Key takeaways:

  • LinkedIn is one of the most active hubs for professional networking and sourcing qualified candidates.
  • Posting an open role on LinkedIn Jobs is a relatively straightforward process.
  • Before posting a job opening, be sure your job description follows best practices.
  • For an additional fee, you can promote your job post on LinkedIn to reach a wider pool of applicants and accelerate the hiring process.

Sept. 27, 2022: We added step-by-step instructions for posting a job on LinkedIn and best practices for optimization.

Jul. 6, 2023: We revised the copy for clarity and added dynamic design elements to improve the visual flow of information.

LinkedIn is one of the best ways to reach candidates, but you might be limiting your opportunities if you aren’t posting to other job boards. Browse our Applicant Tracking System (ATS) Software Guide to find a solution that can help you keep track of all your job posts in one place.

How to start your LinkedIn job post

1. Access your company’s admin dashboard

Once you’re logged into LinkedIn, navigate to the Admin tools menu in the upper right corner of your business’s LinkedIn Admin page. If you don’t see this option, double-check that you have administrator permissions for your company’s page.

LinkedIn Job Post Admin Tools.
The Admin tools menu is available to page administrators.

From this menu, choose Post A Free Job. It’s worth noting that you are only allowed one free job posting at a time — additional job postings require a fee.

2. Add the job details

On the LinkedIn Talent Solutions page, start entering the job information. Depending on the type of role you’re hiring, you may want to choose from one of the job description templates LinkedIn provides.

The templates are tailored to specific industries and roles, so they can be a great place to start thinking about the qualities you’re looking for in the ideal candidate. These templates are completely customizable — you can add or remove information as needed to fit the unique parameters of your role.

Job description templates are based on the job title you choose. All information can be adjusted as needed.

3. Add workflow parameters and preview the post

The last step is to select options for how you would like to receive applications and the screening questions that will narrow down the list of qualified candidates. You can then preview the job listing before publishing it.

Previewing the job post can help visualize what the information will look like before it’s published.

What to include in a LinkedIn job post

At a minimum, the job posting should include the following components:

  • Job title
  • Brief description of duties and responsibilities
  • Required and preferred qualifications

Many job applicants also find it helpful if the post includes optional details such as compensation, benefits, and skills assessment information. Information like this can give your job opening a boost in the LinkedIn Jobs algorithm, increasing the number of people who will see it.

Also read: How to Write an Effective Job Description

LinkedIn job post best practices

LinkedIn has conducted research on how job seekers interact with job posts on its platform and distilled the findings into best practices for crafting job postings that will attract qualified applicants.

Concise job descriptions tend to get more applicants. LinkedIn theorizes that this is because many people are now job searching and applying from their phones, and more text will overwhelm the smaller screen.

Striking the right tone is important; you don’t want it to be too formal or too casual. The language in the job description should be friendly and approachable but not too informal. LinkedIn says that potential candidates are 2–4x less likely to apply to a job when the description is too casual.

Avoid using words that are perceived as masculine traits, such as “strong” or “assertive,” to describe the desired culture in which the ad is posted. This kind of language may turn off well-qualified female applicants and reduce your candidate pool.

Job seekers are most interested in what the day-to-day responsibilities will look like, what the qualifications are, and how much they’ll be paid for their work. So, prioritize these three components and save information about the company for its website. If candidates want to learn more before they apply, that’s the first place they will look.

A potential applicant wants to know what exactly is expected of them if they are chosen, so describe what success looks like for the role with as many specifics as possible. If there’s room in your job ad, consider adding a description of measurable performance metrics that the successful candidate should expect to target within a set timeframe.

To ensure more applicants see your job ad, post it early in the week, ideally on Monday. Most job seekers are browsing job sites earlier in the week rather than later.

Promoting a job on LinkedIn

After posting your job ad, LinkedIn will start notifying potentially qualified applicants about the job via email and in-app notifications. However, there’s a risk of the job ad falling flat if you don’t have a strategy to promote your job ad after posting it.

To expand your reach, you may opt to pay an extra fee to promote your posting on the platform. LinkedIn puts paid job ads in front of the most qualified LinkedIn members via push notification. These ads also appear at or near the top of candidates’ search results.

Daily budget

If you choose to promote the post, LinkedIn allows you to set a daily budget in its pay-per-click model, which offers more control over the cost and duration of the job post promotion. This works well if your company knows how much it is willing to spend each day and how long it wants the ad to run.

Total budget

Alternatively, if your company knows how much it wants to spend but doesn’t necessarily care how long the LinkedIn ad is posted, setting a total budget may be the better option. LinkedIn will pause the post when it has reached your budgeted amount, whether it takes 10 days or 30 days.

A good rule of thumb to follow, however, is to keep the post live for at least five days. This will ensure you receive applications from enough qualified applicants.

Other LinkedIn promotional services

Know that paying for promoted job posting is separate from other paid hiring services LinkedIn offers, including:

  • LinkedIn Recruiter
  • LinkedIn Recruiter Lite
  • LinkedIn Sales Navigator
  • LinkedIn Premium
  • Sponsored InMail

Employee referrals

First, ask current employees to share on their personal LinkedIn pages to promote the posting among their connections. You should also share the job posting on other company social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Company communications

If you have an email newsletter on a weekly or monthly, it’s worth including a job opening in it in case any of your subscribers are passive candidates. You should also link to the LinkedIn job posting from your company’s website. Some people might not be logging into LinkedIn regularly, but they may be checking your company website for new openings.

Use an ATS to manage LinkedIn applications

When job seekers start submitting applications, LinkedIn will collect them all in one place to help you stay organized in the hiring process. You can sort and filter the applications and even rate applicants as a “good fit.” The rating feature will help LinkedIn learn more about what kind of candidates you’re looking for and will start recommending your job to similar job seekers.

LinkedIn also integrates with most applicant tracking or recruiting software applications, so you can continue to track the hiring process directly from the software your talent team uses every day.

If you are adding the job to other job boards besides LinkedIn, which is recommended for the greatest visibility, applicant tracking systems (ATS) are a must for consolidating your applications in one place. ATS applications streamline the recruiting process, from posting a job to giving an offer, and help recruiters act quickly on qualified candidates before another company can snatch them up.

Browse our ATS Software Guide to get started on your search for the right solution.

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Lauren Hansen Avatar
Lauren Hansen
Lauren Hansen is a former staff writer for TechnologyAdvice who specializes in HR technology and trends. When she’s not writing about technology trends, she’s working out or spending time with family.