As of August 2012, LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network, had more than 175 million members in over 200 countries around the world. It’s not as big as Facebook or Twitter, but LinkedIn is extremely powerful when it comes to B2B networking – including healthcare recruitment.
By having a hospital profile on LinkedIn, you can professionally showcase your business in front of many potential employees. Like other recruitment websites, you can post jobs directly on the LinkedIn site. LinkedIn users can get emails regularly on jobs – and those can include ones from your hospital.
LinkedIn also allows employees to make recommendations for potential candidates who are likely also on LinkedIn. This can open up an opportunity for referral bonuses or at least employee recognition.
Recently, LinkedIn rolled out new design and functionality of its company pages. These new benefits can also enhance recruitment for both employers and potential employees. For individuals or potential employees, the new design lets users find information more easily on their LinkedIn streamline. Company posts that may interest potential employees will show up in their feeds based on their individual profiles. For example, a person who has neonatal nursing experience in their profile may see job posts in their newsfeed from children’s hospitals between status updates from others they are connected with.
For a hospital, with the new LinkedIn update it is now easier to add images to company pages and share information like status updates and job opportunities. These new pages also provide what LinkedIn calls a more prominent navigation experience that makes it easier to feature certain aspects of their company to visitors. This helps when a potential employee is deciding if your hospital is the right career fit for him or her.
Social networks like LinkedIn can be extremely powerful for a hospital, including for recruiting. But like anything else, a business page must be properly optimized and maintained because a bad first impression can turn into a PR nightmare. For help on best practices in the new and improved LinkedIn, call Wax Custom Communications at 305-350-5700 or visit waxcom.com.
