The disdain top technical talent has for LinkedIn is no secret. Lazy recruiters are giving the thoughtful ones a 
bad name, and everyone loses. But the noise on LinkedIn isn't the only thing chasing off the very best engineers. For various reasons such as the limited nature of how accomplishments are displayed, a hesitation to allow a company to decide how the candidate appears online, and a squishy sort of ambiguous protest, top talent are turning away from the professional social media site.
The Truth, The Whole Truth.
Perhaps the biggest criticism that top talent levies against LinkedIN is it's control over user information. A LinkedIN profile can often be a candidate's first impression on a new company, and presenting a clipped-wings version of yourself isn't the best way to kick things off. Although talent are of course free to update whatever they like, the true nitty gritty of their work, style, and accomplishments are left out. By comparison, GitHub offers a far more illuminating view of their projects, and simultaneously offers the social connectivity benefits LinkedIN espouses. Further, talent are connecting only with people in their industry, or at the very least, others who have enough technical chops to be thoughtful on GiHub.
That's the main argument given by the original poster on this, shall we say, heated, HackerNews discussion:
"LinkedIn is the very definition of a bubble. I used to have a LinkedIn profile and from it all I got were the most awful recruiting experiences, and all of them through cold calls. Your own site with CV + portfolio + Github + contact details is a LOT better."
Deeper in the thread, the critique turns to the limitations of LinkedIn for recruiters:
"By eschewing any and all candidate information sources other than the market leader professional social network, you get access to a pool of 80% of the candidates with minimal effort. For you, it's great. For your company, it's passable. For the candidates, it's disgusting."
Let this be a friendly reminder that your sourcing must unequivocally go beyond LinkedIn. You may have recently come across the recruiting mantra "If you're not on LinkedIN, you don't exist." Allow me to wholeheartedly assert that this mentality betrays a vast, vast ignorance. Candidates are beginning to feel they are more adequately represented by a personal website, portfolio, and full resume than they are a single social media profile.
The Belles of the Ball
For the best engineers in the game, what can LinkedIn offer that they can't get elsewhere? More focused, technical communities, (HackerNews for industry updates, GitHub for collaboration and exhibition, Behance for portfolios) exist and don't include the penchant for unsolicited communication. Remember that the absolute best and brightest talent aren't going to be sending out job applications. These candidates are going to be heavily recruited, and will likely be able to choose from a host of offers. Why would an all-star ruby developer open herself up to cold outreach from people she doesn't know for jobs she's not interested in? This sort of thing happens all the time, and it isn't just turning candidates off to recruiters and organizations, it's turning them off to LinkedIn.
The very nature of LinkedIn's utility breaks down when you think of it's value to engineers. In a scathing critique of LinkedIn, Baffler writer Ann Friedman explains the disconnect in, well, connecting:
This frenetic networking-by-vague-association has bred a mordant skepticism among some users of the site. Scott Monty, head of social media for the Ford Motor Company, includes a disclaimer in the first line of his LinkedIn bio that, in any other context, would be a hilarious redundancy: “Note: I make connections only with people whom I have met.” It’s an Escher staircase masquerading as a career ladder.
Beyond the Endorsements
Recruiters live on LinkedIn, not only because it is a vast source of candidates, but because it is easy. If you want to stand out from the noise as you target the truly cream of the crop talent, you're going to have to go beyond the InMail and LinkedIn profile information. Look for the communities and resources that are truly valuable to members of their industry, here you will find the genuinely engaged, active talent, and you can begin evaluating them and reaching out in a meaningful way.
How have you gone about finding candidates who aren't on LinkedIn? Leave a comment or tweet @EnteloRob!
