Since its creation in 2002, LinkedIn has multiplied the options to allow users to enrich their profile but also for recruiters to be able to navigate more easily among the wealth of information present on the platform. In 2020, in the midst of a health crisis and at a time when many employees found themselves unemployed, the American company launched the “open to work” badge to allow people looking for work to let their network know and reach new targets. This feature takes the form of a green ribbon surrounding the profile picture and displaying “open to work”.
“This lets recruiters know you’re on the lookout for new opportunities and helps them move up the search results when they’re looking at the best candidates for a job,” says Esther Ohayon, Communications Director and Career Expert at LinkedIn France. . According to the social network, this badge “doubles the probability of being contacted by a recruiter”.
Not recommended if you are an executive or manager
However, this option turns out to be a double-edged sword. “For executives and managers, the “open to work” badge is not recommended. It’s like going to a store and displaying ‘looking for customers’, you don’t want to enter the store “, illustrates Philippe Douale, co-author of the book Job search, secrets of the pros.
Rather than relying on a feature, the expert recommends building a solid network and targeting the companies you want to integrate: “The person will look at your profile and will see the badge to open to work, it can put him in a spirit of refusal”. Grégory Mancel, LinkedIn trainer for companies, agrees: “The ‘open to work’ badge is a visual marker. Some say it’s useful for students, but for someone with 20 years of experience, it’s is to put oneself in the position of plaintiff”.
However, it is possible to make the badge visible only to recruiters. But for them to be able to see it, they must have a premium recruiting subscription, thus limiting its scope. The risk that one of his superiors or someone in his company learns that you are looking for a job can never be ruled out.
LinkedIn also indicates on its page: “We cannot guarantee complete confidentiality”. If you still plan to activate it, some upstream work is still necessary. “This badge, you have to trigger it from the moment you have updated your profile”, warns Grégory Mancel. Recruiters will go their way if the profile photo is not correctly taken, if the summary is not complete and if no skills have been entered.
In the United States, a well-known and very widespread badge
As of July 22, 2022, more than 16 million members, out of the 875 million on LinkedIn, had added “open to work” to their profile. For Emmanuelle Petiau, LinkedIn trainer, there is a difference in mentality between the United States, “where the ‘open to work’ badge is very widespread and rather well seen” and France. “Except for an intern or a work-study student, it is not well perceived by decision-makers,” she says.
LinkedIn has not yet changed the option so that it can only be suitable for users looking for internships or work-study programs who are increasingly active on the social network. In the meantime, the best way to find a job on LinkedIn is to be proactive. “If you have identified a particular company, it is very important to be very present in its ecosystem, to comment and react to the publications of recruiters or staff, recounts Christopher Piton, author of Conquering LinkedIn: 10 steps to deploy your marketing strategy, build a strong reputation and generate leads. The idea in parallel with that: send invitations and create a conversation”.