In today’s socially connected world networking with your company, superiors, colleagues and subordinates via LinkedIn is encouraged for many reasons. People are increasingly using social networks to get hired, and nearly every recruiter uses social networks for finding talent.

This combination makes it possible to identify 3 key points in social behavior that reveal that the employee is looking for new opportunities. These 3 points are regarding LinkedIn, but the same principles apply to other social networks as well.

1. Starts following new companies

When people are looking for new jobs and become interested in a certain company, they start learning more about that specific company and want to be updated on its news and new vacancies, which motivates them to follow the company in social networks.

Another important aspect is that when a person applies to a job via LinkedIn, he / she automatically starts to follow that company unless this option is specifically ticked off (follow the company to stay up-to-date on the latest news and career opportunities) during the application process. Applying via LinkedIn is a one click process.

Hence, following new companies may mean that the person is either applying for new jobs or is interested in job opportunities. When a person starts following a new company, this is marked as activity open for all existing contacts to see.

2. Joining new groups related to jobs

Joining groups is a great way to take part in discussions and gain visibility by providing value-added content. But, there are many groups focused on finding jobs where headhunters publish information about open vacancies and directly contact the members of the group.

Often when a person is looking for new opportunities, he / she will join job related groups to start receiving information about open jobs and opportunities, even though he / she wouldn’t actively take part in the discussion, but is only interested in receiving information passively. One can be a member of 50 groups in LinkedIn. If the person joins several job related groups, this must mean something. When a person joins a new group, this activity is seen by the contacts.

3. Connects with new contacts often related to HR

When people are getting ready to move on, they often connect with relevant industry players and recruiters, headhunters and internal HR people, in order to become more easily found (LinkedIn shows only up to third degree connection in the basic version, and not with full details) for future searches, and also to get a direct response. When connecting in LinkedIn, a first degree connection is created, which means that one can send messages for free. Otherwise, the person needs to use InMails for communication, which requires having a premium (paid) account.

Conclusion:

Should we start observing what our colleagues and subordinates are doing in LinkedIn? Definitely, for many reasons! One of them is to spot these signs so that we can still improve the situation and solve possible problems and miscommunications so that the company won’t lose the talent they want to keep. Hiring is expensive and a big investment, but losing talent is an even greater loss!