LinkedIn Open Candidates Feature
LinkedIn is an amazing modern tool to help you in your job search and career. Up until now, job seekers have had to make a tough decision about whether to openly advertise they are “open to new opportunities”.
Worry no more! LinkedIn has since released a feature called Open Candidates, which lets users privately indicate to recruiters they’re open to new job opportunities.
The information is only visible to recruiters that work at other companies and pay LinkedIn’s $9,000 annual fee for the premium recruiter service. This will make it easier for recruiters to focus on the right candidates and stop guessing.
For users, it allows you to specify the types of companies and roles you are most interested in and is accessible from the “Preferences” tab on the LinkedIn Jobs home page.
To get started you simply turn sharing “On” and fill in their key information such as the position you are after, the location and industry. LinkedIn will hide the Open Candidates signal from recruiters at your company or affiliated company recruiters.
The other benefit of using this feature is it will allow LinkedIn to filter and send you the most relevant jobs that are available their network.
Open Candidates is available in Australia, the UK, US and Canada and is rolling out globally.
I’ve put together a quick video to show you where to access this feature and what information it asks for.
Your LinkedIn Profile
Before turning the feature on, it is imperative you have an up to date, complete and well-written profile. Naturally, if a recruiter is interested they will head straight to your profile to learn more about you. Spend some time updating your profile and ensure you have the following:
- Your industry and location
- An up-to-date current position (including description)
- Two past positions
- Your education
- Your skills (minimum of three)
- A profile photo (No Selfies!)
- At least 50 connections
- A summary that tells the reader “why” you
I’m keen to hear from those of you who do try this feature and what results you experienced. As a business owner, I can’t actively try this myself so it’s important for me to hear feedback from job seekers on their experiences.
So leave a comment below on how you’ve found the feature.
