Your LinkedIn profile’s location field allows you to specify where you are based. This can be your city, state/province, country, or a combination of those. Your location acts as an identifier on your profile and also helps determine some of the content you see on LinkedIn. For example, sharing your location allows you to see jobs, people, and news relevant to your geographic area.
When considering what to put as your location on LinkedIn, there are a few factors to think about:
Be accurate
First and foremost, you’ll want your location to accurately reflect where you currently live and work. This allows opportunities (like jobs and connections) to find you more easily. Falsifying or embellishing your location will only cause confusion down the road.
Use a city and country combination
To get the right balance of specificity and privacy, it’s recommended to include your city and country as your location. This gives enough detail for networking purposes, without oversharing personal information. Some examples:
– Paris, France
– Austin, TX, United States
– Toronto, Canada
Just entering a country is often too vague for professional networking. So including your city provides helpful context without compromising privacy.
Consider using a region for common city names
If you live in a major metro area with a commonly used city name, you may also want to specify the state, province or region. For example:
– Springfield, IL, United States
– London, England, United Kingdom
– Victoria, BC, Canada
This extra detail helps differentiate you from the thousands of other LinkedIn members in places with the same city name.
Only enter remote if you’re fully location independent
If you exclusively work remotely and have no fixed geographic base, then entering “Remote” as your LinkedIn location is appropriate. But keep in mind most hiring managers prefer to see an actual location. So only put remote if you are truly willing and able to work anywhere.
You can customize your location for each audience
LinkedIn allows you to set a default location that appears on your public profile, as well as customized locations that only certain audiences will see. For instance, you might set your public profile location as your city and country, while sharing state/region details in your location visible only to recruiters. This lets you control how much location information different audiences can access.
When to enter a company address vs personal location
If you work for a company with multiple offices, you may be unsure whether to list your employer’s address or your personal location. Here are some guidelines around when to use each:
List your company’s office for your current position
For your present job, it’s customary to list the employer’s office location, rather than your personal address. This accurately represents where you fulfill your daily job responsibilities. Just be sure it’s the correct office if your company has multiple branches.
Use personal location for previous roles and education
Once you are no longer with an employer, switch the location for that position to your city and country at the time. Similarly, for degrees and certifications, list the city and country where you attended school or took the course. Do not keep old employers’ addresses on your profile after you have left.
Remote work exception
If you worked for a company remotely, you can list your accurate city, state/province, and country instead of the employer’s office. This transparently communicates it was a remote arrangement.
Contract work exception
If you were a contractor without a designated employer office, enter your personal location from that time period. This applies the location best representing where the work was done.
Should I list multiple locations?
As a LinkedIn user, you have a few options when it comes to incorporating more than one location on your profile:
1. Only use your current location
Listing just your present city and country is perfectly acceptable in most cases. This approach is clean and straightforward. It also ensures employers see where you are located now.
2. Rotate previous locations into the main location field
As you move, you can change your location to reflect each new city where you live and work. This method keeps a single location visible at all times.
3. Add past locations in the experience descriptions
For each position, you have the option to mention locations like “New York, NY” and “San Francisco, CA” within the experience descriptions themselves. This shows movement without cluttering the main location section.
4. List your most frequented places in the location
If you split your time more evenly between a couple prime locations, you may opt to list them together, such as “London, United Kingdom – Miami, FL.” This works best when you truly have strong ties to multiple areas.
5. Use all location fields available
You could provide your current location, previous locations visible to your network, and locations within position descriptions. This provides the most comprehensive location information to those viewing your profile. However, it may look cluttered to some.
Should I list international locations?
When setting your LinkedIn location, it’s recommend to always include the country along with cities that aren’t commonly recognized internationally. For example:
– Wellington, New Zealand
– Munich, Germany
– Oslo, Norway
While big cities like London, Tokyo and Paris are known globally, many hiring managers won’t immediately recognize the majority of city names without a country attached.
This allows them to understand at a glance where your location is situated in the world. It also helps LinkedIn serve you relevant content, recommendations and opportunities in that country.
The one exception is if you live in a major hub within the United States, United Kingdom or other country with very well known cities. In those cases, you may opt to exclude mentioning the country, like:
– New York, NY
– Manchester, UK
– Melbourne, AU
But when in doubt, it’s a smart idea to add the country name after your city for clarity.
How does location impact my LinkedIn activity and visibility?
Your LinkedIn location influences some of the platform’s recommendations and the visibility of your profile, including:
Job recommendations
The jobs advertised to you on LinkedIn are adjusted based on the location listed in your profile. Recruiters are also able to search for candidates within a target geography.
Content exposure
You will see more content in your LinkedIn feed related to your current geographic area – local news, companies and articles shared in your region.
Profile views
Listing your accurate city and country makes it easier for nearby professionals and recruiters to find and view your profile.
Featured as a suggested connection
Those in your geography are more likely to see your profile pop up as a suggested connection, which provides networking opportunities.
Search rankings
A properly localized profile signals to LinkedIn’s algorithms that you are an authority in your geographic area. This can boost how you rank in search.
So your LinkedIn location plays an important role in tailoring the platform to connect you with nearby opportunities and professionals.
Key takeaways
When entering your location on LinkedIn, here are some top tips to follow:
– Use your real city and country where you currently live and work. Don’t falsify or embellish it.
– For previous jobs, list the city and country from that time rather than past employers’ office addresses.
– Only use “Remote” as a location if you are fully location independent with no fixed base.
– Add region/state details for common city names to differentiate yourself.
– Including the country name is recommended, even for large well-known cities.
– You can rotate previous locations into your main profile location field as you move.
– Listing all frequented locations is okay if you truly split your time equally.
– Customize your location visibility for different audiences if desired.
Conclusion
Your LinkedIn location matters because it affects the opportunities and information you see on the platform. But it also requires some strategy, since you need to find the right balance between displaying useful professional context and maintaining personal privacy.
Generally speaking, your current city and country tend to be the ideal primary location details to share publicly on your profile. Beyond that, you can get selective with visibility settings and additional fields to expand on other locations that are relevant to your background and career trajectory.
With some thoughtful consideration given to accuracy, privacy and your intentions professional, the location section of your LinkedIn profile can be optimized to help connect you with the right people and possibilities. So be sure to give your location choice careful attention as you complete your profile.