LinkedIn is a great platform for building your professional network and promoting yourself as a job candidate. One of the key components of your LinkedIn presence is your profile – this page shows off your work history, skills, accomplishments and more to prospective connections and employers.
When you initially set up your profile, you filled it with information about your background. But over time, it’s common and recommended to update your LinkedIn profile to reflect new jobs, education, skills and other additions to your resume. However, a downside to updating your profile is that your connections are notified each time you make a change. For job seekers who are discreetly looking for new opportunities or those who simply don’t want to inundate their network with notifications, this can be frustrating.
The good news is that there are a few ways to edit your LinkedIn profile without notifying your connections of changes. In this article, we’ll explore some methods to stealthily update your profile step-by-step.
Change Your Profile Photo
One of the easiest parts of your profile to change without notifications is your profile photo. Having an updated, professional headshot helps convey gravitas and get you noticed by recruiters and hiring managers scanning LinkedIn.
To change your photo discreetly:
1. Click on your profile icon at the top right of your homepage.
2. Select “View Profile.”
3. Hover over your existing photo and click the camera icon to upload a new picture.
4. Choose a new photo from your computer files – make sure it is high quality and shows your face clearly.
5. Click “Save.”
Your profile photo will now be updated without sending any notifications to your network.
Edit Your Background Photo
Similar to changing your profile picture, you can also change your background photo or cover image without notifying your connections.
A background photo lets you showcase a workplace, special event, award ceremony or other environment relevant to your career. Just follow these steps:
1. From your profile, click on the camera icon overlaid on your current cover image.
2. Either upload a new image file or choose from the available LinkedIn stock photos.
3. Position or zoom the photo how you like.
4. Click “Save.”
The updated background will now display while staying under the radar.
Modify Contact Info
Keeping your contact information current on LinkedIn is important for networking opportunities. You can edit details like your phone number, email address or mailing address without sending notifications to connections.
Here’s how:
1. Go to your profile and click “Contact info” below your profile photo.
2. Click the pencil icon to edit any field.
3. Type in your new info and click “Save.”
These important changes will only be visible to you and recruiters/hiring managers, but not your larger network.
Rearrange Your Profile Sections
LinkedIn allows you to customize the order of sections on your profile page, like moving Skills higher up or Education lower down. Reorganizing these sections help highlight the information you want viewers to see first.
The process is simple:
1. Go to your profile and click “Edit public profile & URL” at the top.
2. Find the sections under “Profile.”
3. Click and drag any section higher or lower in the order.
4. Click “Save” at the bottom.
The new order will take effect without notification.
Add or Remove Profile Sections
Along with reordering sections, you can also add and remove sections from view on your profile completely. For example, you can remove the Publications section if you have no items to display. Or create a new section like Languages or Certifications if desired.
Here are the steps:
1. Go to “Edit public profile & URL” from your profile.
2. Scroll down to ”Profile.”
3. Click the “+” icon to add a new section. Select the type of section.
4. To remove a section, click “Remove” next to the name.
5. Click “Save” when finished.
Now you have full control over what sections visitors see.
Change Your Self-Written Summary
The Summary section at the top of your profile allows you to provide a short elevator pitch about your skills and experience. Since this section is unique and personable, updating it can help tailor your brand – without distracting notifications.
Updating your Summary is easy:
1. From your profile, click “Edit public profile & URL.”
2. Scroll down and expand the Summary section.
3. Click “Edit summary.”
4. Type a new summary text.
5. Click “Save.”
You now have an updated Summary that gives new visitors a better view of who you are professionally.
Modify Your Experience Section
The Experience section displays your work history – job titles, companies, employment dates and descriptions. As you gain experience and switch roles, you’ll want to update this section without broadcasting notifications.
Here is the process:
1. From your profile, choose “Edit public profile & URL.”
2. Expand the Experience section.
3. Click the three dots next to a job listing and choose “Edit.”
4. Make any changes to the title, company, dates or description.
5. Click “Save.”
Repeat these steps for each position you want to update discreetly.
Add or Remove Skills
LinkedIn lets you showcase up to 50 key skills in a dedicated Skills section. Choosing the most relevant and in-demand skills can get you noticed more in searches, so updating this section as your expertise grows is important.
Adding or deleting skills is a private process:
1. Go to your profile and click “Add profile section” under your name.
2. Select the Skills section.
3. Click the plus icon to add skills. Start typing and choose from the autocomplete options.
4. To delete skills, hover over any and click the X icon.
5. Click “Save” to apply the changes.
Your Skills section is now tailored without broadcasting it through notifications across your network.
Change Position Titles
As you gain experience and seniority, you may hold different titles even if you stay with the same employer. Updating your position titles showcases your upward mobility.
Simply follow these private steps:
1. From your profile, click “Edit public profile & URL.”
2. Expand the Experience section.
3. Click the three dots next to a job listing and choose “Edit.”
4. Change the title field and click “Save.”
The title change will now display seamlessly on your profile.
Modify Your Education Section
Like your work Experience section, you can also make changes to your Education history on LinkedIn without notifications being sent. You may need to add newly completed degrees, certificates or training programs. Or change the date ranges if you took time off from school.
Here is the process:
1. Go to your profile and click “Edit public profile & URL.”
2. Expand the Education section.
3. Click the three dots next to a listing and choose “Edit.”
4. Make any changes needed to the school, degree, field of study or date range.
5. Click “Save” when complete.
Now your education section is updated while staying under the radar.
Add New Profile Media
Adding visual media to your profile like photos, videos, presentations and documents can really make it stand out. However, changing media across your profile does normally trigger notifications.
The exception is multimedia added in the Featured and Background sections:
1. From your profile, choose “Edit public profile & URL.”
2. Expand the Featured or Background sections.
3. Click “Add media” and upload any visual files.
4. Rearrange the media thumbnails as desired.
5. Click “Save.”
The new media will display dynamically on your profile without any notifications sent.
Modify Custom Profile URLs
LinkedIn gives you the ability to customize the unique URL of your public profile with your name or other identifier (i.e. linkedin.com/in/yourname). Updating this link can be done privately:
1. Go to your profile and click “Edit public profile & URL” at the top.
2. Under “Your public profile URL,” click the pencil icon.
3. Type in a new custom URL if available.
4. Click “Save.”
Your new custom URL will be live without broadcasting the change.
Strategically Change Visibility Settings
Under account settings, LinkedIn gives you granular control over what parts of your profile are visible to different audiences like the public, your connections and recruiters. Tweaking these visibility settings lets you quietly update:
– Photo visibility
– Viewer information
– Activity broadcasts
– Sharing profile edits
– Notifications when you’re mentioned
Adjust these settings from Settings & Privacy > Profile visibility. Changes take effect instantly without notifications.
Manually Control Endorsements
Receiving Skills Endorsements from colleagues can improve your LinkedIn presence. But some endorsements may be years old or no longer relevant. Removing outdated ones improves accuracy.
Rather than individually removing endorsements and alerting each connection, modify visibility:
1. Go to Settings & Privacy > Select “Profile visibility”
2. Toggle “Show endorsements on your profile” to No.
Now you can manually control which endorsements appear for each skill individually.
Conclusion
Updating your LinkedIn profile regularly is important to demonstrate the progression and expansion of your career. But constant notifications to your network each time you make a change can be distracting and unnecessary.
The good news is many profile changes can be made privately without alerting your connections if you follow specific steps. Areas you can update discreetly include your summary, work experience, education, skills, titles, photos, media, contact info and more.
With the right strategy, you can keep your LinkedIn profile optimized to get you noticed and connect you with more opportunities – all without bombarding your network with notifications each time.