LinkedIn Placements, a new product developed in India, has been launched to help graduating students bag their first job. The service can also be used by recruiters as a platform to handle campus hiring. It is the only product by the company to have originated outside of the US and China.
India will be the pilot market for LinkedIn Placements, with the networking website planning to roll it out worldwide based on the feedback it gets from members within the next 12 to 18 months. The country is one of its fastest-growing audiences, with 33 million local users out of its total of 400 million.
According to a statement by LinkedIn, the student demographic within its base currently stands at 39 million. 6 million of them are composed of graduating Indian students. Placements should help it to expand its foothold in the nation. The service is free and can be utilized by people to keep track of jobs and get updates on their applications in real time.
Furthermore, placement officers will be able to invite companies, monitor the offers a student receives and manage their data with more efficiency. Recruiters may post jobs and filter potential candidates before going to campuses. 14 universities in India have agreed to take part in the pilot phase of LinkedIn Placements so far.
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The list includes the likes of Wellingkar College, FMS Delhi, Jain College and Mount Carmel College. It took a team of forty Indian LinkedIn employees 6 months to develop the project. As per Ganesan Venkatasubramanian, the brand’s local head of engineering, the portal was borne out of the need for more clarity and transparency in the campus placement process.
LinkedIn Placements is set to be available via both smartphones and desktops.