Trouble For Recruitment Industry As Linkedin Launches “Apply With Linkedin” Button

From Simply Zesty:

Linkedin today revealed a new feature that if it takes off could revolutionize the entire recruitment industry and become a massive cash cow for Linkedin themselves. At first glance “Apply with Linkedin” seems like a simple enough proposition and just another small feature launch but when you think about it a little more this is so much more than any other button on your website. Candidates will be able to apply directly for jobs on organization’s websites and the companies using this can customize the look and feel of the button to match their own branding. If I was working in the recruitment industry or ran any sort of job boards I would be very worried about the launch of this particular feature from Linkedin and it could just be one of the defining moments for Linkedin themselves as they seek to gain more presence on the web and not just within their own site.

How Does This Work?

The key to this is just how easy it is for both companies and applicants to use. As a company you can customize your button and application process to match with your branding and as an applicant you can tailor you CV before you actually submit it.

Who Will This Affect

If companies all over the world start embracing this technology (you would imagine they would) then it really could change the entire recruitment industry. Crucially if companies start using it in great numbers then job seeks will start using Linkedin more and filling out their profiles and keeping them up to date. By having the ability to add a simple button to your website you could eliminate the need to post positions on jobs boards or other 3rd party sites. As a candidate if you spend a lot of time improving your network and building your profile on Linkedin you now have a direct way to leverage all that hard work and apply for jobs with one click of a button. Could this even completely eliminate the traditional CV and make Linkedin your default online CV?

How Much Does This Cost?

Amazingly this is free. For anybody in the recruitment industry that has to be a major worry. It’s not clear if this will be free forever but for now Linkedin will just see this as a way of recruiting more candidates to their network and increasing their connections with big companies who will come to rely on them. You can imagine that in the future as this grows and becomes more mainstream that Linkedin will offer more pro versions of this and turn it in to a massive cash cow.