Recruit Credit Union Employees (for Free!) with LinkedIn

LinkedIn has become the “go-to” place for job seekers or those looking to network or connect with friends and current or former coworkers. Connections aside, LinkedIn is also a bountiful tool for credit union human resource professionals. 

Like CareerBuilder.com, Monster.com and other job classified sites, you can post a job opening on LinkedIn for a fee. Posting fees range from $125 to $295 per job depending on where your credit union is located and how long you want to post the position. But if your credit union is like many other organizations out there, your HR department is working on a tight budget and those numbers can add up quickly.

     There are two fairly simple ways to recruit new hires for free on LinkedIn:

• Looking Good
  An effective way to find potential applicants for a position is to look for them. In the search box on the top right of the LinkedIn home page you’ll see a drop-down menu. Click on People and type in what position you’re looking to fill and you’ll get numerous people on the site who have that title in their profiles.
  
  For a more specific search, click on “Advanced” next to the search box. This lets you specify parameters like title, industry (there’s an option to select Financial Services), location and more. Just sift through the search results to find likely candidates for your job opening. You’ll even see a BETA testing area that’s unclickable, but shows you what’s coming soon for LinkedIn searching.  
  
• Join the Crowd
  If you haven’t already, we suggest you create a LinkedIn profile and a company profile for your credit union, and then join groups relevant to credit unions as well as any related fields. As a group member you’re able to post “discussions”; they even have a tab for Job Discussions where you can post a job opening. It’s free to post and you’ll want to have a link to the job details, whether it’s a PDF or a link to your credit union’s website.
  
  This form of recruiting relies heavily on word of mouth, which can go a long way in the world of LinkedIn. But the credit union industry is one based on community and the credit union focused LinkedIn groups will definitely help you spread the word!

Whichever way you choose, you’ll be one step closer to finding the perfect candidate to join your credit union family. Plus, it doesn’t put a dent in your credit union’s budget!