The death of the headhunter’s database

This is a snippet of an email one of our clients received when contacting a Consultant with one of the leading, global, retained Top Executive Search firms:

“With Social Media becoming more and more important in the recruitment process, we decided to no longer maintain a candidate database. Keeping such database up-to-date at all times requires a high amount of work. Additionally, we are facing more and more rigorous data privacy laws that reduce the amount of data that is allowed to be stored from a legal point of view. As a result, the World Wide Web has become our most up-to-date database.

Therefore we suggest potential candidates to create a career profile on social media platforms, i.e. LinkedIn, XING etc. On these platforms it is not only possible to show the career path but also to emphasize on strengths, skills and expertise by using key words. This helps recruiters such as head hunters (or companies that are hiring directly) to find potential candidates via selective key word searches. The candidate himself/herself is responsible for the maintenance of the profile, remains the owner of the data and is able to omit confidential or otherwise sensitive information.

We recommend that you connect yourself on these platforms with consultants of the Executive Search industry. By doing so you will increase the possibility to be found, seen and contacted, when consultants are working on assignments that match your profile, skills, strengths as well as interests. We, for example, possess recruiter licenses on a global level and actively work with social media to find potential candidates.”

These three paragraphs sum it all up:

Yes, you must have a professional profile on Linkedin.

We’ve therefore decided to make August the LinkedIn month to share tips and tricks!

Do you have a professional, flawless profile? Not sure? Feel free to request a complimentary LinkedIn Report, with feedback on all your sections systematically. Just send an email to Bichl.Sandra@CareerAngels.eu (Subject: LI Report) and add the link to your profile.

During the next few weeks we will keep sharing practical tips on how to improve your LinkedIN profile & social media presence in general. So, stay tuned!