Whether LinkedIn notifies your connections when you start a new job is a common question among users of the professional networking platform. The short answer is that yes, LinkedIn does have features that can automatically notify some of your connections when you add a new position to your profile.
However, it’s important to understand that LinkedIn does not send notifications to all of your connections. The platform uses algorithms to determine which connections to notify based on how closely you’re connected with them and how recently you’ve interacted. There are also settings you can adjust to customize notifications.
How LinkedIn Notifies Connections of New Jobs
There are two main ways LinkedIn can automatically notify some of your connections when you start a new job or add a new position to your profile:
- The “Update your network” box – When you add a new position, a box pops up asking if you want to “Update your network” about your new role. If you check this box, LinkedIn will post an update about your new job that may appear in the feeds of some connections.
- Profile update notifications – LinkedIn has algorithms that determine when to proactively notify your connections about certain profile updates. Starting a new position may trigger notifications to some connections.
In both cases, the notification LinkedIn sends is in the form of a post that appears in the LinkedIn feed. For example, if you started a new job as a Marketing Manager at XYZ Company, some of your connections may see a post like this in their feed:
“Cameron started a new position as Marketing Manager at XYZ Company.”
Who Gets Notified of Profile Updates
LinkedIn does not notify all of your connections about profile updates like starting a new job. Here are some factors that impact who sees notifications:
- Relationship strength – Closer connections are more likely to be notified. For example, you’re more likely to notify close colleagues than distant acquaintances.
- Recency of interaction – Connections you’ve interacted with more recently are more likely to be notified.
- Similarity of experience – Connections who have similar job titles, work experience, education, etc. are more likely to be notified since it’s more relevant to them.
In general, the connections who are most likely to be notified about your new job are close colleagues, close friends and family, recruiters you’ve recently interacted with, and contacts who work in similar roles or industries as your new job.
Customizing New Position Notifications
You do have some options for customizing notifications about your LinkedIn profile updates:
- The “Update your network” box – You can uncheck this when adding a new position if you don’t want an update posted about it.
- Visitor notifications – You can control whether visitors to your profile are notified about your updates under Privacy & Settings > Communications > Select “No” for profile viewing notifications.
- Feed notifications – You can turn off notifications aboutprofile updates from specific connections under Feed Preferences.
While you don’t have full control, these settings allow you to limit notifications about new positions to some extent. The remaining notifications will be driven by LinkedIn’s algorithms.
Does Everyone See New Position Updates in Your Feed?
It’s important to note that not every connection will necessarily see the profile update notifications in their LinkedIn feed. Here are some reasons why they may not:
- They didn’t make the algorithmic cut for notifications you can’t control.
- They customized their feed filter settings not to show your updates.
- Your update got pushed down by more recent news in their feed.
So while many close connections will likely be notified, there’s no guarantee that everyone in your network will see it. The feed algorithm controls visibility.
How to Manually Share a New Position With Your Network
If you want to more actively notify your LinkedIn connections about starting a new job, there are a few options:
- Share the job update post – When you add a new position, LinkedIn generates a post about it that you can share to your feed. This will better ensure all connections see it.
- Make a new post – Write your own post and manually share that you started a new position. This gives you more control over the messaging.
- Send messages – Personally reach out to key connections individually to share the news about your new role.
While these take more effort than relying on LinkedIn’s notifications, they help strengthen your professional relationships by directly involving your connections in your career news.
Does Posting About a New Job on LinkedIn Make It Public?
When you post about starting a new job on LinkedIn – whether manually or via automatic notifications – it does become visible to your connections on the platform. However, it is not necessarily public to everyone on the internet.
The visibility of posts and profile updates depends on your account settings:
- Public profile – All posts are visible to anyone online who comes across your profile.
- Private profile – Posts are only visible to your 1st-degree connections on LinkedIn.
So if you have a private profile, news about your new job won’t be public internet knowledge unless you change your settings. But your connections on LinkedIn will be able to see posts about your new position.
Pros of Letting Connections Know About a New Job
There are some benefits to leveraging LinkedIn notifications and posts to share new job updates:
- Reinforce your professional brand – A new position shows progress in your career.
- Surface new opportunities – Your network may share relevant openings at your new company.
- Strengthen relationships – Sharing career news can foster deeper connections.
- Expand your reach – Interesting new roles may lead to new LinkedIn connections.
Notifying your network about career moves can open up new possibilities. The enhanced visibility and exposure can be helpful professionally.
Cons of Letting Connections Know About a New Job
However, there are also a few potential downsides of broadly sharing new role updates:
- Oversharing – Some may prefer to keep career news more private.
- Unwanted outreach – Recruiters may increase messaging about new opportunities.
- Security concerns – For some roles, it’s better not to broadcast a change.
- Job uncertainty – If the role doesn’t work out, more explanation may be needed.
The increased visibility could lead to unwanted attention in some cases. It’s important to consider the pros and cons for your specific situation.
Conclusion
To wrap up, LinkedIn does have features that automatically notify some connections when you start a new job or add a position to your profile. But the platform uses algorithms to selectively determine who gets notified based on relationship strength, recency of contact, and other factors.
While you don’t have full control, you can customize things like visitor notifications and feed sharing settings to limit alerts about new roles. You can also manually share job updates by making posts or reaching out to key connections.
Posting new job news on LinkedIn makes it visible within your network, which can be advantageous for strengthening relationships and expanding possibilities. But it’s also semi-public, so you need to be comfortable with increased visibility.
Understanding how LinkedIn notifications work for new positions enables you to strategically share career updates in alignment with your preferences and goals.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does everyone in my network get notified when I add a new job?
No, LinkedIn uses algorithms to only notify some key connections about new jobs based on relationship closeness, past interactions, and relevance of the update.
Can I turn off notifications about starting a new job?
You can’t turn them off completely, but you can adjust settings like visitor and feed notifications to limit alerts about new positions in your profile.
Do my connections definitely see the notification if LinkedIn sends it?
Not necessarily. If they have filtered their feed or have a lot of recent activity, they may not see it even if sent originally.
Is it bad to not notify LinkedIn connections about a new job?
No, it’s up to your own preference. Some may want to keep it more private or selectively tell key contacts directly.
How long do notifications about new jobs show in my network’s feeds?
Typically 2-7 days, but can be longer for closer connections. After that it gets pushed down by more recent updates.
Key Takeaways
- LinkedIn automatically notifies some connections about new jobs via “Update your network” and profile update notifications.
- Only closer, more active connections are likely to be notified based on relationship algorithms.
- You can customize visitor and feed sharing settings to limit job update notifications.
- Manually posting and messaging about new roles ensures wider visibility.
- Sharing new jobs on LinkedIn has benefits but also increases public visibility.