Basic LinkedIn Searches NOT in Recruiter

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For those of us who have the expensive LinkedIn Recruiter license (I have it too), there’s a danger of spending all of the sourcing time with the “paid” search capabilities, while missing some ways to search, that are not as “mainstream”, could provide the desirable additional results and make us more competitive!

Last week I we held the Powerful Sourcing Contest asking for three searches on LinkedIn that are NOT available in LinkedIn Recruiter, but are available in a Basic (and any personal) account. Here are some:

1. Find Alumni

This search is just amazing and is often missed by Sourcers. It has lots of ways to search, that the advanced people search dialog doesn’t provide, – not in a personal account and not in LIR (LinkedIn Recruiter). Start using it now (change your school to a different school and use the multiple available search parameters on two screens, as well as Boolean keyword search):

Find Alumni

2. Search for Connectionsconnectionssearch

 

You can search for all connections of – and narrow the search further down using other search facets:

  1. Yourself
  2. Your 1st level connections who have chosen to show their full list of connections with their connections in the preferences. (Sorry for the confusing language but it reflects what’s true.)

The URL for the search is https://www.linkedin.com/vsearch/p?pivotType=cofc&pid=ID

Add your LinkedIn member ID, or your connections’ ID, to get to the search. Or, start by searching for the connection, as on the screenshot above, and click on the (highlighted in red) link with the little people icon.

You can search for connections in common– and narrow the search further down using other search facets – for:

  1. Any of our 1st level connections
  2. Any of our 2nd level connections

The URL is the same as above with an additional piece pointing to the 1st level connections (f_N=F). Indeed, the connection in common are the connections of the other member who are your first level connections:

https://www.linkedin.com/vsearch/p?f_N=F&pivotType=cofc&pid=ID

3. Search for Similar

The search for “similar” is available when you click on the green Similar link in the search results. The link is available for members who are in your network.

similar-search

 

The challenge with any sort of “similarity” is that it needs to be defined in a context. What matters most – company, job title, location, or skills? The advantage of the Similar search is that it can be further refined by using other search facets.

The URL is

https://www.linkedin.com/vsearch/p?pivotType=sim&pid=ID

From our experience, LinkedIn has 100 “similar” suggestions for any member. Interestingly, some of the similar for out-of-network members can be discovered by viewing their profiles.

There are more ways to search from a personal account, and some nuances, that may help you to find extra target professionals. Sign up for the (sold-out last time) webinar Powerful Sourcing on LinkedIn on Wednesday, September 10th, 2014, to learn much more, get 100% up-to-date on LinkedIn search capabilities, and learn ways around its new limitations.

 

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