ENGALURU: LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional networking website operator, launched LinkedIn Placements, a product developed in India, to boost its user base among students in the country.
LinkedIn Placements, the first product to be developed by the company outside US and China, aims to make it easier for graduating students across India to find their first job and for placement officers and recruiters to manage campus placement initiatives.
India is the first market to pilot this product and the company may role it out globally depending on the feedback it receives from the users for the next twelve to eighteen months, the company said on Wednesday.
“Our conversations with students, placement officers and recruiters involved in campus placement point to an unmet need for efficiency and effectiveness. We are excited to start this journey to provide a locally developed solution that helps to improve the experience and processes for everyone involved in the entire campus recruitment ecosystem, Ganesan Venkatasubramanian, head of engineering, LinkedIn India, said.
The student segment is one of the fastest growing demographics for LinkedIn with more students, in search for jobs, looking to connect with potential recruiters on the platform. Globally 39 million students and 6 million in India graduate every year, US-based LinkedIn said.
India is one of the fastest growing markets for LinkedIn, outside the US, with 33 million members out of a total of 400 million. Last June, the company’s user base in the country was about 27 million, making it imperative to heavily focus in India. The company, which opened its R&D office in India in 2011, has about 250 engineers in the country.
LinkedIn Placements, which is completely free for users, will help students keep track of suitable jobs and apply accordingly, as well as receive updates on their applications in real time. Placement officers will be able to organise their data with greater efficiency and see the offers a student gets and recruiters can post jobs and filter the candidate pool ahead of campus placements.
