Top Ten Tips: What to Look for When Assessing LinkedIn Hires

LinkedIn is all about connecting. But as an employer, what exactly should you be looking for in assessing a candidate? How can a LinkedIn profile give you insight into whether or not a candidate could be the 'right fit' for your company? The following tips identify what to look for in assessing the skills, knowledge and personality of LinkedIn candidates.

1. Is this a cut and paste resume?
   Assess a resume accordingly. LinkedIn allows for candidates to describe their experience and capabilities to a network - not just a human resources department. Do they write for a screen?
2. Assessing Profiles
   Profiles are a great way to evaluate the voice and tone of a candidate. Do they speak naturally and use specific adjectives and colourful verbs to illustrate themselves?
3. Personal Taglines
   When searching for a candidate, the personal tagline is the first thing you see. Personal taglines offer valuable insight into professional personalities and descriptors of who the candidate is.
4. Engaging Summaries
   These introduction summaries capture the essence of who they are and what they do. Meaningful summaries will capture and audience and engage readers.
5. Specialties and Skills
   Candidates use "Specialties" fields as a personal search engine optimizer - a way for you to find them. You'll find key abilities and specific interests most important to the candidate - not just what's listed in their resume.
6. Experience is Key
   How does the candidate grasp the key points of their experience? How do they describe their current and previous employers? Does the candidate use clear, succinct phrases to describe themselves and their employer?
7. Do they Stand Out?
   Check out the "Additional Information" section. Often overlooked, this section can include websites that showcase abilities and passions not necessarily included in other parts of their profile.
8. Are they Engaged?
   Posting thoughtful questions and useful advice in the "Answers" section adds credibility to a candidate. Do their answers establish expertise and raise visibility?
9. Seeing the Value in recommendations
   Meaningful comments can be difficult to assess. Think quality, not quantity! Do these recommendations focus on specific skills or personality traits important to your company culture and business philosophy?
10. Creditability among Connections
    Connections are one of the most important aspects of a candidate brand. The company they keep reflects quality. Value of commonalities will add credibility.