is just another version of the Apply button at Monster.com, CareerBuilder.com, etc. And for the very same reasons as it’s a bad idea to apply this way at those sites, it’s a bad idea at LinkedIn as well.
These are also the reasons why I’m not a fan of posting one’s resume via the Box.net and the SlideShare applications on LinkedIn.
Since you can add documents to your LinkedIn account, couldn’t you create resumes for various positions and name them as such, e.g. name-Administrative Assistant, name-Accounting Support, name-Accounts Receivable Specialist, etc.?
Sooner or later, LinkedIn will find a way to insinuate itself to the collection of every internet job applicant. The professional networking program released an “Apply with LinkedIn” option Monday that will modify the game in terms of internet job applications. Corporations and large-scale job boards are already using it, and there is plenty of room for expansion. The proof is here: Apply with LinkedIn aligns stars around job networking service