LinkedIn announced earlier this week that they have created a brand new plug-in available to companies that allows individuals to apply for positions using their LinkedIn profile.
“Apply With LinkedIn,” as the plug-in is aptly titled, allows employers to leave a blue button on their site next to job postings that possible applicants can click on to have their LinkedIn profile automatically submitted for a job posting.
When a user clicks on the button, they are asked to log into their LinkedIn profile and then are given the opportunity to go over the information drawn from their LinkedIn account that will be submitted. They can also edit any piece of it along with update their contact information.
Depending on the nature of the job posting and what the employer is seeking, an applicant may also be asked to answer additional custom tailored questions from the employer before submitting the entire package.
According to GigaOM, employers can have up to five check-box questions in the application as well as additional questions that the company may deem necessary.
Upon successful submission of the application, LinkedIn provides confirmation to the user and potentially suggests additional jobs available from the same company–if any other opening exists at the time of submission.
The feature also lists any contacts a person has on their LinkedIn profile who may work at the company and allow the user to message them directly.
If a user does not have a contact directly attached to the company, LinkedIn attempts to find a contact on the user’s list who does so that the user can attempt to reach a member of the company through a mutual contact.
Since the user is required to sign in to LinkedIn, their application is recorded under the “Saved Jobs” tab, allowing users to keep track of any jobs they have applied for through use of the “Apply With LinkedIn” button.
Adam Nash, the vice-president of product management for LinkedIn, stated that over 1,000 job postings already are submitted by way of the button with Netflix and Living Social among those companies using the feature.
The plug-in is the latest in a series of such features that LinkedIn has rolled out during the current year directed at increasing the presence of the popular job searching site directly in the hiring process and on the internet as a whole.
LinkedIn has launched plug-ins ranging from its own equivalent of Facebook’s “Share” button to plug-ins that allow the posting of member info or listing of company info from LinkedIn on another website.
A recent report by Forbes indicated that nearly 90 percent of companies included in a survey on hiring processes planned on using social networks to help them find candidates for job listings.
While this may serve to indicate strong potential for the plug-in and use of LinkedIn for job application, it does not indicate whether use of the plug-in will have any definite impact on the hiring practices of those companies who use the feature.
