Having a strong LinkedIn presence is crucial for anyone looking to advance their career or business in today’s digital world. With over 722 million users globally, LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional networking platform. It allows you to connect with other professionals, join industry groups, follow companies, and display your skills, experiences, and accomplishments on your profile.
But one question that often comes up is – does your LinkedIn profile have to be public? Or can you have a private LinkedIn profile that is only visible to your connections?
The Short Answer
The short answer is: Yes, your LinkedIn profile does have to be public if you want to get the most out of the platform. Unlike other social networks like Facebook where you can easily switch between public and private, LinkedIn does not allow users to have completely private profiles.
Why LinkedIn Profiles Must Be Public
There are a few key reasons why LinkedIn requires profiles to be public:
Searchability
LinkedIn is designed first and foremost as a professional networking and recruitment platform. Keeping profiles public allows for better searchability so people can find and connect with each other more easily.
Recruiters and hiring managers often search LinkedIn to find potential candidates. If your profile is private, you are invisible to these important connections.
Trust and Verification
The public nature of LinkedIn profiles provides a level of transparency, accountability and trust. Visitors can verify someone’s credentials, work history, education, skills, and more.
This verification is especially important for recruiting, business development, and building authority as an expert.
Visibility and Thought Leadership
A public profile gives you maximum visibility within the LinkedIn community. This allows you to build your personal brand, establish relationships, engage with other professionals, and position yourself as a thought leader.
All of this expands your reach and opportunities on the platform.
Adherence to LinkedIn’s Purpose
LinkedIn aims to “create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce.” This mission depends on open and visible profiles that foster transparency, trust, and communication.
Private profiles would undermine the platform’s core value proposition as an open professional network.
What Parts of Your Profile Can Be Private or Limited?
While your profile must remain public, there are certain sections and settings you can mark as private or limit visibility if you wish to control sharing of that information:
Contact Info
You can choose whether to display your email address, phone number, Twitter handle, website URLs, and more. Obscuring some contact details allows you to control who can reach out.
Your Network and Connections
You can elect to hide the list of people you are connected to on LinkedIn. This prevents others from targeting your connections.
Profile Viewer Insights
Paid account holders can see data on who has viewed their profile but keep that information private from others.
Sharing Profile Changes
You can turn off the setting that automatically shares profile edits with your network. This lets you make changes without broadcasting it.
Restricting Past Position Details
While your current position must be public, you can elect to hide details on previous jobs and roles.
Hiding Your Birth Date
Your birth date can be removed so it’s not displayed on your public profile.
Should You Have a Completely Private LinkedIn Profile?
Some users consider making their LinkedIn completely private or unsearchable if they wish to keep their job search discreet or maintain strong privacy boundaries between work and personal life.
Here are some risks to weigh with a fully private profile:
- You lose out on networking and exposure to new opportunities
- Recruiters won’t be able to find and contact you about openings
- You limit your ability to build authority and thought leadership
- Fewer people can endorse you or write recommendations
- Important business contacts may be unable to connect with you
- Future employers may question or doubt your credentials
While enhanced privacy settings are understandable for some users, a completely private profile negates many of the core benefits of LinkedIn.
Tips for Managing Your Public Profile
Here are some tips for managing your public LinkedIn profile:
Showcase Your Best Self Professionally
Craft a profile summary, add media, and highlight skills and accomplishments that put your most relevant and impressive professional self forward.
Be Selective in What You Share Publicly
Avoid sharing anything too personal. Be prudent when posting long opinion pieces or political commentary.
Limit Past Position Details
Hide company names and details for jobs you don’t want to be associated with publicly.
Clean Up Your Connections
Prune connections to only those you truly want to be associated and visible with professionally.
Toggle Contact Info Visibility
Show contact details like personal email or phone number sparingly when needed.
Follow Company Pages to Stay Updated
This allows you to keep your finger on the pulse of key players in your industry without reciprocal connections.
The Bottom Line
Maintaining a public LinkedIn profile is required to get the full value out of the platform for networking, recruitment, and branding.
But you can still exercise control over what details are visible and how you come across professionally.
Focus on showcasing your best assets while limiting what is shared publicly. With a little extra care, you can benefit from LinkedIn’s open platform while still preserving the privacy boundaries important to you.