US deal will offer redundant staff enhanced membership of LinkedIn

 



























European version in the offing as global recession heightens social networking site's potential for jobseekers





Claire Churchard

Publication date:
11 June 2009






Source:

PM Online

Enhanced
social networking site membership could soon become a regular part of
redundancy support packages, following a recent deal in the US.

Outplacement consultancy Right Management, a division of global
recruiter Manpower, signed a contract with social network site LinkedIn
to enable people who have lost their jobs to receive "premium" network
access. This membership allows redundant employees to search the
network more extensively for contacts and companies that might lead to
employment, as well as maintaining existing business contacts.

The US-based senior director of business development for
LinkedIn, Scott Roberts, said people can reach beyond their network and
ask for introductions to organisations. According to Roberts, the
premium messaging service that is included has a very high response
rate. "People respond to it much more than an unsolicited email," he
added.

Roberts explained that the deal came about when the global
recession heightened the site's potential for jobseekers. He said that
more people are turning to social networks to talk about and find jobs
in the current economic climate.

Global user membership has grown rapidly in the past year from
24 million to 41 million, with 2.25 million of these memberships in the
UK.

Roberts said: "The increased growth in demand for outplacement
services is counter-cyclical to the contracting economy. Even if there
were a recovery in the second half of this year, people are expecting
it to be a jobless recovery. So there will still be demand for these
services."

The US deal came into force in April, and the European arm of
LinkedIn is already considering a similar arrangement across Europe to
start within the year.

Roberts said: "We have an interest in extending [this service]
globally and have spoken to different companies in different markets
about it. We need to find someone that can deliver the high level of
support that people who have just lost their jobs need."

He added that Right Management has a very strong business
throughout Europe and said it was a possibility that LinkedIn would
align itself with the outplacement consultancy.