If you want the right people to find out that you’re looking for new job opportunities, announcing it on LinkedIn might be an effective method. It’s a strategy that many job seekers should consider doing.

But, how do you let potential employers know you’re looking for new jobs? How would you show your interest in your desired company?

According to experts, here are effective ways to announce that you are looking for a job on LinkedIn:

LinkedIn has become the primary platform for everything job-related, job search, hiring, connection building, or networking.

If you are looking for a job on LinkedIn, there are some things you must keep in mind to make your announcement sound professional and leave a lasting impact on recruiters and hiring managers.

Related: How to Use LinkedIn to Get a Job

Best strategies to announce your job search on LinkedIn:

Utilize LinkedIn’s built-in job search features

The first thing you can do to announce your job search on LinkedIn is to use LinkedIn’s built-in features for job search. LinkedIn Premium lets you use a job seeker badge next to your profile in a LinkedIn search.

You can also opt not to use this badge and only choose the jobseeker option when signing up, but using the badge is a nifty way of letting recruiters and hiring managers know that you are open to working with a single glance.

It is a handy feature, and I highly recommend using it. It also announces that you are actively searching for a job by notifying your contacts about the badge settings automatically, so you don’t have to write emails or personalized messages to each of your connections.

Craft a concise job search post

The next strategy you can employ, which is very notable on LinkedIn nowadays, is to craft and post a concise and well-thought-out job search post.

This will let your connections and recruiters know that you are actively looking for a job (if you choose to make your profile public, which I highly recommend). It will also help you elaborate on what kind of role you are looking for and which industry you are interested in.

Include a link to your CV for ease of accessibility

You can also include a link to your CV in this post for ease of accessibility and list at least your top two skills and how you intend to utilize them in your future role.

The goal of writing and publishing such a post is to easily announce every detail about your job search so that when a recruiter or hiring manager comes across your profile, they get all the required information in bite-sized pieces almost instantly.

It can also help you get a referral from a connection when they see your post.

Tag companies you are interested in to make yourself visible

You can also tag companies you are interested in to make yourself visible to their hiring departments in your post. This is a highly effective method, and most companies comment on your post, even if sometimes they are automated replies.

Use hashtags to your advantage

Hashtags like #opentowork, #jobsearch, #recruitment, and #HR put you on the radar of those who follow these hashtags almost instantly.

Using this feature, you should use these hashtags in combination with the role you are looking for to gain maximum advantage in your job search.

Examples of how to announce you are looking for a job on LinkedIn:

Create a succinct but impactful headline for your profile

The first thing you need to do when optimizing your profile for a job search is to create a succinct but impactful headline for your profile.

Related: LinkedIn Headline Advice & Examples for Job Seekers

First, before you announce anything, make sure to follow these four steps to improve your chance of landing a job:

Make sure that your profile includes current information

Make sure that your profile is up to date and includes the most current information about your skills, experience, and education.

Reach out to people you know on LinkedIn

Reach out to your LinkedIn network and let them know you are looking for a job.

Use keywords in your profile

Use keywords in your profile and throughout your networking conversations. When you are discussing your career goals and experiences, be sure to use keywords that potential employers might be searching for.

Join and participate in relevant groups on LinkedIn

There are many groups on LinkedIn that focus on specific industries or professions. Join these groups and participate in the discussions so that you can build a network.

When announcing you’re looking for a job on Linkedin, there are a few different ways to go about it. You can post about it on your profile, in a group, or a status update.

Go through the process to select “Open to Finding a New Job”

Announcing you are looking for a job on LinkedIn is easy. Simply go to your already created profile and click your name in the upper left corner of your feed page.

From there, you can click “Open To” and choose from “Finding a New Job,” “Hiring,” or “Providing Services.”

Once you go through the process to select “Open to Finding a New Job,” you will be met with a job preferences screen where you can type in the job titles you are looking for, as well as onsite, hybrid, or remote work.

Let employers know that you are not just browsing

You can let employers know if you are actively looking for a new job or browsing. Those that are “just browsing” are considered passive candidates.

These types of candidates typically already have a job and are not currently submitting applications to find a new job. However, they are open to the possibility of accepting another position under the right circumstances.

Choose who gets to see your banner

Finally, you can choose who gets to see your banner — anyone on LinkedIn or just recruiters. Setting it to “just recruiters” will ensure that your boss or current co-workers won’t find out that you are looking for a new job.

However, it will limit those who can see that you are open to work, potentially causing you to miss perfect opportunities.

Once you choose “add to profile,” a small banner box will appear under your profile details, alerting prospective employers that you are willing to discuss a new position.

Click the pencil edit icon once you find your desired career

Once you find the career of your dreams, you can simply click the pencil edit icon in the top right corner of the banner and select “delete from profile.” This will remove the banner showing that you are looking for work and return your LinkedIn profile to its original state.

Use the “Open to Work” feature

One of the most popular ways of letting people know you are looking for a job on LinkedIn is the “Open to Work” feature.

When enabled, your profile picture will have a green sash across the bottom that says #OPENTOWORK. Anyone viewing your profile has the ability to see this.

Use the recruiters-only feature

For those who are looking but want to keep this hidden from their current employers, they can select to only notify recruiters.

Though LinkedIn tries to keep this information hidden from your current employer, there is no guarantee that the company you work for won’t be able to see your settings.

Use your “Headline”

Your headline is a short description of you and what you do. Write something catchy that lets people know that a new job is a possibility in your future.

Use your “About” section

There is an “About” section on your profile that allows you to write a short description of yourself. You can use this space to let people know you would consider opportunities.

Use the “Jobs” option

A great way to let people on LinkedIn know that you are looking for work is to use the “Jobs” option. Click on the briefcase in the toolbar at the top of every screen and do a job search.

Instead of waiting for people to reach out to you, use this opportunity to reach out to them.

Connect with a company that is looking for the talent you can provide

Social networking doesn’t only apply to Facebook. You can also use LinkedIn to network with new people. You might connect with a person or a company that is looking for the type of talent you can provide. A great way to let them know this is by connecting with them.

Message your network

Once you have an established network, you can contact people to let them know you are looking for work. Be wary, though.

Depending on how well you know these individuals, they might feel awkward if you push too much when you tell them you are looking for a job. Don’t be too sales-like; just let them know you are open and available.

Whatever option or options you use to let people on LinkedIn know that you are looking for a job, be professional. The impression you leave could be lasting, so make sure it’s a good one.

If you’re like most job seekers, you’ve probably been told that LinkedIn is a great way to connect with potential employers. And it’s true! Employers are increasingly using LinkedIn to post job openings and find qualified candidates.

But if you’re looking for a job, how do you let potential employers know you’re open to new opportunities?

Ensure your LinkedIn profile reflects your current career goals

When actively seeking a job, it’s essential to ensure your LinkedIn profile is up-to-date and reflects your current career goals.

Related: How to Write a Good LinkedIn Summary (With 15+ Examples)

You can also add a headline to your profile that explicitly states you’re looking for a job, such as “Experienced Sales Professional Seeking New Opportunities.”

Join relevant LinkedIn groups

Joining relevant LinkedIn groups is a great way to connect with potential employers and get your name out there. Many groups have job postings and discussion boards where you can network with other professionals in your field.

Connect with people in your network

Your LinkedIn connections can be a valuable resource when you’re job searching. Reach out to your first and second-degree connections and let them know you’re looking for a job. They may be able to offer advice, introductions, or even job leads.

Use LinkedIn job postings

LinkedIn job postings are a great way to find job openings that match your skills and experience. You can use the “Advanced Job Search” feature to filter results by location, industry, and other criteria.

Follow companies you’re interested in

Following companies you’re interested in is a great way to stay up-to-date on their latest news and announcements.

Many companies post job openings on their LinkedIn company pages, so this is a great way to discover new opportunities as they become available.

Announcing that you’re looking for a job on LinkedIn is a great way to connect with potential employers and get your name out there.

Connect the past with the present

When announcing that you are open to work, the best approach is to be grateful for your past experience and then express your excitement for the opportunities ahead.

You first mention your past position description, how long you were in that position for this company, and then transition to say that you are actively seeking new opportunities.

Hint at the position you want

Provide details on what you expect in the next position you apply for and why you look forward to doing those tasks.

That way, recruiters will have a clue about what role you want.

Start with a fresh and updated LinkedIn profile

If you are to announce that you are open to work and seeking new career opportunities, then your profile should at least look at the part that represents your professional experience.

This makes it easier for recruiters to connect your profile with your intentions to get hired.

Do not sell yourself short with your LinkedIn posts

The truth is that your LinkedIn profile is much about selling your personal brand. It gives credibility to your career.

There are several ways you can go about announcing your job search on LinkedIn, each with its own level of risk associated.

Revamp your profile

For those of us who want to look for a new job without the ramifications that could come from our current employers finding out, revamping our profiles is a great way to do so.

Adding a new headline and updating job sections with relevant information and keywords is a low-key, low-risk way to catch the eye of a recruiter or connection.

You could even add an “Open to work” badge, though this increases the likelihood of being found out.

Take advantage of the job board

With over 15 million jobs at 57 million companies on the job board right now, LinkedIn users would be foolish not to take a peek.

But don’t just apply; reach out directly to any contacts you might have in common with the company.

Doing so is another low-risk way to get the word out without having to make a formal announcement for all to see.

For users who want their entire network to know they’re in the job market, crafting a post is the best way to do so. Talk about your experience and the type of role you’d like to step into next.

Leverage your connections and ask for introductions

This is the announcement with the highest risk of an employer finding out associated, but it is an excellent way for those who have been laid off or otherwise found themselves out of work.

Letting recruiters and your connections know that your talent is now back in the market is less about posting it but more about prepping your entire LinkedIn page through engagement activities.

Pay attention to your search keywords

The key is to pay attention to your search keywords until you’ve specified your job search according to industry, area, work model, and even salary range.

Precise job hunting is more likely to lead you to recruiters and employers who are actually in need of someone with your expertise and qualifications.

Write about your job-hunting experiences

Leverage the time you have on your hands to also write about your job-hunting experiences and the relevant projects, courses, and/or hobbies you’re taking to keep yourself occupied and continue learning.

This way, you’ll widen your LinkedIn network and generate more connections. LinkedIn is also a great place to find a professional organization relevant to your career, which will bring your closer to the people who can appreciate the value of your talent.

Send them a message explaining why you’d want to get in touch

Proactively reach out to others by sending them a message explaining why you’d want to get in touch and be consistent.

Once you’ve done all these, LinkedIn’s algorithm will adequately pick up all the marks and set your profile up for job hunt success.

Send individual letters to everyone

You can send individual letters to everyone unless you’re sure it’s not superfluous; an email is acceptable.

Try to keep in mind a good subject line for your email, for example, Looking for help finding a job in education. Sending emails in search of a job on LinkedIn is the priority.

Present important data

In the notes, you can peruse your experience and details about the type of job you’re looking for. Since your relationship may be far away, remember to align your mortal encounters with where you are willing to work.

Your notes should be brief and correct

Your notes should be correct, precise, and in addition to being read quickly and succinctly.

Try not to silence the recipient with petty convoluted content of your past positions or a description of each of your company’s accomplishments, given the ingredients.

Considering everything, your link is most likely, from now on, some data about your experience.

Edit and change the message carefully

However you send this message to your loved ones, you acknowledge that it should be deleted. Examine your message before sending it, changing for any spelling or language blunders.

Break through the noise with excellent content

LinkedIn is a networking platform that allows you to look for job opportunities and connections. While a simple “Open to work” would suffice in the past, it might not work today.

How LinkedIn looked in the past is so tricky from how it looks now and how people behave. People are now more active in creating relevant and meaningful content to boost their personal brand.

To break through the noise, creating an eye-catching post is essential.

Create a highly engaging visual containing your image or logo

Create a highly engaging visual containing your image or logo (if you have one), what you are offering, and your contact information (and email address would suffice). Then for the post, add the hashtag #opentowork and begin introducing yourself.

Share your worthy story

If you have a worthy story to share, like an excerpt from a conversation with a recruiter who declined you or how you decided to shift from a corporate job to a fully WFH setup, you’d want to put it on top.

Briefly highlight some skills

Then follow it by briefly highlighting some skills. Do not overdo this. You can always impress them during your discovery call. End with hashtags related to your domain to widen your reach.

When planning to seek jobs, they need to ensure that the correct type of recruiters finds their job search announcements at the right time.

Here are some ways through which one can adequately announce that they are looking for a job on LinkedIn:

Create a LinkedIn post claiming that you want to seek a job

This would have chances of recruiters viewing your posts as many follow the links associated with them. Also, do not forget to include these links and hashtags in your posts. It would help your posts reach a larger audience.

But, if you are already employed and are not satisfied with it yet, then do not attempt this until and unless you are ready to quit the job just in case your manager or someone from your office views it.

Include why you are looking for a job right now

In the posts, including why you are looking for a job right now, list out your recent achievements and campaigns held you, your skills, and your talents.

Include a call-to-action option without fail

Finally, include a call-to-action option without fail so that the recruiters can call or mail you just in case they find you as a perfect one for the job.

Put a photo frame to your profile picture that says #opentowork

The easiest way to let a group of people know that you are looking for a job on LinkedIn is to put a photo frame to your profile picture that says #opentowork.

You can then select who can see your profile with that photo frame, for example, recruiters only, friends only, or everybody. But, that alone will not get the attention of recruiters.

Have a good post that will appear in the recruiter’s feed and their connections

You need to have a good post that will appear in the recruiter’s feed and their connections.

Maintain an up-to-date profile

According to LinkedIn’s blog, people with a profile photo are 14 times more likely to acquire page hits, while those who post abilities are 13 times able to receive profile views.

There are over 45,000 skills and abilities to choose from on LinkedIn to build up your profile, so if you want a company to notice you, update your profile regularly, include a profile picture, and include your notable skills.

Make a thorough assessment of your present abilities and goals

Don’t skip anything about your existing talents and objectives if you want to be sure you’re leveraging LinkedIn to get a job correctly. If it makes sense, use your headline to communicate your primary goal, and list all of your abilities on your page.

You don’t want it to appear that you have not yet updated your profile in a while, as this may cause recruiters and organizations to overlook you.

Example of a headline: “Developer — Java/PHP/MySQL — Looking for entry-level positions” For entry-level job seekers, I recommend using this LinkedIn headline example.

The following is the formula:

Individual skills are separated by slashes in the job title — a notice regarding an opportunity to work in an entry-level position.

This LinkedIn title example is highly effective in terms of search engine optimization. This is because most job seekers are known for inputting job titles with the challenging skills required for the position.

For example, in the case in question, one of the most common keywords used by recruiters is “Java developer.” Whenever they do, a title that puts these two terms together is preferable to one with non-keywords in between.

Highlighting your experience and circumstances

People love helping others who are bold and humble enough to do something like this. Many will share the post. And that’s fine because it boosts the chance of a recruiter seeing it and being in contact with you.

Putting yourself out there takes guts, so it’s no wonder these posts attract such attention. And genuinely, the worst that could happen is, well, nothing.

From what I’ve seen, the elements of success are all catered to creating a genuine human appeal.

Be specific in your job search post

Not everyone wants to inform their whole network that they are looking for a job. However, there are situations when announcing your job search might be very helpful.

Let’s say you are moving due to family reasons or your spouse got a job in another city. In that case, it’s a good idea to let your network know that you are open to job opportunities in that area.

You might think that you don’t know anyone who lives in that location, so posting an announcement on your newsfeed won’t change much. But from my experience, it’s worth a try!

The world is small, and sometimes our network is much more extensive than we think. There is also a possibility that people will share your post with their network, so the impact of your message will be even more substantial.

My advice is to be specific in your job search post. You want to highlight your professional background and experience, so people know exactly what you’re looking for.

Don’t go into too many details, but state what kind of employment you’re looking for rather than simply saying, “I need any job.”

Also, while you don’t want to share too much private information, it’s more engaging for others if you provide some context to your story.

Include relevant expertise to the kind of job you are searching for

LinkedIn provides you an option to post about your job search.

Be very careful when announcing your job search on LinkedIn. Your post will go public and appear on others’ feeds along with yours. You cannot publish anything like this if you are already employed.

You don’t want your company to find out that you are looking for a new job without informing them prior.

For example, you are a copywriter, have moved to another city, and are looking for a job.

Create a straightforward message

Open-ended messages such as “I just wondered if you had any openings” will not help you because all that information can be found on a company’s careers website.

Remember that almost everyone on LinkedIn is there to find a job. So, as much as you want to use it to announce that you are looking for work, you must be unique in your approach.

Look for individuals who seem to stand out as professionals in the role you’re attempting to reach out. This could be teammates working closely with the position you’re looking for or those who appear to be supervisors in that similar role.

Frequently Asked Questions