Where Is Waldo on LinkedIn?

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We can still send messages to fellow group members on LinkedIn without using the precious InMail count. But here’s what I just noticed, while sourcing for a new opening. If you did a people search, restricted it to fellow group members only, and viewed the results, you used to be clearly notified which group(s) you have in common with the members listed in the results. (There were even times, long ago, when the send message link was visible on the profiles in the search results.)  You would then have to go to that group in common with the person, search for the same person, finally see the send message button, and send the message. (That is, if you didn’t know of a shortcut.) You can still do that, in theory. But which group do you have in common? That will now take some extra man-hours to locate, if you continue to using the feature on a regular basis. 

To illustrate the change here are a couple of screenshots.

Here’s a target candidate that I have just found using advanced people search. He and I have a group in common.

Here’s the groups section, expanded, on the potential candidate’s profile:

I can see now, which group we have in common! Can you? This is where sourcing skills make a real difference. (Just kidding.)

To be fair, I need to mention one more hint to how to locate the group in common. It is presented in a graphical form: those groups are listed if you look on the right side of the profile and click on the “groups” in the “in common” section. Then, to go to the group, you would need to retype its name while searching for it.

Given how much effort there is in order to send free messages, some recruiters might now start sending InMails instead. Some recruiters may start using other sources more than before as well.

To use the above shortcut, add the member ID and press Enter. It still works. By the way this shortcut has been used almost 3,000 times since I created it.

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  1. I don’t see a list of groups displayed like that in my search results – in my basic LinkedIn profile or using the Recruiter tool. Where is that first screen-grab taken from? Is that from a search done before the changes you’re referring to. I’m confused!
    (Must be Monday!)

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