Does your company suffer from LinkedIn “Randoms”?
As a recruiter, you’ll know that the lovely staff number you see at the top of the company page on LinkedIn is not a true reflection of who actually works there. You’ll go to that space and attempt to source from it. You use it to help you head hunt talent and find new clients. If you’re a recruitment leader you’ll use it to source talent for your own businesses.
If you’re a recruitment marketer or recruitment leader you’ll get pretty fed up of the fact that you can’t control who appears on your company page. You can’t stop anyone from adding themselves and you can’t nip into a leavers’ profile and redact your company. We all know that someone’s LinkedIn company profile is theirs and not even LinkedIn have the right to edit it.
So who is on your company page right now?
I many cases the people attached to a LinkedIn company page are NOT a true reflection of its employees. This is not unique and it’s not LinkedIn’s fault. This is endemic across all social media platforms, and a reflection on the digital space we now operate in. It also demonstrates the lack of control brands have over their employer brands. (Another blog for another day…)
Your LinkedIn company page (and other social media streams) will be made up of the following “employees”:
- People who work for the company (yay!)
- People who used to work for the company (oops)
- People who’d love to work for the company (ok.. a little weird)
- People who work as contractors / supply teachers / temps for your business (candidate lists for other recruiters #’stupid!)
- People who work for a company with (almost) the same name and are really silly and not spotted that they have selected the wrong business (… read my mind)
- No rhyme or reason – why the hell are they on the company page at all?
Points 2-5 are “randoms” and point 5 are “super-randoms” – but what they all have in common is the fact that they don’t work there, they have no right to be shown there, but the tech, and the terms and conditions of LinkedIn state that they can be there…
Removing randoms from your company LinkedIn page:
There is hope! You can actually get these people removed. It takes a little time and effort, but it’s worth it.
I get that this depends upon the size of your business. If you employ thousands of people across the globe, keeping track of your company employees on LinkedIn is a big ask. I’d at least suggest you have a more robust starters and leavers process – and ensure that someone (anyone!) has responsibility for this task. I often go into businesses (either staffing companies or business with in-house recruitment teams) who have no idea who this job would sit with, and the page is out of control.
If you come across someone who doesn’t work in your business, you can begin the “removal of randoms” process by clicking this link and filling out the form.
I’ve done it – a lovely guy from the Ukraine decided to come and work for me (pro-bono) and do a job that I hadn’t even though I needed in a country I have yet to market into… bless him! He has since “left”…
Have a process for your LinkedIn company page:
There’s nothing stopping you from having a monthly process for checking your company page and looking for those randoms. Be sure to spend a little time on this. Random staff can make your business look random. They can make your business look bloated with fakers, have sector specialisms which are not appropriate, and overall have a negative impact on your ability to be taken seriously and trade.
How do you manage your LinkedIn company page? Let us know in the comments!
