How do I make my contact info private on LinkedIn?

Quick Answers

LinkedIn allows you to control the visibility of your contact information like email, phone number, and mailing address. Here are some quick answers:

• Go to your LinkedIn profile and click “View profile” to edit your public profile settings.
• Under “Contact info”, click the edit icon next to each field to make it visible only to you, your connections, or no one.
• For email, phone, and address, choose “Only visible to you” to make them completely private.
• For your headline, current position, and education, choose “Your connections” to remain visible to your network.
• Under “Show recruiters you’re open to job opportunities” uncheck the box if you don’t want recruiters contacting you.
• Click “Save” at the bottom to apply your new privacy settings.

Why Make Your Contact Info Private?

Here are some key reasons you may want to make your contact information private on LinkedIn:

• Avoid unwanted contact from people you don’t know. Keeping your email, phone number, and address hidden ensures only people you are connected with can contact you directly.
• Reduce spam and solicitation. Public contact details often attract spammers looking to sell products, services, or scams.
• Maintain professional boundaries. Sharing personal contact information broadly online could lead to inappropriate contact from some individuals.
• Protect your privacy and safety. Keeping personal details private is wise practice to avoid potential security risks like identity theft or stalking.

So in most cases, making your contact information fully private or visible only to direct connections is recommended for personal and professional safety.

How to Make Specific Contact Fields Private

Here are step-by-step instructions to change the visibility for each section of your contact info on LinkedIn:

Email Address

1. Click “View profile” from your account dropdown menu.
2. Under the “Contact info” section, click the edit icon next to your email.
3. Change the dropdown from “Your connections” to “Only you”.
4. Click Save. Your email will no longer be displayed publicly.

Phone Number

1. From your profile, click edit icon next to your phone number.
2. Change the dropdown from “Your connections” to “Only you”.
3. Click Save. Your phone number will be hidden.

Address

1. From your profile, click edit icon next to your address.
2. Change the dropdown from “Your connections” to “Only you”.
3. Click Save. Your address will not be visible anywhere.

Headline, Current Position, Education

For these fields, choose “Your connections” to remain visible professionally while keeping contact details private.

How to Show or Hide Yourself to Recruiters

You can also control if recruiters are able to see and contact you about job opportunities:

1. From your profile, go to the “Open to” section.
2. Check or uncheck the box for “Let recruiters know you’re open to opportunities”.
3. Select specific positions you are interested in for better matching.
4. Click Save to apply the setting.

This setting allows you to privately show recruiters your profile while keeping your direct contact info hidden.

Other Ways to Increase Privacy

In addition to your contact info settings, here are some other ways to increase privacy on LinkedIn:

• Turn off search engine visibility – this removes your public profile from Google and other search engine results.
• Review your connections – connect only with people you know and trust.
• Be selective with skills and endorsements so you aren’t misrepresented.
• Disable activity broadcasts to control automatic notifications.
• Turn off targeted advertising to limit marketing based on your profile data.

Who Can Still See Your Contact Info?

When you make your contact details private, here is who still has access:

• You – All your info remains fully visible to you.
• 1st-degree connections – Your direct connections will have access if you choose “Your connections” visibility.
• LinkedIn – LinkedIn will still have access internally to your data as required to provide services.

So in summary, setting your contact info to “Only you” means it will no longer appear anywhere on LinkedIn to anyone except you.

How to Check Your Contact Info Privacy Settings

To review and confirm your current privacy settings:

1. Go to your public profile page.
2. For each contact field, hover over the edit icon.
3. This will show the current visibility setting, e.g. “Only you” or “Your connections”.
4. Adjust any settings as needed.

You can also click “View As” from your profile to preview exactly what someone else would see.

Pro Tips for Managing LinkedIn Privacy

Here are some additional professional tips for managing your privacy settings on LinkedIn:

• Check your settings regularly – review visibility choices every few months as your needs change.
• Customize visibility – choose different settings for each contact field based on your preferences.
• Use privacy mode when browsing – this prevents other people from seeing when you view their profile.
• Be careful with endorsements – Skill endorsements also showcase your profile to others.
• Manage notifications – Turn off notifications to contain how much activity is shown.
• Use anonymous job searching – You can privately signal openness to recruiters.

Key Takeaways

Here are the key takeaways for making your contact information private on LinkedIn:

• Change contact info visibility to “Only you” to hide email, phone, and address entirely.
• Keep current position and education fields visible to “Your connections” for professional purposes.
• Disable recruiter visibility if you want to limit unsolicited job contacts.
• Review settings regularly and use other privacy tools like anonymous browsing.
• Only connect with people you know well and trust your details with.
• Customize visibility settings based on your personal preferences and professional needs.

Conclusion

Keeping your personal contact information private on LinkedIn is an important way to maintain professional boundaries and protect your online presence. Take advantage of LinkedIn’s granular privacy controls to show the right level of detail to the right audience. Keep your direct contact info fully private, while allowing visibility of career details to trusted connections only. Review and adjust your settings periodically as your needs evolve over time. With the right privacy practices, you can benefit from LinkedIn professionally while maintaining a comfortable level of privacy.