Data insights

25 Hottest LinkedIn Member Skill Sets

Last week, we shared a list of the buzzwords recruiters overused in their LinkedIn profiles in 2013. Today, we’re back at it again with another list: the 25 hottest skill sets that got people hired on LinkedIn in 2013.

Let’s start with the good news… recruiting is the 8th hottest skill this year. Congrats, you’re in demand!

Now, the not-so-good news… if you’re recruiting prospects with one or more of the skills below, you’ve got serious competition. But don’t fret; we’ve got some tips to help you win the war for talent.

Without further ado, here are the skills:

25 hottest skill sets on linkedin

Now that you have reviewed the skill set list, here are some tips and tricks to help you secure the talent you need:

1. Do your homework:

Most recruiters review member profiles to determine whether or not a prospect has the experience, skills, and expertise required for a job. What you may not realize, though, is that you glean much deeper insight into their smarts and professional interests via LinkedIn. Review the content your prospect has shared, commented on or liked on LinkedIn, the Groups they belong to, and the Influencers they follow. All of that can be used to engage prospects in more meaningful ways beyond “Hey, interested in a job?” and ultimately increase the likelihood of a response and hire. On the flip side, here are some of the worst InMail mistakes you should stay away from.

2. Be the early bird:

If you have a LinkedIn Recruiter seat or even a premium subscription, you can save searches for exactly the type of hire you need to make. You can then set up alerts so that as new people match those criteria, you are notified via email. It’s a great way to get an early heads up when relevant new members join LinkedIn, or when pre-existing members update their profiles and suddenly become a solid match for your needs.

3. Learn the talent pools supply and demand:

You may have noticed that about 80% of the skills in the top 25 are related to technology and there is an honorary mention for marketing. We firmly believe that when going after candidates that are as popular, you should build a fool-proof plan. A great place to start is discovering what are the areas where the supply of candidates is higher than the demand, what are the candidates’ main motivators, what schools graduate the most students with such qualifications. Annually we do this research for you, and release it in our talent pool reports for the US and EMEA. Here are some of the relevant highlights:

To learn more about how to plan for the most in demand skill sets and other strategies for successful 2014 - sign up for the Your 2014 Recruiting Checklist Webcast.

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