LinkedIn is a great tool all seasoned recruiters and hiring managers use to identify potential talent. But, like a resume, LinkedIn profiles are propaganda, not a list of accomplishments, results, failures, and lessons but rather a marketing tool limited to career highlights used by people to promote themselves. Just like a resume, LinkedIn profiles are used as marketing pieces for candidates to stand out.
Leadership Candidates now hire consultants to create content for their LinkedIn profiles. You only see what people want you to see on their LinkedIn profile. These profiles are limiting, and highlight only the best accomplishments from a single perspective and you can’t assess a whole person from what is presented in a LinkedIn profile alone.
Resumes have the same limitation –they are tools to market one’s skills. While there may be some truth to what is written, it must be investigated and verified when you meet in person and through references.
A phone interview will give you some indication of capacity, energy, and how the candidate communicates and thinks. Yet, this, too, is a partial assessment.
An in-person interview allows you to assess chemistry and learn how this person communicates, how they think, solves problems, and works within a team. You can assess energy level, judgment, and some leadership capabilities. You need to meet candidates more than once and in different circumstances to be able to assess them fully. References are often the best source of information.
This is why meeting people in person and formally interviewing and evaluating them is important. You want to have a feel for who they are as a person.
Items to Investigate in the interview:
Timelines – Did the candidate perform well in their previous position? What challenges did the business overcome? What specific contributions did the candidate make?
You can look into exactly what the person did with whom and what resulted.
How does this person specifically motivate and lead?
What accomplishments are they most proud of?
This is part of the value a seasoned recruiter brings to you and your company. We understand how the right people influence the success of a company. We follow strong-performing companies and their key players. Strong recruiters also develop relationships with great leadership performers, like following top athletes on professional sports teams. Furthermore, recruiters spend most of their time vetting and calibrating talent. We assess people, vet them to separate the wheat from the chaff, and only present top performers to our clients.
