There are a few possible reasons why your work anniversary may not be showing up on your LinkedIn profile:
- You haven’t added the position where you reached the anniversary to your profile
- The dates on your position are incorrect or incomplete
- You haven’t enabled the work anniversary feature on your profile
- There’s a bug or technical issue with LinkedIn
Let’s explore each of these in more detail.
You Haven’t Added the Position
In order for your work anniversary to show up on your LinkedIn profile, you first need to add the position where you reached that milestone. LinkedIn can only showcase anniversaries for experience you’ve included on your profile.
Make sure you’ve added the relevant position and that the dates are complete (include both a start and end date, even if you currently work there). If you’re missing that job altogether, add it so LinkedIn is aware of when you started working there.
Once the position is fully filled out, give LinkedIn a day or two to register the information. Then you should see your work anniversary appear if you’ve enabled the feature (more on that next).
Incorrect or Incomplete Dates
If you’ve added the position but your anniversary still isn’t appearing, double check that your dates are complete and accurate.
LinkedIn relies on the start date of your position to calculate when your yearly work anniversaries are. If the start date is incorrect or missing, it won’t be able to determine the right anniversary dates.
Here are some common date issues that could prevent your anniversary from showing up:
- Typo in the start date (even just one wrong number)
- Incomplete start date (missing the day and/or month)
- Approximate or rounded start date (like “May 2010” instead of May 2, 2010)
- Missing or incorrect end date
Go through and make sure your start date and end date (if applicable) are complete and exact. One small error could throw things off.
Give LinkedIn a day or two once you’ve corrected the dates, then check if your anniversary appears.
Work Anniversary Feature Not Enabled
LinkedIn recently introduced the ability to showcase work anniversaries on your profile. However, it’s not turned on automatically for all members. You have to actively enable this feature first.
Here’s how to turn on work anniversaries on LinkedIn:
- Go to your profile and click “View profile”
- Click the “Edit public profile & URL” button
- Scroll down and toggle on “Show work anniversary” under the “Background” section
- Click “Save”
Once that’s enabled, you should start seeing any eligible work anniversaries display on your profile.
Note that you need at least one current position with complete dates for this feature to activate. If you don’t see the option to enable it, double check that your employment history is fleshed out.
LinkedIn Bug or Technical Issue
Despite your best efforts, there’s still a chance your work anniversary may not show up due to a bug or technical difficulty on LinkedIn’s end. This tends to be rare, but can happen.
Here are some troubleshooting tips:
- Make sure you have the latest version of the LinkedIn app
- Try viewing your profile in a different web browser
- Log out and log back into your account
- Clear cookies and cache from your browser
- Try accessing LinkedIn from a different device
If the issue persists across devices and platforms, contact LinkedIn customer support for help. There may be a technical glitch they need to address so your anniversary displays properly.
Other Possible Reasons
Beyond the main reasons covered already, there are a few other unlikely scenarios that could explain why your work anniversary isn’t showing up:
- You have visibility turned off for your employment history
- LinkedIn excludes very short-term positions (under 3 months)
- The position start date was over 10 years ago
- You have multiple positions at one company with gaps in between
Double check your profile settings, position date ranges, and that your role history is correctly represented. Contact LinkedIn support if you still can’t get your anniversary to appear.
How to Add Your Work Anniversary Manually
If your LinkedIn anniversary won’t generate automatically despite your best troubleshooting efforts, you can add it manually to your profile instead.
Here are two options for manually showcasing your work milestones:
Add an Anniversary Date in Your Headline
Your headline is front and center on your profile under your name. You have 120 characters to showcase achievements like “10 Year Work Anniversary at Company ABC”.
To edit your headline:
- Go to your profile and click “View profile”
- Click the pencil icon to edit your headline
- Add your anniversary in the format “X Year Work Anniversary at Company”
- Click “Save”
List Anniversaries in Your Summary Section
Further down your profile, the summary section provides space to highlight career accomplishments.
You can manually add anniversaries here like:
“Highlights:
– 10 Year Work Anniversary at Company ABC”
To add your own anniversaries:
- Go to your profile and click “View profile”
- Click the pencil icon to edit your summary
- Add anniversaries under “Highlights” or in the description text
- Click “Save”
While not as visually prominent, the summary section offers more room to showcase milestones from across your career journey.
Should You Report the Missing Anniversary to LinkedIn?
If you’ve tried all troubleshooting tips and your work anniversary still won’t generate on your profile, should you report the issue to LinkedIn?
Here are a few pros and cons to consider:
Pros of Reporting It
- LinkedIn may be able to fix a bug or technical issue
- It could help improve the product for other users
- You may get a better answer for why it’s not working
- Provides feedback to LinkedIn on features that need refinement
Cons of Reporting It
- May not get a useful response
- Low priority for LinkedIn to address
- Quick fix unlikely compared to manual workaround
- No guarantee your specific case will be resolved
On balance, it’s likely worth reporting issues with your work anniversary not showing up properly on your profile. While LinkedIn may not be able to address your specific situation, it can help drive product improvements in the future.
At minimum, their customer support team may be able to reveal if there’s an underlying technical problem at play with the anniversary feature. It costs nothing but a few minutes of your time to reach out.
Next Steps If Your LinkedIn Anniversary Isn’t Showing
To recap, here are your next steps if your work anniversary remains stubbornly absent from your profile:
- Confirm the position is listed with complete dates
- Enable the work anniversary feature in your profile settings
- Check for typos or inaccuracies in the start and end dates
- Try troubleshooting steps like updating the app, using different browsers, and logging out/in
- Manually add your anniversary to your headline or summary section
- Contact LinkedIn customer support for assistance
With persistence, you should be able to either troubleshoot why your LinkedIn work anniversary isn’t appearing or find an alternate way to showcase your career milestones manually.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here are answers to some common questions about displaying work anniversaries on LinkedIn:
How long does it take for a LinkedIn anniversary to appear?
It can take up to 48 hours for a work anniversary to show up after you edit dates or enable the feature. Give LinkedIn a day or two before troubleshooting further.
Can I show multiple work anniversaries?
Yes, you can showcase multiple milestones from different companies. LinkedIn will automatically detect your various anniversaries.
Does the anniversary banner stay permanently?
The banner only displays for about a week around the actual anniversary date. It will disappear shortly after.
Are anniversary reminders automatic?
No, LinkedIn currently does not proactively notify you about upcoming or recent work anniversaries. You have to monitor this yourself.
Can I control who sees my work anniversary?
Yes, you can select if your connections, the public, or just you can see your anniversary using the audience selector when you enable the feature.
The Value of Displaying Your Work Anniversary on LinkedIn
While not a requirement, showcasing your work anniversaries on your LinkedIn profile can provide many benefits:
- Demonstrates your professional milestones and career growth
- Lets connections celebrate major achievements with you
- Highlights your commitment and loyalty as an employee
- Expands your professional brand and accomplishments
- Adds multimedia visuals to your profile
For many seasoned professionals, work anniversaries are meaningful markers of their development. Displaying these retention milestones on your LinkedIn profile can be a small way to advance your personal brand.
With some effort, you can troubleshoot and resolve issues getting your LinkedIn work anniversaries to appear properly. It’s worth investing a bit of time to showcase your career progress and get more out of the platform.
Conclusion
A missing or incorrect work anniversary date on your LinkedIn profile is usually fixable with a few troubleshooting steps. common issues involve position dates, anniversary feature settings, or technical bugs. If the automated anniversary won’t generate, add it manually to your headline or summary instead. Consider reporting ongoing issues to LinkedIn for a long-term fix. Showcasing your work milestones demonstrates loyalty, commitment and personal branding.