How to do a confidential search on LinkedIn?

LinkedIn has become an invaluable tool for recruiting and job hunting. With over 722 million users worldwide, it’s no surprise that LinkedIn is many recruiters’ go-to platform for finding qualified candidates. However, sometimes you may want to research potential candidates without notifying them or your connections that you viewed their profile. This is where LinkedIn’s “confidential mode” comes in handy.

What is LinkedIn Confidential Mode?

LinkedIn’s confidential mode allows you to anonymously view member profiles without leaving a footprint. When you turn on confidential mode, your name and photo won’t show up in the “Who’s Viewed Your Profile” section of other members’ profiles. You can browse freely without worrying about accidentally signaling your interest to a potential candidate. It’s like browsing in invisible mode.

When Should You Use Confidential Mode?

Here are some examples of when confidential mode can come in handy:

• Researching potential candidates for an open position without revealing your interest
• Viewing profiles of competitors or business contacts without them knowing
• Checking out industry thought leaders and influencers without connecting with them
• Looking up someone you met socially without wanting them to know you checked them out on LinkedIn

The key benefit of confidential mode is being able to silently research people without indicating your interest to them or your network. This allows you to keep your research private while still leveraging the breadth of professional information available on LinkedIn.

How to Turn on Confidential Mode

Turning on confidential mode is simple:

1. Click on the “Me” icon in the top right corner
2. Select “Settings & Privacy” from the dropdown menu
3. Choose “Profile viewing options”
4. Under “Change your public profile viewing setting”, toggle “Private mode” to “On”

That’s it! Confidential mode will now be enabled. A moon icon will appear next to your profile photo indicating your private browsing mode is active. You can toggle confidential mode on and off as needed.

Limitations of Confidential Mode

While confidential mode allows silent browsing, there are some limitations:

• You won’t be anonymous to paid LinkedIn Recruiter account holders. They will still see you in “Who’s Viewed Your Profile.”
• You can only view up to 500 profiles per month in confidential mode on a free LinkedIn account.
• InMail messages you send will still show your name even with confidential mode on.
• People you are connected to will be notified if you view their profile in confidential mode.

So confidential mode does not make you completely invisible. Recruiters and your connections will still know you viewed them. For maximum confidentiality, avoid viewing connections’ profiles.

Best Practices for Confidential Browsing

Here are some tips to get the most out of LinkedIn’s confidential mode:

• Turn on private mode before searching for people to avoid accidentally signaling interest.
• Search for people by their name and location or company, rather than viewing profiles of those in your network.
• Use advanced search filters like industry, job title, and skills to find relevant profiles.
• Turn confidential mode on and off as needed rather than keeping it permanently enabled.
• Consider upgrading to a premium account if you need to browse more than 500 profiles per month.

Searching in Confidential Mode

Here is how searching works while confidential mode is enabled:

• You can search for people, companies, jobs, content, and groups as usual.
• Profile views of people outside your network will not show up in “Who’s Viewed Your Profile.”
• Your name and profile photo will not display on profiles you view.
• Filter searches by location, industry, job title, skills, etc. to find relevant profiles.
• People marked “Open to Work” can still see how many times their profile was viewed.

The key is searching strategically for profiles you want to anonymously view. Avoid searching connections directly if you want to remain completely confidential.

Connecting With People After Confidential Browsing

If you find someone you’d like to connect with after confidentially viewing their profile, you have a couple options:

• Turn off confidential mode – Their profile view will then show up normally before you connect. This signals you recently viewed them.
• Keep confidential mode enabled – Connect with them without indicating you already viewed their profile. Then turn confidential mode off later.
• Use an anonymous InMail account – You can send InMails anonymously even with confidential mode on.

Choose the right approach based on your specific relationship with the person. Often it’s best not to let them know you already viewed their profile.

Troubleshooting Confidential Mode

Here are some troubleshooting tips if you are having problems with confidential mode:

• Make sure private mode is toggled “On” in your profile viewing options.
• Toggle confidential mode off and back on if it seems not to be working.
• Try browsing in an incognito or private browser window.
• Clear your browser cookies and cache to remove any stuck settings.
• Log out of LinkedIn and log back in to refresh your session.
• Confirm your LinkedIn Recruiter account is expired if recruiters still see your profile views.
• Use LinkedIn’s Help Center if issues persist for troubleshooting.

Confidential mode generally works seamlessly. But occasionally glitches happen. Try the troubleshooting tips above or contact LinkedIn support if you continue having problems.

Conclusion

LinkedIn’s confidential mode provides a discreet way to browse profiles and conduct research without revealing your interest. It can be highly valuable for recruiter prospecting, checking out the competition, researching an industry, and other private browsing needs. Just keep its limitations in mind and use confidential mode ethically without viewing private connections’ profiles. Confidential mode lets you harness LinkedIn’s insider information while keeping your search activities hidden.