LinkedIn already has an advantage in the job search game. They are the online repository for just about every professional's online resume. Companies and recruiters have also flocked to the network to stand up brand pages and start communicating with potential hires and existing employees. But for candidates and job seekers, the job search function has always been devoid of several key features, such as saved searches and email alerts when new jobs have been posted to the site.
That has all changed. LinkedIn now officially supports job search queries that can be saved and alerted via email when new matches are posted.
Say you want to target marketing jobs in a particular area and you want very specific terms like "manager" or "engineer" somewhere in the description. In the past, you had to login to LinkedIn, create the search and then review the results. If you were smart, you would first filter by the latest posting. Now when you do that search, there is a small "save" button on the results page. In addition, you can get a daily or weekly digest of jobs that match the search via email. That was the 'secret sauce' of Indeed.com, saved job searches and email alerts.
LinkedIn is in a perfect position to dominate the job search market, especially with the new email job alert and saved search feature. But, in order for more wide spread adoption and greater search results, they need to lower their job posting fees. For the average small to medium size business, a few hundred dollars in LinkedIn fees per position is a lot of money. That is why many companies don't post jobs on LinkedIn, but rely on traditional sites like careerbuilder.com and local media sites for new hire openings. Smart companies have avoided the LinkedIn job posting fees by linking their company page to their home-grown, recruiting web pages--but alas those results won't appear in LinkedIn's new job search feature. That is a big concern going forward.
LinkedIn does offer some added value with their job postings. For each posting, employers are getting quality candidates and full visibility into the candidate's LinkedIn profile page. Also, if you build an online application through LinkedIn, the need for a complex hiring management system is unnecessary. One additional feature that is cool is the redesigned main job search page. LinkedIn cross references job openings within your network. That reduces the effort in finding jobs closer to people you know, but it doesn't narrow down that auto-search based upon jobs that fit your skills or title.
The new LinkedIn saved job search and email job alert are going to shake things up, especially for competitor job search sites like Indeed.com. But, until more employers sign up and add more jobs on LinkedIn, the results will still be rather limited. This a is a great development and I'm sure we will see more from LinkedIn as they continue to add useful features to their platform.
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