10 Ways LinkedIn Talent Products Evolved to Meet Your Needs in 2020

As 2020 comes to a close, we’ve been reflecting on how radically the year’s events have changed the way we work. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated a shift to more remote and flexible work options, as well as encouraged companies to invest in technology and digital solutions to help us connect and get things done away from a physical office. We’ve also seen a renewed focus on diversity and inclusion efforts, as part of a broader movement against racial injustice.

Whether it’s planning for a more diverse workforce or unlocking remote candidates, LinkedIn continues to evolve to meet your needs and help you build the future of work. So without further ado, here are our top 10 product updates from 2020 that can help you now and in the New Year.

1. Signal that you’re hiring or open to new work 

Throughout this year, we’ve seen the dynamics of the hiring marketplace shift completely. The unemployment rate soared in some sectors while others, like healthcare, pivoted to meet rapid hiring needs. To better connect job seekers with job hirers, LinkedIn members can now signal to their network that they’re #OpentoWork while recruiters and hiring managers can signal that they are #Hiring through a profile frame, a post to their network, and additional information on their profile. 

2. Create a more diverse and inclusive workplace

Many organizations have also renewed their focus on creating truly diverse and inclusive workplaces. You can inform inclusive recruiting goals with gender benchmarks in Talent Insights to show gender diversity based on industry and role, engage more diverse candidates with the help of name pronunciation on LinkedIn profiles, and empower employees to confront unconscious bias through Diversity & Inclusion content on LinkedIn Learning.

3. Simplify your workflow through deeper product integrations

Limited resources can also mean that simpler workflows are needed to get the job done. Our products work better together with Recruiter, Jobs, and Pipeline Builder coming together in a single platform: New Recruiter & Jobs. Talent Hub, LinkedIn’s Applicant Tracking System, helps you source, manage, and hire from a single platform. LinkedIn Talent Insights also now integrates with Recruiter to surface talent trends within Recruiter workflow. Our products also work well with the other tools you use, as Recruiter System Connect integrations launched with Workday, Oracle, and iCIMs.

4. Adjust hiring for a remote workforce

In a matter of weeks, many professionals saw their workplace shift from fully in the office to fully remote. The demand for remote work has only accelerated. Since March 2020, there has been a 2.8x increase in remote job postings on LinkedIn. Meet this demand and find qualified candidates who are open to remote work with the Remote Filter in New Recruiter & Jobs and post Remote jobs with job wrapping to a city, state, country, or region.

5. Focus on skills for more informed and equitable hiring decisions

With an increased focus on more equitable hiring practices, talent professionals are accelerating the shift towards skill-based hiring. Skill Assessments, launched back in 2019, allows job seekers to demonstrate their skills by passing a standardized, short-form assessment, and empowers hirers with more insights on candidate skills for more effective hiring. In 2020, we’ve launched 84 Skill Assessments and expanded internationally, starting in France. Recruiters can also save time with Video Intro — an opportunity for candidates to share a recorded video response to key questions — to evaluate a candidate’s soft skills before a live interview.

6. Harness artificial intelligence to boost efficiency

Talent teams have become increasingly stretched for resources, forcing many recruiters to do more with less. We’ve harnessed the power of millions of data points in LinkedIn’s Economic Graph to make our products smarter and your workflow more efficient. The New Recruiter & Jobs platform uses AI to recommend candidates who match your open role, as well as skills and spotlights to further refine your candidate search so you can work smarter (not harder!). Automated Insights in LinkedIn Talent Insights proactively shows personalized insights on relevant talent pools to drive better hiring decisions. 

7. Collaborate more effectively with candidates and colleagues 

In this remote world, you may need new ways to collaborate with candidates and colleagues alike. The Recruiter Mobile has been rebuilt with improved search, messaging, and management capabilities, so you can connect with candidates from anywhere. New Recruiter & Jobs boosts internal collaboration so you can easily reply, tag in teammates, and share conversation history in order to make sure you are all on the same page for each open role. You also benefit from incremental improvements to candidate messaging and additional context in InMail Accept/Decline messages to enhance your outreach to candidates. 

8. Boost your employer branding to maintain candidate engagement

With hiring slowing in numerous sectors, many talent teams are reprioritizing employer branding to attract and engage candidates with an eye toward when hiring picks back up. Trending Employee Content in Job Details pages helps to showcase your employer brand with job seekers by automatically highlighting your company culture directly within the job posting. To better align your media spend with your business objectives, Enhanced cost-per-click (CPC) optimizes your talent leads for conversion, while Job Applicant Analytics in Campaign Manager provides more transparency on the ROI of your media investments.

9. Unlock additional value for small and medium sized businesses

Small and medium businesses (SMBs) have been hit particularly hard by the economic fallout of COVID-19. Interestingly, the share of SMB job applications has risen 25% since March 2020, suggesting candidate interest in SMBs is increasing. To better support SMB businesses at this time, members can now post a job for free (with the option of paying for additional promotion) so that it’s easier than ever for SMB hirers to post and manage jobs on LinkedIn.

10. Deliver enhanced enterprise functionality

The rapid shift to remote work has also placed an increased focus on the functionality of the technology and tools talent teams rely on everyday. Account Center provides a more efficient and secure admin experience across your LinkedIn tools, including better licenses management, single sign-on (SSO) support, and additional security features.

As you look to reinvent the future of work in 2021 and beyond, LinkedIn will continue to deliver the solutions you need to plan, hire, and develop your talent. Happy New Year!

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