Having a strong LinkedIn presence is important for anyone looking to advance their career. LinkedIn has become the premier professional networking platform, with over 722 million users worldwide as of April 2021. With so many people using LinkedIn to connect, network, and search for jobs, it’s essential that your profile stands out in a positive way to potential employers and business contacts.
However, you may not want your entire LinkedIn profile to be visible to anyone who comes across it. Having a public profile can expose your connections, work history, education, skills, and other details to people you don’t know. So how can you limit who sees your profile while still allowing it to be visible to certain people, like recruiters and hiring managers?
Making Your LinkedIn Profile Private
LinkedIn gives you control over your profile visibility settings. You can choose to have a public profile that is viewable to anyone, a private profile that requires a LinkedIn connection to view, or an entirely hidden profile.
To make your LinkedIn profile private or hidden:
- Go to your LinkedIn profile
- Click on the “Me” icon at the top of your profile and select “Settings & Privacy”
- Go to the “Visibility” tab
- Under “Your profile visibility,” choose from the following options:
- Public: Anyone who comes across your profile can view it without needing to connect with you first. This is the default setting.
- Private: Only your existing connections can view your full profile. Others would need to send a connection request first.
- Hidden: You profile is completely hidden from public view and anonymous searches. Only you and admins can view it.
Making your profile private or hidden removes it from public viewing and searches on LinkedIn. Only people you are connected with, or those you individually approve, would be able to fully view your profile.
Allowing Employers to View Your Hidden Profile
If you make your LinkedIn profile completely hidden, most recruiters and employers won’t be able to find or view it when searching LinkedIn or looking you up. However, there are still a few options to selectively allow specific employers to view your hidden profile:
- Connect with the employer or recruiter directly. Once connected, they will be able to view your full hidden profile.
- Provide a direct link to your profile in your job application. The employer can then view your full profile, even if hidden, when going to that link.
- Adjust your settings to allow LinkedIn members with a premium Recruiter account to view your profile if you are open to being discovered by recruiters.
- Choose to have your profile pop up in search results as “Profile Hidden” instead of being completely anonymous. Interested employers can then request access.
- Personally change the visibility of your profile to public when applying to a specific role, then switch back to hidden afterward.
Here is an example of providing select access to a hidden LinkedIn profile:
Scenario | Solution |
---|---|
You are applying to jobs and want hiring managers at those companies to view your profile during the application process. | Temporarily change your profile visibility to public when applying, then switch back to hidden after. Or, include a link directly to your hidden profile in your application materials. |
You are open to new job opportunities but don’t want your current employer seeing an open profile. | Keep profile hidden but adjust settings to allow access for premium recruiters. Screen any connection requests. |
You want to stay anonymous but allow discoverability by interested employers. | Keep profile hidden, but change settings to show as “Profile Hidden” in limited search results. Employers could then request access. |
This selective visibility allows you to keep your profile mostly hidden while still allowing potential opportunities with employers and recruiters you want to connect with.
Customizing Viewer Access to Specific Profile Sections
In addition to the overall visibility settings, you can also customize which parts of your profile are visible to different audiences in LinkedIn. For example, you may want some sections to only be viewable by your direct connections.
To adjust visibility settings for specific profile sections:
- Go to your LinkedIn profile
- Click “View profile” to view your profile as others see it
- In each section, click the “pencil” icon to edit the section
- Select the dropdown next to “Who can see this?” to set visibility for that section
- Choose from:
- Your connections
- Your network (connections of connections)
- All LinkedIn members
- Click “Save” to apply the setting
For example, you could set your education history as viewable only by your connections, while keeping your skills and recommendations public.
Key Profile Sections to Manage
Here are some key profile sections to consider the visibility settings for:
- Employment History: Keep details of your current and previous roles private to just connections.
- Education: School names can be public, but limit access to details like courses and grades.
- Skills: Showcase your skills to all viewers to highlight your capabilities.
- Recommendations: Recommendations add credibility so consider leaving these public.
- Accomplishments: Keep these at connections-only to maintain privacy.
Customizing the visibility for different sections allows finer control over what prospective employers can view in your profile.
Recommendations for Balancing Profile Privacy and Visibility
When managing your LinkedIn profile visibility, you’ll want to strike the right balance between maintaining privacy and showcasing your professional brand to the right audiences. Here are some key tips to consider:
- Keep your profile hidden from general public view to maintain privacy and avoid unwanted contact.
- Allow 2nd and 3rd degree connections to view your profile to expand your visibility among relevant networks.
- Connect directly with recruiters and follow companies you are interested in to enable profile access.
- Adjust visibility settings for your current position title and employer to limit exposure.
- Showcase public items like skills, education, and recommendations so employers can view credentials.
- Customize visibility by section based on sensitivity of each content area.
- Periodically review your visibility settings and alter them when your goals change.
Balancing visibility and privacy requires some trial and error. Monitor the impression your profile makes and modify the settings as needed to control the right level of access.
Using Premium Account Options to Manage Visibility
LinkedIn Premium accounts provide additional options for controlling profile visibility and viewer access. Two settings that can help are:
- Profile viewing options: See who has viewed your profile recently and limit visibility from specific individuals.
- Anonymous browsing: View profiles and search anonymously without other members seeing you viewed them.
Premium also allows more advanced filtering of profile search results, so you can narrow visibility to exactly the audiences you want to be discovered by.
Here is an overview of key visibility settings included with LinkedIn Premium accounts:
Premium Visibility Setting | Description | Benefit |
---|---|---|
Profile viewing options | See who has viewed your profile recently and limit specific people from viewing it again. | Gain insights into who is looking at your profile and control future access. |
Anonymous browsing | View LinkedIn profiles and search anonymously without others seeing you viewed them. | Research people and companies privately without indicating interest. |
Viewed your updates | See which connections have viewed or engaged with the content you share. | Understand who your updates are reaching and resonating with. |
Profile search filters | Apply advanced filters like location, company, title, skills when searching profiles. | Precisely target profile visibility to your preferred audiences. |
So while a free account still provides basic control over your profile visibility, a premium account offers enhanced settings to target visibility and see how your profile is being viewed.
Conclusion
With LinkedIn being such an important platform for professional networking and recruitment, it’s crucial to understand how you can manage the visibility of your profile. The right settings can help you maintain privacy while still showcasing your capabilities to potential employers.
Key takeaways include:
- Control overall profile visibility through private, hidden, or public settings.
- Customize access by section to showcase selected items publicly.
- Connect directly with employers and share profile links to enable access.
- Premium accounts provide additional options for managing profile viewing.
- Balance visibility and privacy based on your career goals and priorities.
With the right strategy, you can use LinkedIn’s flexibility to keep your profile accessible to the audiences that matter, while limiting unnecessary exposure. Maintain an active and engaging presence, without compromising on privacy.