Having a LinkedIn profile is essential for networking and career opportunities. However, there may be times when you want to limit your profile’s visibility temporarily. Luckily, LinkedIn offers options to hide your profile so you can take a break without deleting your account.
Why Hide Your LinkedIn Profile?
Here are some common reasons people may want to hide their LinkedIn profile:
- Looking for a new job without notifying your current employer
- Avoiding sales outreach and recruiter contacts
- Taking a break from professional networking
- Protecting your privacy for personal reasons
Hiding your profile allows you to maintain your LinkedIn presence and connections while limiting outside visibility as needed. Your profile remains live but is only visible to you when hidden.
How to Temporarily Hide Your LinkedIn Profile
Follow these simple steps to hide your LinkedIn profile:
- Go to your LinkedIn profile page and click “View profile” to open your public profile view.
- Scroll down and click “Edit public profile & URL” next to your profile photo.
- Uncheck the box next to “Make my public profile visible to anyone on LinkedIn.”
- Click “Save” at the bottom of the page.
Your profile is now hidden from public view but remains active. You can still sign in and access LinkedIn normally. To make your profile public again, just repeat the steps and re-check the visibility box.
Who Can See a Hidden LinkedIn Profile?
When you hide your LinkedIn profile, here’s who can still see it:
- You, when signed into your account
- Your LinkedIn connections
- LinkedIn members who are part of the same LinkedIn groups as you
- LinkedIn members who have invited you to connect or been introduced through another member
Essentially, your 1st-degree connections and some 2nd-degree connections will still have access. But your profile will not appear in public LinkedIn directory searches.
Limiting Profile Visibility Further
If you want to limit LinkedIn visibility even more, here are some additional options:
- Adjust profile settings: Turn off options like “Show viewing and connection activity” and “Allow LinkedIn search engines to index profile.”
- Leave groups and associations: Exit any LinkedIn groups and alumni associations temporarily.
- Tighten connection requests: Adjust your settings to manually review connection requests.
- Block specific connections: You can block individual connections from viewing your profile.
Using these settings in conjunction with hiding your profile will severely restrict profile visibility to only your closest, direct connections.
What Happens When Your Profile is Hidden?
Here’s what to expect when your LinkedIn profile is hidden:
- You will stop receiving connection requests, messages, and notifications.
- Your profile will not appear in searches by name or title.
- You can still message your connections one-on-one.
- You can participate in LinkedIn groups normally.
- You can still see profiles of your connections.
Essentially, hiding your profile puts your public presence on pause. But you maintain full access to LinkedIn’s core networking features.
How Long Can You Keep Your Profile Hidden?
You can keep your LinkedIn profile hidden as long as you want with no time limits. Your connections, activity, and groups will remain intact until you choose to unhide your profile again.
Some key points about keeping your profile hidden indefinitely:
- You can still sign in to LinkedIn and use it normally.
- You won’t lose any data or connections.
- You can change the visibility settings anytime.
- You avoid public visibility but keep private access.
There’s no need to ever delete your account due to inactivity. You have complete control over your profile visibility.
Pros and Cons of Hiding Your LinkedIn Profile
Here are some key advantages and disadvantages to evaluate when considering hiding your LinkedIn profile:
Pros
- Maintain your account while limiting public visibility
- Avoid undesired outreach from recruiters or sales
- Take a break from professional networking
- Keep your profile information and connections intact
- Change visibility anytime quickly
Cons
- Lose out on new opportunities and connections
- Unable to showcase your brand and accomplishments
- May raise suspicions if you suddenly disappear
- Still discoverable by closer 2nd-degree connections
Overall, hiding your profile is ideal for temporary situations where you want to limit external access. But for long-term control over your professional online identity, deleting may be a better option.
Alternatives to Hiding Your LinkedIn Profile
If you want to maintain your LinkedIn presence, here are a few alternatives to consider besides hiding your profile:
- Update settings: Adjust your preferences for notifications, visibility, and searchability.
- Increase privacy: Remove personal details, job history, education, contacts, etc.
- Limit sharing: Change default sharing to “Connections only” for posts.
- Restrict invitations: Change settings to pre-approve connection requests.
These options allow you to fine-tune your LinkedIn visibility and engagement. Hiding should be used for situations requiring your profile be completely invisible.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can people tell if I’ve hidden my LinkedIn profile?
No, there is no public indicator that your profile is hidden. You will simply stop appearing in searches and results. Only you and LinkedIn can tell your profile is hidden.
What happens to my profile URL if I hide my profile?
Your custom LinkedIn profile URL will remain the same whether your profile is hidden or public. Hiding it does not free up your URL for use by others.
Can I undo hiding my profile?
Yes, toggling your profile visibility is completely reversible at any time. Just revisit your settings and check the box to make your profile public again.
Do my connections get notified if I hide my profile?
No, LinkedIn will not notify anyone if you hide your profile. It occurs behind the scenes without alerts or announcements to your connections.
Can I tell if someone else has a hidden profile?
You cannot definitively tell if another member has hidden their LinkedIn profile. Their profile simply will not come up in searches outside of your shared connections.
Conclusion
Hiding your LinkedIn profile is a simple, reversible way to limit public visibility when needed. It prevents unwanted exposure while maintaining your valuable networking presence and connections.
Just be aware of the tradeoffs – a hidden profile cannot actively participate in expanding your professional network. Evaluate whether alternative privacy settings may be sufficient before taking your profile completely dark.
But when you need a professional social media break or want to keep your job search discrete, hiding your LinkedIn profile is an effective option. You can unhide and reactivate at any time without losing connections or impacting your URL.
With the ability to freely toggle visibility on demand, periodic profile hiding gives you greater control over your professional online identity. Just be strategic about when to hide, when to be public, and what privacy settings suit your current needs.
