LinkedIn work email verification is a feature that allows users to validate their professional email addresses on their LinkedIn profiles. Having a verified work email on LinkedIn provides several benefits and shows that the user is who they say they are.
Why verify your work email on LinkedIn?
There are several key reasons why verifying your work email on LinkedIn is recommended:
- It adds credibility to your profile – A verified work email shows recruiters and connections that you are a real professional with that company.
- It allows you to hide your personal email – Your work email can be made public while your personal email remains private.
- It gives access to certain features – Some LinkedIn features like InMail require email verification.
- It helps establish identity – Verified emails fight against fake profiles and build trust in the community.
Overall, a verified work email lends legitimacy and enhances your personal brand on the platform.
How does LinkedIn work email verification work?
LinkedIn has a simple automated process to verify work emails:
- Add your work email to your LinkedIn profile – Make sure you use your company email address.
- LinkedIn will send a verification code to your work inbox – Look for an email from LinkedIn with a 6-digit confirmation code.
- Enter the 6-digit code on LinkedIn – There will be a LinkedIn confirmation page to input the code.
- Your work email will now show as verified – You’ll get a verification confirmation from LinkedIn.
The verification code expires after a short period. If it expires, you can generate a new code.
Some key points about the process:
- It must be an email assigned by your employer – Personal emails or aliases will not verify.
- The process may take a few minutes to trigger – Be patient after adding your work email.
- Check your spam folder – Verification emails occasionally get flagged as spam.
- Resend the code if needed – You can request LinkedIn to resend a new one.
What happens when you change jobs?
If you change employers, your existing verified work email will become unverified on LinkedIn. This is because the system can only validate active company email accounts.
To get a newly verified work email:
- Update your LinkedIn profile with new job details
- Add your new work email and trigger verification
- Your old work email will revert to unverified status
- Your new email will now have the verified tag
It is recommended to keep your profile updated with your latest job and contact information. An outdated work email can give the impression that you are still at an old employer.
Can you verify multiple work emails?
You can only have one verified work email associated with your LinkedIn account at a time. However, you can add multiple unverified work emails and toggle which one is set to “Show verifications to others”.
To verify a second work email:
- Add the new email and trigger verification
- Once verified, toggle it to be displayed publicly
- Your original email will then revert to unverified
This allows you to seamlessly switch between verified work emails as you change jobs. The verification status will transfer from one employers email to the other.
How to reverify an email address?
There are a few scenarios where your existing verified work email may need to be reverified on LinkedIn:
- You changed jobs and your old email is no longer valid.
- Your work email was accidentally marked as unverified.
- You updated to a new company email address.
To reverify an email:
- Remove the existing verified email from your profile.
- Add the email again as if you’re verifying it for the first time.
- Trigger the verification process to send a new confirmation code.
- Enter the new code and your email will show as verified again.
Reverification is a quick process and important if your existing work email is invalid or out-of-date.
What happens if verification fails?
In some cases, the work email verification may fail. Typical reasons include:
- Typo in your email address – Double check the email you added is correct.
- Entering the wrong verification code – Copy-paste the code instead of typing it.
- Code expired – Request LinkedIn to send you a new verification code.
- Not a company email address – Use an official work email address assigned by your employer.
- Email address is invalid – Your work account may be closed or does not exist.
If you cannot get a work email verified, try alternative domain names or aliases from your company that may be recognized by LinkedIn.
For personal emails, you can verify ownership through LinkedIn without it showing as a company verified email.
Does verification notify your company?
No, LinkedIn’s automated verification does not proactively notify your employer. The process only communicates with you and your work email address.
However, some companies may have monitoring systems that track verification emails sent by LinkedIn to their corporate domains. But verification itself is discreet and private to your account.
Can you verify a generic email address?
LinkedIn email verification only works with company email domains that it recognizes as official. Generic emails often will not verify for this reason. Examples include:
- @gmail.com
- @yahoo.com
- @hotmail.com
- @mail.com
- @customdomain.com
For privacy reasons, many professionals use non-company emails on LinkedIn. While you can add and display these, LinkedIn cannot officially verify them as work emails.
Does verification work for all email providers?
LinkedIn’s verification system works with all major corporate email platforms, including:
- Microsoft Exchange
- G Suite Gmail
- Office 365
- Outlook.com
- IMAP/POP
As long as the domain is recognized as an official company email provider, the verification process will be able to validate email addresses from these services.
Certain email forwarding scenarios may present issues. For best results, use a primary corporate email account.
Is there an alternative to email verification?
If your work email domain does not verify with LinkedIn’s automated system, there are a couple alternatives:
- Email ownership verification – You can validate personal email ownership through LinkedIn without it showing as company-verified.
- Profile verification – LinkedIn’s Full Profile Badge denotes a credible profile identity through various criteria. However, it does not specifically verify an email address.
While not the same as official email verification, these options can still lend validity to your profile and presence on LinkedIn.
Can verification be done manually?
LinkedIn’s email verification is fully automated and cannot be done manually. The system must be able to programmatically validate the corporate email domain and address details.
Some users think verification requires employer admin approval or manual upload of documents, but the system handles everything directly and in the background.
The only manual step is entering the verification code sent to your work email by LinkedIn. Everything else happens automatically.
Is there a verification badge or icon?
When your work email is verified, LinkedIn displays a small checkmark icon next to it on your profile to indicate its verified status. This “verified” symbol is only shown if you choose to display the email publicly.
Here is an example of how it appears:
John Smith
Product Manager at XYZ Company
The verification icon clearly signals to visitors that the email address has been validated. Mouse-hovering over it will display a “Verified email address” pop-up tooltip.
Does verification expire?
Once an email is verified, the status does not expire on LinkedIn. It remains verified unless the email address becomes invalid, is removed from your profile, or you unlink your LinkedIn account.
However, if you change jobs or emails, your new work address will need to be re-verified. Your old email will then revert to unverified.
It’s recommended to update your profile when you switch employers or roles to keep your main work email verified.
Can you undo email verification?
There are a couple ways to undo verification of a work email on LinkedIn:
- Delete the email from your profile – This will remove the verification icon and public display.
- Change the email to private mode – The email will remain verified but not visible to others.
- Unlink your LinkedIn account – Removing your profile association will revert the email to unverified status.
Once undone, you can re-add and re-verify the email in the future if needed.
Conclusion
LinkedIn work email verification is an important way to add legitimacy and trust to your professional profile. By validating your company-issued email, you enable key features, strengthen your identity, and present a credible image to recruiters and partners. While not required, email verification is highly recommended to enhance your personal brand and presence on the platform. With LinkedIn becoming integral to modern business networking, a verified profile stands out and demonstrates your professional credibility.