LinkedIn's India-specific product looks help graduates find their first jobs

LinkedIn, the social network for work, is piloting its first India-specific product - LinkedIn Placements which will target soon to graduate students and placement officers on campuses, helping organize campus placements.

LinkedIn Placements, built out of LinkedIn's Bengaluru center, aims to make it easier for graduating students across India to find their first jobs. With 33 million users, India holds LinkedIn's second largest user base after the US.

"Basically the product is aimed at helping graduating students find their first jobs. It also helps placement officers at colleges make the whole placement process more effective and essentially maximise the placement potential," said Ganesan Venkatasubramanian, Head of Engineering, LinkedIn India.

LinkedIn Placements was made by a team of around 40 staffers sitting out of the company's India offices. The company is piloting the launch of the product in collaboration with around 14 colleges across India.

India produces in excess of 5 million graduates every year and finding the right candidates for jobs is getting harder for recruiters. With LinkedIn Placements, recruiters can essentially complete the screening of candidates online, easing the process of interviewing thousands of candidates.

LinkedIn is not yet available in any regional languages in India, essentially locking out million of non-English speaking candidates from using it. "At this point there are no plans (to introduce vernacular languages). It's the first step in that journey, but the intent is to move down and increase the reach to all students in India," added Venkatasubramanian.

Given that India is a mobile first nation and smartphone users are predominantly the youth, LinkedIn Placements was built first for mobile, and then carried over to the desktop. According to Venkatasubramanian, if the product clicks in India, the company could consider taking it to other emerging markets.