The Value of LinkedIn

LinkedIn is my friend. A good friend, in fact.

As a recruiter, I've found it's a wonderful tool to use to dig around and find all sorts of leads. It's six degrees of separation at its finest. I know that it's grown at an incredible rate over the last few years, meaning lots of folks have come to value it as much as I have.

My first impression years ago was that it'd be a business-y site. A place where engineers and developers and "business" people would connect. By that I mean, non-creatives. So happy now that our industry has embraced it as well. I can search art directors or writers, narrow by location and find a slew of potential candidates. The great thing from there is I can find others who are connections of these candidates, and go deeper and deeper into their networks.

Not sure about other recruiters, as for me, I am on LinkedIn everyday. I look at the news feed, I check open jobs (see if any competitors around me are hiring), I see who it suggests I might want to connect with. And, I search for candidates. It's not always for active, open jobs but I do like to keep ahead of the curve and get a few names for future reference.

I have noticed one thing that surprises me. I see a huge percentage of creatives that don't have links to their portfolio on their profile. My advice: you should, you should, you absolutely should. I've also seen a chunk of creatives who have a link on their profile that says "my company" and when you click it is their employer's website. Do you really need to be promoting them instead of you?

If you know how many people (read= recruiters) troll around on LinkedIn, you'll then appreciate the value of having your portfolio at the ready, even if you aren't looking for a new job. Don't pass on any opportunity to get your name and work out there, someday it'll be worth it.

Smart

Miss Jessica Menda, I applaud you. Your website made me smile and was a very smart "Hey, I want a job" thing to do.

Jessica took JetBlue's all you can fly in a month pass and is using it as her own personal recruiting trip. As she says, "31 days, a JetBlue all All-You-Can-Jet Pass and the search for adventure and a paycheck." From September 13th through October 1st, Jessica is jumping from city to city setting up interviews with agencies.

Her site shows you the dates she'll be in each city, you can find her on a map and track her adventure on twitter. We can all be ever so slightly envious that someone is spending one very cool month traveling around and meeting creatives across the nation.

When no one's hiring

Pretty obvious that 2009 won't be a smashing economic year. Agencies are cutting staff by the boat load. Not a good scenario for the folks hoping to land their first job. You should know that as a recruiter, I still look at books and talk to candidates despite not having any open jobs. Recruiting doesn't stop in a recession.

Take advantage of this fact. Pursue agencies with the same fervor you would if there were 1,000 jobs to be had. Call up an agency recruiter and ask them for an informational interview. Get your face and work in front of the right people. Act like they do have an open job for you. Who knows, they might have someone quit tomorrow.

When I am not actively hiring, I work on a list I call "3-Deep". For every creative in our department, I identify the top 3 people I'd hire in their place. So the instant we have an opening, I have 3 people to bring in to interview. I do this for all levels of talent in all disciplines. First, it forces me to actively recruit all year long. Second, I can respond to an opening that much faster.

Don't be discouraged by this tight job market. I'm sure more recruiters besides me are making their own 3-deep lists; get yourself on them.