Search for candidates.
Find great matches for your hard-to-fill roles with step-by-step guidance on defining your needs and optimizing your candidate search.
Get a clear picture of what skills and experience you’re looking for.
Before beginning your search, meet with key internal stakeholders to better understand their needs and define your ideal candidate profile. Ask them to share the names, and LinkedIn profiles, of anyone they feel would be a great match for the role. This will help you define the skills and experience that are valuable to the role. From here, you can build a list of keywords that are likely to appear on the LinkedIn profile of a high-potential candidate.
Search on LinkedIn to find and refine a list of potential candidates.
Follow these steps to get started with your search:
Step 1
Start by typing one or more of your keywords into the LinkedIn search bar. To get more specific with your search, build simple Boolean strings using AND, OR, NOT, quotation marks, and parenthesis (ex: “Director of Donor Relations” OR “Director of Stewardship” AND database management).
Learn more about Boolean searches on LinkedIn.
Step 2
After you’ve entered your keyword(s) select “People” from the list at the top of the page to surface a list of profiles that match your search.
Step 3
Click on “All filters” to narrow your search based on factors like:
• Location
• Current or past employer
• School
• Industry
• Profile language
• Service category
Step 4
Explore your results and review the profiles with the most potential. Save time by using the Control/Command F function on your laptop to quickly home in on a keyword on a candidate’s profile.
Step 5
If your search results in a limited number of candidates, flag this to your hiring manager or other stakeholders and suggest adjusting your keywords and ideal candidate profile. Consider opening up your search by changing or removing some keywords and filters.
Boost your search efforts with LinkedIn Recruiter.
With LinkedIn Recruiter, you’ll have access to additional features that make searching for the right candidates even more efficient.
Advanced search filters
Use filters like: Years of experience, Function, Seniority level, Company size, and When a member joined.
Open to work
View candidates who’ve indicated that they’re open to exploring new roles.
InMails
Reach out to any candidate with a monthly allocation of InMails (direct messages on LinkedIn).
Hiring team collaboration
Share feedback easily with hiring managers, collaborate with teammates, and manage candidates.
Looking for something else?
Discover everything the Resource Hub has to offer and find exactly what you’re looking for.
