Find More Ideal Candidates And Clients Like Your LinkedIn Connections
by Kathy Bernard
Do you wish that you could find dozens more job candidates or clients similar to your best employees or customers? You can by filtering your LinkedIn connections’ list to find people with comparable titles or backgrounds.
Perhaps you would like to find 10 more Java Developers like your best software engineer. To find them, visit your star software engineer’s profile (with whom you are connected on LinkedIn) and then click the person’s number of connections link just below his or her headline. If the person allows connections to view his or her connections, you will see several filters at the top, including Connections, Locations, Current Company, and All Filters. Choose All Filters and then opt to view the person’s 1st and 2nd- degree connections in your target location. Scroll to the bottom of the All Filters dropdown to type “Java Developer” into the Title box.
Once you click “Show results,” you can view the person’s connections with similar titles.
Follow the same steps to find prospects comparable to your best customers. Visit a Director of Purchasing connection’s profile to find the person’s connections’ list for other directors of purchasing, or click the Current Companies filter to find and invite the person’s coworkers to connect.
When inviting these candidates and prospects to connect, click the “Add a note” option to explain why you are inviting them to improve your chances of them accepting. Follow-up with free LinkedIn messages to these new connections to build the relationship.
Kathy Bernard (kathy@wiseru.com), CEO of WiserU.com, is a St. Louis-based LinkedIn consultant/trainer who equips businesses to maximize LinkedIn for sales, marketing, or fundraising.