The LinkedIn Free Ride is Over

Let’s face it, most recruiters love LinkedIn. There isn’t any better source for professional data. In particular, if you recruit for professionals in such fields as technology, marketing, accounting, and other internal business operation roles, there is an incredible wealth of contacts available.

The Way It Was

Recruiters (and everyone else) reach out to contacts that they are not connected with through the premium InMail service, LinkedIn’s comprehensive premium service, or by joining a group that the candidate belongs to as well. Do you notice something interesting? Group messaging is the only “free” way to message contacts at LinkedIn to whom you are not connected. With almost a million groups, this was a great way to reach out to contacts for free.

The Way It Will Be

Group messaging may be changing. It appears that LinkedIn is rolling out changes which would make it much more difficult to message contacts within LinkedIn groups. Although messaging is still available inside of LinkedIn groups, it appears that recruiters will no longer be able to perform detailed searches and then message contacts that share a group with them.

It seems thatthe LinkedIn free ride is over – free group messaging may be going the way of the dinosaur. As LinkedIn approaches their IPO, they are surely looking to tighten up controls and increase revenue.

The Result

Recruiters who find LinkedIn  to be an invaluable service really don’t have too much of a choice – having an upgraded account is increasingly going to be a requirement for maximizing your time spent with the service.

If you do not currently have a premium subscription, you should probably find the resources to do so. Recruitment companies and internal corporate recruitment departments often do not allow employees to expense LinkedIn subscriptions. Now is the time to make the case for your company to pay for the service, as LinkedIn access should at this point be almost a requirement for all recruiters.

Another consideration is that as the volume of messages naturally goes down, the value of those messages may go up. LinkedIn response rates have gone down as their popularity skyrocketed and more people used their service for promotional reasons. Recruiters that value the service may find that as LinkedIn becomes more restrictive (and potential clients and contacts receive less junk messages), their messages of quality get opened at a greater rate once again.