While Microsoft undoubtedly has numerous plans for making the most of that huge dataset, the company is clearly eager to keep the core role of LinkedIn intact. With that in mind, the company is today launching a new feature that tells potential candidates how long their commute to new jobs will take. This will help to give users tools to better decide if a job is worth applying for. In a blog post, LinkedIn points to a study that shows 85% of professionals in the United States would take a pay cut if it meant a shorter commute. With “Your Commute” users can now see exactly how long their commute would take. As people travel differently, the Your Commute feature sets commute time for driving, public transport, and walking. Users can also set how long they are willing to travel from their starting point.
LinkedIn will also use the inputted date to improve which job recommendations it sends to users: “When you visit job listings on LinkedIn from your mobile phone, you’ll start to see a “See Your Commute” module. From here you can enter your address to calculate how long it would take you to get to your new office walking, driving or on public transportation. Soon, you’ll also have the option to save your location information locally on your phone so you don’t have to type it in every time you’re looking at a role.”
Pushing Job Tools
In March, LinkedIn launched a new referrals system for finding jobs. LinkedIn users are now able to search for jobs at organizations that have someone already connected to them. To facilitate the referral feature, LinkedIn has added a new “in your network” filter on the network. This gives users the ability to refine job searches to organizations where contacts currently work.
