Christchurch to benefit from LinkedIn’s global workforce

Social media experts at the recent 2014 NZ Social Media Forum in Auckland described LinkedIn as the ‘sleeping giant of social media’ despite it being the third largest social media platform in New Zealand. 

The professional networking tool has more than 300 million members worldwide, attracting more than 180 million monthly unique visitors and is increasing at a rate of two new members per second.  

It would seem New Zealand is doing well to follow the LinkedIn trend with its 1.1 million users and 12,500 active company pages but Decipher Group director Sarcha Every says it’s a significantly untapped recruitment resource in New Zealand.  

“Christchurch is still in a very immature stage when it comes to utilising social media for recruitment because many people have a limited understanding of its benefits and don’t realise the power it has for conducting business.”  

As the fight for skilled workers in Christchurch continues, the online supply of international recruits ready to take on roles within the rebuild is becoming increasingly vital for employers looking to source the best talent, says Every. 

“It’s more important than ever for companies to have a strong presence online, particularly via effective recruitment tools such as LinkedIn to fill in the gaps.”  

It is estimated that more than 80 percent of professionals in New Zealand are already on LinkedIn, with worldwide trends likely to be even higher. 

In highly competitive sectors, companies all over the world are scrambling to lock down the best talent and successful recruiters, already using LinkedIn, are having to be increasingly proactive to be heard above the noise, says Every. 

“There’s a supply and demand issue at work because the best talent know they are a highly desirable commodity and realise they don’t have to go looking for work – the work comes to them.”

These people are known as the passive candidates. They aren’t actively trawling job sites or reading the ‘situations vacant’ section of the daily paper but are willing to consider new employment opportunities if and when they present themselves.

“It is really a doubled-edged sword because in order for the recruitment process to work, the passive candidates themselves must have active LinkedIn profiles. We work in a very small market in Christchurch so unless these passive candidates are keeping an eye on the market they may miss out on a significant career opportunity that may not resurface for another 10 years.” 

So while placing adverts on job boards is still important, those operating in industries affected by the skills shortage need to focus on ways to connect with these passive candidates and selling them on the idea of working in Christchurch. 

Every says LinkedIn has great potential for business with 60 percent of members using the network to gain industry insights, 53 percent for company news and 43 percent for product information.  

“LinkedIn is the way professional people are connecting now. It’s a well-oiled machine that creates unique opportunities for businesses to build brand awareness and position themselves as thought leaders in their respective fields.”  

Every says the post-quake boom in Christchurch is a unique selling point which companies can use to attract qualified candidates to their brand.  

“The sectors in Christchurch most affected by the current skills shortage are primarily technical disciplines with engineers, quantity surveyors, IT experts, consulting professionals and experienced tradespeople all in high demand,” says Every. 

“But not all sectors are struggling to attract talent to the market as senior and executive level job seekers are particularly interested in what Christchurch has to offer right now and in the medium to long term. Many at this senior level recognise the unique opportunity the rebuild represents – there’s money to be made, knowledge to gain and relationships to be built. It’s an exciting time in Christchurch so there’s no problem attracting these highly skilled candidates to the region providing businesses have a compelling opportunity to offer and the resources to uncover this talent.” 

Every says LinkedIn provides local businesses with the power to expand their searches beyond their personal connections and gain access to the very best candidates via LinkedIn’s global network. 

She says new filtering tools allow companies to limit their searches to individuals with a particular skill set, experience level or graduates from selected universities but warns it can be a time consuming process. 

“When it comes to recruitment, LinkedIn certainly isn’t the be-all-and-end-all solution when connecting with prospective candidates. But it is an incredibly powerful tool and one that continues to form an important part of the recruitment strategies we develop for our clients,” says Every. 

“Those willing to use LinkedIn will attract the right kind of professionals to their business, opening the door to a new kind of economic opportunity by making themselves more productive and successful. Those who resist will continue to come off second best.”