3 REASONS LINKEDIN INMAILS ARE NO LONGER WORKING (AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT)
Alex Kovalenko
IT Talent Acquisition Expert | 20+ Years Helping Companies Build Exceptional IT Teams | Featured in NY Times, Business Insider, Toronto Star & Montreal Gazette
If you are like us searching and sourcing candidates on daily basis, you probably use many candidate search portals and tools, such as LinkedIn. One of the options to contact candidates on LinkedIn is sending an InMail.
In Canada with such a tight labour tech market, we use every tool possible (we use over 20) to reach out , qualify and secure tech candidate needed for our clients.
LinkedIn is a great tool to reach out to candidates but unfortunately not perfect. Just this year, Linkedin team discovered 21.6 million of fake accounts in a matter of few months. So imagine that Devops you have been sending messages to might not be real to begin with.
#1. InMail Is Not Reliable
Most candidates are bombarded by agencies and corporate recruiters alike with dozens of job offers. But in reality your average LinkedIn user only spends 17 minutes a month on LinkedIn. Let that sink in. That means that they have only 17 minutes to go through hundreds of messages if their title / role is in demand. That means they probably won’t ever open your LinkedIn InMail. Sorry.
On top of that, LinkedIn itself can not be relied on, as it can not even deliver the messages you send to candidates. Recently this year LinkedIn said that there were issues detected with LinkedIn messaging that resulted in some of the messages not getting delivered. Ouch.
Compare this to 2 other statistics: 28% of professionals’ day is spent on email platforms like Gmail and others; Professionals are also answering about 52 percent of all calls to their cell phones even if they do not recognize the number.
That is why we at Kovasys try not to rely on InMails that much, and much rather prefer to send email and call to make sure we can secure the best talent.
#2. Not Everyone is Logged into LinkedIn Every Day
Over 60% of LinkedIn users are not logged in there on daily basis. A lot of IT professionals are hanging out on Github, Stackexchange and similar platforms instead.
So by reaching out to some professionals via InMail – you only might get response in weeks – when that position has already been filled by someone less qualified for a job.
Instead at Kovasys we reach out to candidates on dozens of platforms to make sure we can cover a wider range of candidates and get quick turn around.
#3. Reaching out to the Same 6% of Talent and not Following up.
Did you know that 56% of recruiters are reaching out to the same 6% of talent? That usually means that when you, like 56% of other recruiters, are sending InMails you are targeting the first 50-100 candidates that show up in your search. The first users that show up are usually there because they are active on LinkedIn – updating their profile, interactive with other users, etc. But that means you lose out on the other 94% of potential candidates.
Follow up is also very important as most working professionals are super busy. At Kovasys we find that reaching out to the same candidate 4 times or more with job opportunities make him or her much more likely to reply and engage in a conversation. Unfortunately, LinkedIn blocks you sending follow up emails if candidate does not respond first. This is different if you have prequalified and have candidate’s permission to contact him or her with job opportunities related to them.
Happy Hunting!
First appeared at kovasys.com
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1yHey Alex, Great article! I completely agree with your points and think it's important for recruiters to consider other strategies for reaching potential candidates. Firstly, I totally agree with you. With the high volume of messages that candidates receive, it's easy for your message to get lost in the shuffle. And with the recent discovery of fake accounts, it's hard to know if your message is even being received by a real candidate. Secondly, it's important to recognize that not everyone is logged into LinkedIn every day. Many IT professionals prefer to spend their time on other platforms, like Github or Stackexchange. Lastly, it's important to follow up with potential candidates. With busy schedules, it's easy for a message to get lost in the shuffle or for a candidate to forget about it. Your suggestion to reach out to the same candidate four times or more is a great way to ensure that your message is being received and considered. Overall, your post highlights some important challenges with using InMails on LinkedIn for recruiting. It's important for recruiters to consider other strategies and platforms to reach potential candidates. Thanks for sharing your insights and keep up the great work at Kovasys!