Curious about how LinkedIn’s advanced search can help you find the perfect candidates from millions of profiles? With LinkedIn Recruiter, you can use powerful search filters to zero in on exactly who you need.
This guide will explain the differences between Recruiter Lite and Corporate, highlight the most important filters, and show you how to use Boolean searches.
We'll also discuss the limitations of LinkedIn Recruiter to help you get the most out of your searches.
What is LinkedIn Recruiter?
LinkedIn Recruiter is a hiring platform that helps you find, connect with, and manage potential candidates.
With advanced search filters, bulk messaging, and performance tracking, you can speed up the hiring process and find your ideal candidate.
Its powerful tools simplify organizing and communicating with prospects, making recruitment efficient and effective.
LinkedIn Recruiter comes in two versions:
- Recruiter Lite: Perfect for individual recruiters or small teams, offering essential search and messaging tools.
- Recruiter Corporate: Best for larger teams, providing advanced search filters, unlimited InMails, and detailed analytics.
What are the differences between LinkedIn Recruiter Lite and Corporate?
LinkedIn Recruiter Lite
LinkedIn Recruiter Lite is a basic recruitment tool designed for individual recruiters or small teams. It helps you find and engage with potential candidates, manage recruitment projects, and track performance insights, all from a single interface.
Who is this best for?
Recruiter Lite is ideal for recruiters with low-volume hiring needs. It's perfect if you need to connect with a few candidates each year and prefer a cost-effective solution.
LinkedIn Recruiter Lite account features:
- 20+ advanced search filters
- 30 InMail messages per month
- Access to third-degree connections
- Candidate search alerts and recommendations
- Personalized outreach with saved templates
- Free job postings
- ~ $150/month
LinkedIn Recruiter Corporate
LinkedIn Recruiter Corporate is a comprehensive recruitment tool for larger teams. It offers advanced search capabilities, robust collaboration features, and integration with other LinkedIn tools, making it suitable for high-volume hiring needs.
Who is this best for?
Recruiter Corporate is best for large staffing firms and recruitment teams that need to fill multiple roles throughout the year. It’s designed for extensive hiring processes and team collaboration.
LinkedIn Recruiter Corporate account features:
- 40+ advanced search filters
- 150 InMail credits per month
- Access to the full LinkedIn network
- Recommended matches
- Detailed candidate insights
- Multi-user collaboration tools
- Integration with Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)
- ~ $800/month
👉 For a detailed comparison, check this article: Linkedin Recruiter Lite vs Corporate
🟢 Priority filters to use 🟢
To make the most of LinkedIn Recruiter, prioritize the following filters:
Job Titles
Using the "Title" filter is essential for pinpointing specific roles.
For a more refined search, combine it with other filters.
For instance, if you need a CMO in the tech industry, search for "CMO" in the 'Title' field and apply the 'Industry' filter to 'Tech'.
Using the 'Title' field, you can connect with candidates who precisely match your job requirements.
Locations
The "Locations" filter is crucial for targeting candidates in specific areas.
Under "All filters," input the desired city, region, or country in the "Location" tab and click "Show results." Include those open to relocation for broader searches, especially useful in smaller talent pools.
For large cities, use metropolitan area filters to cover surrounding regions. This ensures you find candidates willing to work in your desired location.
For instance, when hiring for Paris, use both "Greater Paris Metropolitan Region" and "Paris, Île-de-France, France" to get comprehensive results.
Companies
This filter is perfect for targeting candidates with experience at specific companies.
To refine further, you can combine it with the "Job Titles" filter.
For example, search for "Software Engineer" at "Google" to find candidates with that specific background.
This helps you identify candidates familiar with particular corporate cultures or industry standards.
Schools
The "Schools" filter helps you find candidates from specific educational backgrounds. This is particularly useful for roles requiring certain degrees or alumni from prestigious institutions.
For example, search for "Ecole centrale de Lyon" graduates to target top-tier educational backgrounds.
Remember, this filter doesn't differentiate between different programs within the same school.
Keywords
Using the "Keywords" filter is essential for finding candidates with specific skills or experiences.
Combine this with Boolean operators for precise targeting. For example, use "Java AND Spring" to find candidates with both skills.
This filter searches the entire profile, ensuring comprehensive results.
Years of Experience
The "Years of Experience" filter lets you narrow down candidates based on their total work experience.
Be careful: LinkedIn often counts internships and apprenticeship programs in this count, which can inflate it.
So, if you’re targeting candidates with 5 years' experience, set the filter to 6 or 7 years to account for this difference.
Spotlights
The "Spotlights" filter in LinkedIn Recruiter Pro helps you identify highly engaged candidates.
Select options like:
- Open to work: Candidates open to new opportunities.
- Active talent: Candidates active on LinkedIn.
- Rediscovered candidates: Candidates you’ve interacted with before.
- Internal candidates: Current employees.
- Interested in your company: Candidates following your company page or engaging with your posts.
Using these filters is great to engage with candidates who are actively considering career moves.
🟠 Occasionally useful filters 🟠
Some filters are useful in certain situations but might not be necessary for every search:
Languages
The languages filter is useful when a specific language proficiency is required for the role. However, not all candidates fill out this section on their profiles, so it might not be exhaustive.
👉 Use this filter when language skills are a critical part of the job requirements.
Industries
The industries filter lets you target candidates based on their industry. This filter can be helpful, but it relies on candidates self-reporting their industry, which can sometimes be inaccurate.
👉 Use this filter when you need to focus on candidates from specific sectors, but be cautious of its limitations.
🔴 Filters to avoid 🔴
Certain filters might not always add value and can sometimes limit your search results:
Years of Graduation
Avoid using the years of graduation filter. It’s not a reliable indicator of experience. Candidates might pursue additional education later in their careers, which can skew this filter.
For example, someone who graduated in 2012 but took a bootcamp in 2022 will appear as having graduated in both years.
Skills & Assessments
The skills and assessments filter is often incomplete since many candidates don’t fully populate this section.
Instead, use the keywords filter to target specific skills mentioned throughout their profiles. It provides a more comprehensive and accurate search result.
Mastering Boolean searches
For more information on Boolean searches, check our article: Linkedin Recruiter Boolean Search - Complete Guide
Basics of Boolean Searches
Boolean searches use logical operators like AND, OR, and NOT to refine search results. This method is highly effective in LinkedIn's keywords or job titles fields.
For instance, using "Typescript OR Node" finds profiles containing either term, while "Node AND React" finds profiles with both. "Developer NOT Mobile" excludes profiles mentioning mobile development.
Quotation marks like "Product Designer" target exact phrases, and wildcards like "Dev*" capture variations such as Developer and Development.
These basic techniques help you pinpoint the most relevant candidates quickly and efficiently.
Advanced Boolean Search Techniques
To further enhance your Boolean search capabilities, mastering advanced techniques is essential. Combining multiple operators can yield even more precise results.
For example, "Senior AND (Java OR Python) NOT Junior" filters for senior developers skilled in either Java or Python, excluding junior roles.
Additionally, nesting searches with parentheses allows for complex queries, like "(Manager OR Lead) AND (Sales OR Marketing) NOT Entry-Level," which targets senior management roles in sales or marketing.
By understanding and applying these advanced techniques, you can significantly improve your candidate search outcomes on LinkedIn.
Limitations of LinkedIn Recruiter filters
While LinkedIn Recruiter is a robust tool, it has some limitations:
- No candidate ranking: Candidates are not ranked in search results, requiring you to manually sift through profiles to find the best matches.
- Incomplete information: Filters depend on candidate-provided data, which can be outdated or incomplete, affecting accuracy.
- Underused filters: Filters like language proficiency or specific educational backgrounds are often not fully populated by candidates, reducing their
To overcome these limitations, consider using tools like Leonar, which features an advanced matching algorithm to surface the most relevant profiles.
This can significantly improve the efficiency of your recruitment process.
👉 For more information on how to enhance your candidate search, check out this article.
Conclusion
By using LinkedIn Recruiter's filters effectively, you can streamline your hiring process and connect with the best candidates quickly. Prioritize key filters, leverage advanced searches, and address the tool's limitations to enhance your recruitment efforts.
Implement these strategies to improve your hiring process. Start using these tips today to find your ideal candidates faster. Want to automate your outbound recruiting without the limitations of LinkedIn Recruiter ? Try Leonar now!
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