Having a public LinkedIn profile can be beneficial for your career and job search, but also comes with some risks. Here are some key factors to consider when deciding whether to make your LinkedIn profile public or private:
Benefits of a Public Profile
Making your LinkedIn profile public allows you to:
- Be more easily found by recruiters and hiring managers searching LinkedIn
- Expand your professional network by connecting with new contacts
- Demonstrate your professional experiences, skills, accomplishments, recommendations etc. to attract career opportunities
- Establish yourself as an expert or thought leader in your industry by sharing content
- Increase your professional online presence and personal brand
Essentially, a public profile gives you greater visibility and reach for career development and job search purposes. According to LinkedIn, members with public profiles are about 30 times more likely to receive opportunities through LinkedIn.
Risks of a Public Profile
However, there are also some potential downsides to weigh:
- A public profile means your connections, experience, and other profile information is visible to anyone on the internet – including individuals and companies you may not necessarily want to be accessible to or associated with.
- It’s possible competitors could gain insight into your professional network and business relationships.
- Future employers may form judgments or make assumptions about you based on your public profile information and connections.
- You lose a degree of privacy and control over how accessible your profile is.
While it’s unlikely there are serious privacy risks, it’s sensible to be cautious about the type of information and connections you choose to display publicly.
Tips for Managing Public Profile Settings
You can take measures to get the benefits of a public profile while also protecting your privacy:
- Customize your public profile URL on LinkedIn to make it more professional.
- Carefully review all the sections visible on your public profile and remove or limit anything sensitive or private.
- Adjust your settings so you must approve any new connection requests before they are added.
- Set your current employment to “private” so it’s not displayed publicly without your consent.
- Use LinkedIn’s Do Not Broadcast feature for your profile changes.
Who Should Consider a Private Profile?
Here are some situations where maintaining a private profile may be advisable:
- If you are a high-level executive or hold sensitive business data a public profile could expose.
- If you work in a highly competitive or cutthroat industry and want to limit what connections and intel competitors can gather on you.
- If you are a doctor, therapist, or another profession where anonymity and confidentiality are very important.
- If you are seeking employment but do not want your current employer knowing.
- If you have concerns about your privacy and online security in general.
Alternatives to a Public Profile
If you decide a private profile is better for your circumstances, you can still maximize LinkedIn for your job search in other ways:
- Use LinkedIn’s Open Candidates feature to discreetly signal to recruiters you are open to new job opportunities.
- Join relevant LinkedIn Groups and establish your expertise by engaging in discussions.
- Follow and connect with key companies you are interested in to stay on their radar.
- Use advanced search to identify and connect with relevant hiring managers and recruiters.
- Publish LinkedIn posts to share your knowledge, perspectives, and career interests.
The Bottom Line
Here’s a quick summary of the key pros and cons to weigh when deciding if you should turn on LinkedIn public profile:
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Increased visibility and reach for career opportunities | Loss of privacy and control over who can access profile |
| Easier for recruiters and hiring managers to find you | More accessible to competitors or undesirable connections |
| Showcase your professional brand, experiences and accomplishments | Vulnerable to assumptions or judgments by employers |
| Expand your professional network and connections | Current employer may become aware you are job searching |
| Significantly boosts LinkedIn effectiveness for job search | Sensitive business or client data could be exposed |
Overall, it’s a personal decision that depends on your career circumstances, goals, priorities, and comfort with public exposure. If in doubt, start with a private profile and gradually expand your public presence as you see fit.
Conclusion
Making your LinkedIn profile public has definite advantages for increasing your professional visibility and opportunities. However, it also means sacrificing privacy and exposing your profile to the world. Evaluate your own situation carefully based on the pros and cons. Find the right balance for you between showcasing your professional brand publicly while still protecting sensitive information. If limiting public exposure, utilize other LinkedIn features to connect with the right people and positions. With the right privacy controls and thoughtful presentation, most professionals can benefit from showcasing their capabilities and achievements on a public LinkedIn profile.
