Most, if not, all nations in the world are going through a state of turmoil while battling with the coronavirus pandemic. The global economic consequences do not go unnoticed, as the world is facing a global unemployment crisis with 140 million people out of work. LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network, is introducing new features and improvements to help professionals recover their careers and find relevant jobs.
LinkedIn is a social network, but for professionals. Businesses and professionals can make new connections. People seeking jobs can set up their profiles, and recruiters can offer jobs which job-seekers can apply to. Recruiters can also find the people who fit the job profile and get it touch with them directly. But with the rising difficulties which come with the rise in unemployment across the globe, people are finding it hard to discover relevant job opportunities. According to LinkedIn’s labor market update from August 2020, India’s hiring rate has grown by 12%, but competition for jobs is 30% higher than last year.
This is what the new LinkedIn features and improvements aim to solve. The company is introducing the new Career Explorer tool, which will help people discover jobs by matching their skills with the jobs that are being offered. The tool will also highlight additional skills that might be required for the job and show relevant courses offered by LinkedIn to improve those required skills. The idea behind this is to show jobs to the user that aren’t only in the immediate sector that they are familiar with, but also any job from any other sector which might also be suitable for them based on their skills.
According to LinkedIn’s Workforce Confidence Index findings, about 3 in 5 (62%) Indian professionals are willing to pivot their careers. In other words, 62% of Indian professionals are willing to switch to a different working sector than the one they’re currently familiar with. LinkedIn’s data also shows that professionals in Recreation and Travel are 3.8 times more likely to make the switch, whereas professionals in Retail are 1.5 times more likely, and those in Corporate Services are 1.4 times more likely to look for jobs outside their current sectors.
Another addition to LinkedIn is the new #Hiring profile photo frame. This is similar to the #OpenToWork profile photo frame which was recently introduced. The company says that people with #OpenToWork frame in their profile photo receive on average 40% more InMails from recruiters and are 20% more likely to receive messages from the broader LinkedIn community. #Hiring, as the name suggests, is a photo frame for recruiters who are currently hiring. Displaying #Hiring on their profile photo will increase the chances of people noticing the job opportunity and as a result the recruiter will receive more applicants and job-seekers will be able to find more jobs. The company also said that the ability to post a job for free will be available to all members globally in the coming months.
Aside from the new features, LinkedIn is improving their skills section by adding more skill assessments. The company said that “LinkedIn has added nearly 100 new ‘Skills Assessments’ to provide members with a new way to validate their skills and showcase proficiency, while also allowing them to display a wide range of skills.” The company is also introducing improvements to their interview prep tool by adding new interview prep for in demand jobs, like project manager and software engineer.
According to LinkedIn’s data, people with at least five skills being displayed on their profile have a 27x improved chance of being discovered by recruiters. The data shows that Python is the fastest growing skill in India, followed by Machine Learning, Data Structures, Digital Marketing, and HTML 5.
