How to get #OpenToWork on your LinkedIn Profile

Have you seen the green ‘Open to Work’ frame around people’s photos on LinkedIn lately? If you're looking for a job and want to add this to your LinkedIn profile photo, it's quick and easy with these steps. 

Video Tutorial

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What is the #OpenToWork setting?

The ‘#OpenToWork’ setting activates a section on your LinkedIn profile that is visible either to people who have the recruiter product or everyone on LinkedIn. And it signals that you want to be contacted about new roles. 

But there there are 2 visbility settings.
(1) Everyone on LinkedIn can see it - including your colleagues or
​(2) only those with the LinkedIn recruiter product. 

*Note - LinkedIn say “To protect your privacy, we take steps to prevent LinkedIn Recruiter users who work at your company and related companies from seeing your shared career interests, but we can’t guarantee complete privacy.” 

They do by comparing a unique number (Company ID) assigned to the current employer listed on your profile with the Company ID for recruiters on LinkedIn. If a recruiter's Company ID is the same as the current employer listed on your profile, or the same as a company affiliated with that current employer based on LinkedIn’s mapping, then they won't show your career interest preferences.

But!

• LinkedIn say that they can’t guarantee that every company is accurately identified or that affiliated companies are accurately mapped on LinkedIn.

• They also can’t guarantee that every recruiter has an up-to-date and correct Company ID, so there's a small chance that your career interest preferences will be visible to a recruiter at your current employer or an affiliated company. 
• To find out more, see this very good explanation in the help section in LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/76791

Why would I use this setting? 

Ryan Roslansky, LinkedIn CEO said on a LinkedIn Story recently, that their research has shown that you are 40% more likely to get contacted by a recruiter if you have this setting turned on. 

And more than 3 million members have chosen to add the public #OpenToWork photo frame since it launched in June 2020.

How do I activate it? 

​1. Go to your profile > Add profile section > Intro

Go to your personal profile. 

• Look for the blue box at the top right hand corner that says 'Add profile section' > click 
• In the drop down menu, look for 'Intro' > click
  
• Then click 'Looking for a new job'​ 

2. Edit your Job Preferences

There a 5 elements in this box: 

• Job titles 
• Job locations
• Start date
• Job types 
• Who can see this ​

Job Titles
Click into the ‘Add title’ box and start typing in your job title. A list of potential suggestions will appear. 

Click on the relevant one to add it to the list. You can add up to 5 job titles. 

*tip* Don’t just type one job title into this box. Think of up to 5 possible synonyms that you can think of. For example, I have selected both Digital Marketing Manager, Digital Marketing Director, Marketing Director etc.. other possible titles could have been ‘Online Marketing Specialist / Director / Manager’ etc.. 

Locations
Start typing in the location where you would realistically work 
Are you open to remote work roles? 

Start Date 
Choose from either ‘immediately’ or ‘flexible’ 

Job Types 
Choose from Full time, Contract, Part-Time, Internship, Temporary, Remote 
​

3. Who sees you're open? 

​At the end you will see 'Share with recruiters only’.

​Click the little down arrow on the right hand side to bring up more options. 

If you wish to make that you are #opentowork public to all LinkedIn users (including your colleagues and anyone on LinkedIn) and to add the green frame to your profile photo, click this option

OR if you wish for this only to be visible to people with the LinkedIn recruiter product, click the 'Share with recruiters only' option. 

And then click Save

(1) If you have chosen 'All LinkedIn members' / public: 

• You will see confirmation that it has been added to your profile 
• And you will be prompted to create a post to notify your network 
• You can choose 'no thanks' or 'start a post'. It is totally optional and you do not have to create a post if you do not want to. 

If you click 'start a post' - it will look like this. But of course you can edit the text and make it more personalised. 

When ready - click post. 
​

And this is what it looks like to you

• #OpenToWork photo frame added 
• Open to work grey box below my location with the list of job titles that I had input earlier + the edit pencil + who this is visible to i.e. All LinkedIn members

This is what it looks like to a LinkedIn member

• ​They view and can click 'see all details' for more info 

If they click 'see all details'

• The box expans and they can see the job titles, job locations, start date and job types that you specified earlier 
• They can also share the profile in a message or through a link 
• Or they can message you

(2) If you have chosen 'All LinkedIn members' / public: 

This differs slightly in comparison to the 'public' setting. 

• There is no green open to work photo frame 
• You are not prompted to create a post 

Instead: 

• You get confirmation that it has been added to your profile
• LinkedIn has automatically created job alerts for some of the roles. To manage these and turn them off - just click the blue link 'Manage job alerts'
• The email updates + notifications prompts will be automatically turned to on. 
• You can turn this off by flicking the tab over to Off and then hitting 'No, thanks'

What you see: 

• Open to work grey box 
• List of job titles that you specified 
• Edit pencil 
• And confirmation that this is only visible to recruiters 

To edit or update this section

On your personal profile:

• Click on the blue pencil.
• Edit and elements that you need to change. 
• ​Hit Save. 

To delete or edit 

• Click on the pencil to open up the edit box
• If you want to delete this section - click on this edit pencil too

To delete

• Look for the 'Delete from profile' text at the end 
• Click on this 
• It will inform you that you will no longer be sharing your jobseeking preferences

​And then your profile goes back to normal. 

If you are jobseeking at the moment, and are happy to be public about it (perhaps you have lost your job as a result of covid19, are a new gradudate, or are returning to the workplace after a career break), this #OpenToWork is a definite announcement to the LinkedIn community that you can be approached about job offers which will make recruiters very happy! 

However, this option is not for everyone as some people prefer to be more private about their jobseeking activities. 

But, please double check the 'visibility' setting on your profile, just in case you thought that it was only visible to recruiters and it turns out that it is open to your entire network! 

If you are jobseeking at the moment, check out some my YouTube Channel for a comprehensive Masterclass course on 'LinkedIn for Jobseekers' with experts tips , do's and don'ts, and the best shortcuts for success.