LinkedIn, the job recruiting social network, is in the middle of developing a tool that will merge recruitment and cold, hard, data.
Known as Talent Insights, this tool is designed as a way to help companies make a cohesive, data-based decision when picking out employees. The goal is to empower recruiters to make a strategic hiring decision and not just look at the traditional qualifications before they hire recruits. For example, instead of just looking at the person’s GPA and experience, the Talent Insights tool would show the employer what college produces the talent they’re looking for, and how a certain major can be helpful to their business as a whole.
Talent Insights works by producing two key reports that are meant to inform both immediate and long-term talent hiring decisions. And while 93% of recruiters look at their candidate’s social media profile, this in-depth look is unlike anything that’s ever been given before on a social media platform. The first report, the Talent Pool report, looks first to understand the type of talent employers are searching for.
Observations from this first report will include different data points such as: what areas of the nation the talent lives in, how difficult it is financially to hire the employee, and how that particular type of talent is engaging with their prospective company on LinkedIn.
Then, Talent Insights will collect data based off of how the employer’s specific company is doing when it comes to attracting the talent they crave.
Called the Company report, these particular findings will be based around attracting and retaining talent. Some things the report will provide include: how a company’s workforce is distributed by function and geography, what schools competitors are hiring from, which skills at different companies are growing the fastest, and where a company is losing their talent to and why. On top of this, LinkedIn will provide tips on how a company can adjust their recruitment efforts to help them succeed with their recommendations.
It’s important to note that these two reports won’t necessarily remove the need for employers to search out specific candidates. Rather, its meant to help them narrow down candidates as a method of both saving time and money when it comes to really choosing the right person for the job. LinkedIn wants employers to view this service as like a search engine for potential candidates — since an estimated 75% of search engine users never click past the first page, they’re doing what they can to help businesses succeed.
Talent Insights will be fully launched as a paid, self-service, big data analytics product in 2018.
