No - It Doesn't Make You Look Desperate

I don’t know WHY this keeps coming up, but since I recently USED this feature on LinkedIn for the first time during my own job search, I’m going to tell you my story as a job seeker, and then share my experience as a seasoned recruiter.

When I set out to look for a new job 3.5 weeks ago (on a Wednesday evening), I decided to try the “Open To Work” green banner for the first time since they rolled it out. (My first opportunity to actually use it.) My resume was updated and ready to go, my LI profile was also updated.

So here were the results:

• I had inmails/messages from both recruiters and my own network within hours. I was open to long-term contract (12+ months) or FT roles. I fielded at least 20 inquiries the first day, and scheduled multiple initial conversations.
• I didn’t receive ANY spam or “not real” messages. I shared my range in initial conversations (email/inmail and phone calls for contracts) and that dropped about 20% of the initial interest.
• 5 days after using the banner, I had 2-6 interviews or phone call requests PER DAY for two weeks. All for valid jobs that I was interested in.
• I had my first actual phone screen with a recruiter for a real job on Thursday, with 5 more on Friday, 7 the following Monday, and my first actual INTERVIEW less than a week later.
• I had my first offer (above my initial range) within 7 business days of putting up the banner. I had over half a dozen actual offers by the end of week 3; I narrowed it down to two, both my top choices.

As a job seeker: I am a firm believer in using the Open To Work banner.

Now I am going to share my experience and views as a veteran recruiter who has been using LinkedIn for a LONG time, and has been using LinkedIn Recruiter (the full annual, $7K+/license version) for over a decade.

The first thing I want to stress about what I do: my job is to bring qualified talent to my hiring managers. I use whatever resources I have – my own ATS, employee referrals, social media channels, resume databases like Indeed or Monster, industry outreach, blogs, conference lists, specific platforms like Github (for tech roles), alumni and career organizations at schools/companies, professional organizations. I have used soooo many tools and platforms over the years (for my recruiting colleagues, I have given you a gift).

I have been a FT sourcer – my only job was to search for and engage qualified talent for the specific roles/profiles I was recruiting for. That entails running keyword (Boolean) searches multiple times a day, and looking at thousands of potential candidates. LI recruiter is probably one of the most useful tools in a sourcer’s arsenal. As a full-lifecycle recruiter – meaning I look for candidates as well as shepherd them through the ENTIRE recruiting process – LinkedIn Recruiter is my PRIMARY search tool, although I do use others – because in such a competitive market it is needful, and because I’m very good at my job.

There are two aspects to the “Open To Work” utilities on LinkedIn.

One is the ubiquitous banner, which is visible to anyone who can see your photo.

The second is the “switch” on your profile that indicates you are open to work, but ONLY shows up in LinkedIn Recruiter searches (I am not sure of the Recruiter Lite version), and is not visible to your current employer (the only caveat to that would be for recruiters in your company, and it would really only be an issue if you are a recruiter, and your manager was looking for recruiters and you came up in a search.)

The “open to work” banner and utility are GAME CHANGERS for recruiters. It is a filter we can apply in LinkedIn Recruiter that allows us to identify warm (open to outreach) candidates as opposed to having to assume everyone is a cold call. It would be CRAZY and SELF DEFEATING to say that either one of those features is not effective.

That being said, there are some HIRING MANAGERS (and a very small number of recruiters) that insist they are not interested in any candidates that are openly looking; there is an outdated belief that the “best” candidates are passive candidates, meaning someone that is happily employed and not looking.

But here are the problems with that particular – outdated - way of thinking.

1. Employees don’t generally stay with employers for very long – 18-24 months is considered a “good” run. EVERYONE is looking after a few months, even if only casually.
2. The pandemic CHANGED everything in terms of unemployment – 2 years ago, I had job seekers OVERWHELMING me with requests for help with finding them a job.
3. The resulting “work from home” culture that has permeated white collar employment globally and CHANGED so many recruiting processes – including the opportunity to really, truly, create inclusive work opportunities for minority populations
4. The “great reshuffle” (or resignation…take your pick) has led unprecedented numbers of employees to consider (and reconsider) where they want to work, who they want to work for, and what is important to them in terms of pay, culture, industry, etc. ?

MOST of the people I see telling job seekers not to use the banner (specifically) are practicing a form of SHAMING. “It will make you look desperate”. These are NOT recruiters, and very few of them are even hiring managers. Many of them are trying to sell job seekers something, or keep up “engagement” so they can be seen as “disruptive” influencers. Unless they are actually RECRUITING OR HIRING – they have no real understanding of how we currently do our jobs.

Bottom line: RECRUITERS AND HIRING MANAGERS are your TARGET AUDIENCE. So listen to what the majority of your target “customers” as a job seeker are saying.