How The Apply With LinkedIn Button Will Revolutionize Recruiting

On Monday, LinkedIn introduced the new and slick “Apply with LinkedIn” button. With only one click, you can apply to work at any company that has this button. But wait, there is more! Once you click “Apply with Linkedin”, you will see a list of people in your LinkedIn network who are currently working for the company you’re applying for and send them a note for an introduction, referral, or just to ask them questions about the company. This button will revolutionize recruiting as we know it. Here is how:

Casual Candidates

There are people who are unemployed and are actively applying for jobs, and then there are those who are employed, are pretty comfortable at their jobs, but if something better came around, they’d be willing to quit. The second group is who the LinkedIn button will cater to the most.

Imagine you are browsing the web (maybe even at work), checking out a cool site you like (e.g. Facebook) when you notice the “Apply with LinkedIn” button, would you apply? It only takes one click. No complex cover letters and custom resumes required, so why not? You might not be actively seeking employment at Facebook, but if they happened to offer you a job based on your one click, you’d might be up for it.

These Casual Candidates are high-quality candidates who are currently missing from the applicant pool. The LinkedIn bottom will definitely introduce them into the system. This is also great for all the employed people out there who’d like to do something else, since they will now be able to easily apply to their dream job with just one click. And who knows, maybe they’ll actually get the job?

The downside of this button, of course, is that along with the great candidates, you will also get the unqualified ones who keep going around the web pressing the “Apply with LinkedIn” button.

Word Of Mouth Recruiting

Seeing who in your network is working at the company you’re applying for is super useful – you might even be surprised to find out that one of your good friends is working at that company. Applicants will surely be sending a note to their friend asking them for advice on anything from what to wear to the interview to what questions to prepare for to info about the people they’ll be working with.

Companies, in turn, will be able to see which of their employees knows the applicant, and will likewise be able to get some useful information about them. This is why you’ll need to go out and network / upkeep existing relationships even more than before. According to LinkedIn, referrals are 7x more likely to be hired than non-referrals.

Workplace Competition

The fact that candidates will be sending notes to their friends asking them for advice, means that companies need to make sure their employees are satisfied enough to tell their friend only the good part of working for their company. This means that to attract the best candidates, companies will be competing more than ever between themselves with employee perks and other morale-boosters to keep their employees happy and satisfied.

Check out the Apply with LinkedIn button in action in this video:

Do you think this button will revolutionize recruiting? How?