You’d be hard pressed to find a recruiter or hiring manager who doesn’t see the value in LinkedIn. It streamlines the process of finding candidates. It’s updated by users, so information is typically current and accurate. It makes connecting with people by industry and discipline easy. It’s an incredibly powerful recruiting tool and database. And, at Communications Collaborative, we use it just like everyone else.

So, with all of its benefits, is LinkedIn on the verge of replacing the entire recruiting process? Will recruiters and hiring managers soon be obsolete? Unsurprisingly, we think “no.”

LinkedIn is extremely useful when it comes to finding candidates, but it does not solve the problem of getting to know them. Understanding the person behind the profile, which sounds mysterious and maybe even a little ominous, is simply about vetting a jobseeker’s personality and having them articulate— to a live person— their background and skills.

Furthermore, a LinkedIn profile won’t tell you about salary requirements, walk you through a portfolio, provide a point of view on cultural fit, or outline commute considerations. And these are the criteria that can mean the difference between hiring the right candidate and the wrong one.

So, yes, LinkedIn has revolutionized recruiting and staffing. It’s a smart tool for anyone looking to hire. But it’s still an online database, not a replacement for the recruiting process. Taking the time to get to know and make an informed decision about a potential hire is still the job of a recruiter, hiring manager, or both.