Q] Tell us about LinkedIn’s new campaign. What was the objective behind it and how well was it received by users?
The pandemic sparked a global health and economic crisis resulting in large scale job losses, limited hiring, and ongoing uncertainty. We wanted to take this moment to showcase how LinkedIn is living up to its mission to create economic opportunity for every member of the workforce.
The campaign spotlights three real members to demonstrate how tools, resources, and one’s community on LinkedIn can help members find new jobs, learn new skills, and start new conversations thereby highlighting how even a small action on the platform can bring members one step closer to their professional goals and move their careers forward. We have received great anecdotal feedback about the films, and overall the campaign has been well received.
Q] What media mix has been used for the campaign?
LinkedIn’s brand campaign aired on select TV channels, and on LinkedIn, and select digital channels. The campaign also aired during the IPL this year.
Q] How are people using LinkedIn during the pandemic? Any user trends that you have observed over the past few months?
In the past few months, we have seen members reach out to their networks to ask for and to give help. In fact, conversations on the platform have seen a 55% year-over-year increase from March 2019 to March 2020, and content shared on the platform is up nearly 50% year over year.
India’s member base has also grown at this time by 7 million members since January 2020, and we are at 71+ million members in India on LinkedIn today. The three member trends that we have observed are: members are reaching out to their networks to ‘give and get help’.
In India, virtual events on LinkedIn have grown 4x since March 2020, and globally 7M members attended virtual events on the platform. In the past few months, we have noticed an uptick of 176% in our LinkedIn Learning modules.
Q] What kind of initiatives have you taken to help people during a time when the job market is badly impacted?
Our LinkedIn News Team of 60+ editors globally plays a key role in bringing accurate, authentic, and trusted information to every member on the platform. Recently, we launched LinkedIn Learning courses of 2020.
We also launched a global skills initiative with Microsoft in June 2020 to bring more digital skills to 25 million people by the year-end. We introduced ‘Career Explorer’ and #Hiring frame for job seekers and hiring managers.
LinkedIn’s #OpentoWork feature helps members advance their careers with support from their communities and network. We also added new ‘Skills Assessments’ based on top trending skills so members can showcase their proficiency.
Q] How do you anticipate the job market to shape up going forward?
Hiring declines reached a low of below -50% year-on-year in April this year, before starting to slowly recover. In late July, it crossed the 0% mark and saw 12% year-on-year positive growth by August as per LinkedIn’s labour market data, but competition for jobs is 30% higher than last year. As businesses continue reopening, we expect recovery to continue as well.
