As much as we may struggle with our love-hate relationship with LinkedIn, the reality is this social behemoth is not going anywhere any time soon. With access to over 500 million user profiles, it still remains one of the best sourcing resources in a recruiter’s arsenal.
Unlike competing social sites, LinkedIn is usually the last stop for most recruiters when sourcing and qualifying potential candidates. From work histories to skills and certifications to easily facilitating initial contact, it’s challenging to find another channel that provides as much valuable information all in one spot.
That’s why most of us have spent our entire professional careers meticulously building our personal profiles and growing our professional networks to help land future opportunities and enable success in our current roles.
However, there is no reason you should keep that valuable data siloed in LinkedIn, especially if you’re concerned about the platform’s recent changes.
Lucky for us; LinkedIn makes it easy to download all of your precious information to from your connections to messages and everything in between. To learn how to download your LinkedIn data, follow the six steps outlined below.
After your initial export, make it a best practice to export your connections on a recurring basis, possibly every 3, 6 or 12 months, depending on how much you rely on LinkedIn for your recruiting efforts. (Note: Set a calendar reminder after your initial export so you never forget.)
Once you have downloaded the data export, put the CSV file to good use. Upload the file to your ATS, CRM, or whichever tool you use to manage your recruitment efforts to refresh your contact records with up-to-date candidate and contact information.
Exporting Your LinkedIn Connections
Step 1: Go to your LinkedIn homepage and select My Network from the top menu.
Step 2: Select Your connections on the top left of the page.
Step 3: Select Manage synced and imported contacts near the top right of the page.
Step 4: Select Export contacts towards the bottom right of the page
Step 5: Select which data you would like to export, and click Request Archive.
Step 6: An email will be sent to your Primary Email address with a link to access your download.
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For more information on how to export your connections and other valuable, view the help article on LinkedIn.