Helping jobseekers take their next step

Published on Oct 28, 2020 Categories: Product News

Today, we’re rolling out new insights and tools to help job seekers take the next step in their career. A post on our LinkedIn blog today from our head of product, Tomer Cohen, gives a full overview of this news.

We’re introducing new resources in the midst of a pandemic that has disrupted our global economy, left 140 million people without a job and put another 1.6 billion at risk of income loss -- with low-income workers, women and underrepresented communities the hardest hit. With our unique insights into jobs and skills, our thriving community of 722 million members worldwide, and our vision of helping every member of the global workforce connect to economic opportunity, LinkedIn is uniquely positioned to help.

A look at the state of the labor market and skills in demand

The faint tailwinds of labor market recovery are stalling, according to our latest hiring data. Hiring has improved since the pandemic first struck, but most countries haven’t returned to consistent labor market growth; for countries still grappling with COVID-19, hiring may have hit a ceiling.

But there is some good news: we’re seeing pockets of hiring growth and there are 14+ million jobs available on LinkedIn globally today. Digital skills are in particular demand, and we estimate the technology sector will add nearly 150 million jobs in the next 5 years. To help members prepare for those opportunities, we’ve identified the fastest growing skills globally on LinkedIn since COVID-19 hit -- from digital skills like data analysis, digital marketing and programming.

New tools and resources to help job seekers

We’re releasing new features to make it easier for job seekers to engage their professional community and land a job:

Our new, interactive Career Explorer tool, now available in beta, can help job seekers map out their next step. Using LinkedIn data, the tool shows job seekers how their skills and past experience can translate into new roles, and provides LinkedIn Learning courses needed to fill in any skills gaps. It also allows job seekers to see who in their network has relevant experience so they can easily reach out for guidance and advice.
Our #OpenToWork profile photo frame makes it easier for job seekers to engage their professional community and discover opportunities. More than three million members globally have tried our new #OpenToWork profile photo frame, and are receiving, on average, 40% more InMails from recruiters. They also are 20% more likely to receive messages from the broader LinkedIn community.
70% of talent professionals globally say virtual interviews are here to stay. We’ve expanded our Interview Prep tools to include new content for in-demand jobs, like project manager and software engineer. That way, we can help job seekers prepare for interviews online and increase their chances of landing the most sought-after roles.
Job seekers can access nearly 1,000 hours of free learning courses from Microsoft and LinkedIn at opportunity.linkedin.com. Since June, nearly 13 million people around the world have learned new skills related to the most in-demand roles.

Making it easier to discover the 14+ million jobs on LinkedIn

We’re introducing a #Hiring profile photo frame for hiring managers, along with the ability to add jobs directly to their profile. Hirers can more easily signal open roles to their networks and beyond, and job seekers can see who’s hiring directly in their feed.
We’re also inviting anyone who is hiring to post a job on LinkedIn for free. This will help small-and-medium businesses in particular get their open roles onto LinkedIn and discover talent faster.

Changing the perception of unemployment

To understand Americans’ changing perception on unemployment in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, we also conducted a survey of those who have become recently unemployed, working professionals and hiring managers. The key findings highlight that, while the majority of unemployed Americans believe there’s a stigma associated with unemployment, people want to help.

Despite tens of millions of people in the U.S. being out of work due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of unemployed Americans believe there’s a stigma associated with unemployment, yet nearly all hiring managers would hire someone currently unemployed and those asking others for help are being met with opportunity.

84% of Americans believe there’s a stigma associated with unemployment. 67% believe this stigma is affecting their ability to get hired.
Yet almost all hiring managers (96%) would hire a candidate who was laid off due to the pandemic.
84% of people would be willing to help someone in their community who has lost their job as a result of COVID-19. Many already have: 76% have helped someone else find or get a job.

The unemployed aren’t talking about being out of work openly or asking for help enough.

Americans feel embarrassed (24%), uneasy (23%) and ashamed (15%) about telling other people they are currently unemployed.
Almost half (46%) have lied about being out of work.

Almost one-third (27%) of those who are unemployed have not asked people they know for help with their job search, mostly because they think they don’t know anyone who can help (41%), they’re embarrassed to ask for help (30%), they don’t think people are willing to help (20%), or they don’t know how to ask for help (18%).
Only half (50%) of unemployed Americans have posted on social media about being unemployed or looking for a job.
While most (82%) think networking virtually is a helpful tool for finding a new job, they’re not doing it enough: less than half have been actively networking while unemployed.

Other pain points for the unemployed center around job search frustration, loneliness and money.

The most frustrating part of the job search while unemployed is not hearing back from jobs applied to (40%), followed by not enough open jobs in their industry (31%) or not finding jobs that match their skills (31%).
Many haven’t tried to switch jobs/industries yet because they don’t know where to start (45%), think they aren’t qualified for any other industry (33%), don’t have connections in other industries (32%), or don’t know how their skills translate (28%).
75% of people feel lonely since they became unemployed.

Almost all Americans would be willing to help someone in their community who has lost their job as a result of COVID-19, and many already have.

How would they help? By providing a recommendation (59%) or by making connections/introductions to people in their professional community (41%).
One-third (33%) of people who have requested help were provided with help immediately, with most having had someone review their resume or being introduced to people that might be willing to hire them.
Hiring managers say that when they see a job seeker post on social media about looking for new opportunities, it conveys resourcefulness (48%), proactive problem solving (39%) and confidence (33%).

An introduction or referral could make all the difference.

The #1 thing those who are unemployed want from their community during their job search process is to introduce them to people who might be willing to hire them.
Most people (73%) have been hired as a result of someone they know making an introduction or a connection, or because they had a personal connection to someone within the company (70%).
Almost all (89%) hiring managers say referrals are important when filling an open position: when someone in their network refers a candidate to them, not only will they pay closer attention to that candidate's resume (49%), but it increases the likelihood they’ll interview the candidate (52%).
Plus, more than one-quarter (26%) of hiring managers say they’re more likely to hire a referred candidate.

For more resources and information about how we’re connecting job seekers to opportunity, visit opportunity.linkedin.com.

Survey Methodology: This data was collected via a Censuswide survey fielded from October 7-20, 2020 among 2,000 survey respondents ages 18-74 across the U.S. who became unemployed within the last eight months, 2,000 working professionals, and 1,000+ hiring managers.