Is responding to LinkedIn recruiter messages worth the time?

Question

Feel like I should already know this! A recruiter from a staffing agency reached out on LinkedIn saying they have several opportunities i might be interested in.

I assumed it was a scam but looking into this person's page it seemed legit. They have reviews from happy employers and employees they've placed and the company itself is real.

Am I behind the times for being skeptical? Do I end up paying them at some point for this?

Are LinkedIn recruiter messages worth responding to and pursuing?

BuffaloSoldier96 · Accepted Answer

Always reply even if you say “not interested”. LinkedIn tracks response rate and recruiters are more likely to reach out to you if you have a good response rate. This is because they have to pay for each message they send.

There’s more to the pay model, but TLDR recruiters are incentivized to reach out to candidates they think will respond.

eightysixer · Answer

Some "recruiters" are from resume farms (like cyber coders). You're not going to get anywhere with these.

Otherwise, I've had some interesting opportunities present themselves and they've led to interviews. They haven't been super successful for me, mostly because I can filter for job fit much better than the recruiter looking at my linkedin, but talking to a live human is *most* of the struggle in a job search.

Unless you know for sure the role is a waste of your time, you should answer more often than not.

Is responding to LinkedIn recruiter messages worth the time?

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