There are a few main reasons why some LinkedIn users choose to make their profiles private:
1. Job Search Privacy
Many LinkedIn users make their profiles private while they are actively searching for a new job. When your profile is set to public, anyone can see that you are open to new job opportunities and recruiting. By making your profile private, you can quietly look for jobs without notifying your current employer or professional network that you are looking to make a move.
Job seekers often enable privacy settings like these:
- Hiding their current position so it looks like they are no longer with their employer
- Removing connections to co-workers and managers at their current company
- Changing their profile photo to anonymous or blurring their photo
That way recruiters can still find them in searches and view their full profile, but their network is kept in the dark that they are looking for new opportunities.
2. General Privacy Concerns
Some LinkedIn members want to control how much personal and professional information is publicly visible. They may be concerned about identity theft, cyberstalking, or simply don’t want the details of their career fully searchable.
To increase their privacy, they will:
- Make their profile photo anonymous
- Exclude their last name from their public profile
- Remove their work history and education details
- Not share their full list of skills or expertise
- Disconnect their LinkedIn profile from other social media accounts
This gives them more privacy while still allowing them to make professional connections and participate in groups on LinkedIn.
3. Avoiding Sales Outreach
Many sales and recruiting professionals search LinkedIn to identify potential leads and candidates. Keeping a private profile can help some users avoid unsolicited outreach.
For example, a software engineer may not want to be messaged by tech recruiters, or a marketing manager may want to avoid being pitched by various software vendors.
4. Current Employer Restrictions
Some companies prohibit employees from having public professional social media profiles or placing restrictions on what employees can include on them.
Industries like government, military, healthcare, finance, legal services often have strict social media policies for employees. Workers in these fields frequently keep their profiles private to comply with their employer’s rules.
5. Avoiding Contact with Certain Connections
In some cases, LinkedIn members want to control who can find and contact them on the platform. For example, they may wish to avoid former co-workers, old college classmates, ex-partners, etc. By privatizing their account, they can selectively connect with only people they want to network with professionally.
6. Inactive or Rarely Used Account
Many people create a LinkedIn profile but rarely use it or forget about it entirely. Their account remains private either because they never fully set it up, or they intended to use it more but simply never did.
Millions of registered LinkedIn members fall into this bucket – they have accounts but leave them minimized with privacy settings on by default.
7. Avoid Public Political Discussions
LinkedIn has many politically-oriented groups and discussions. Some professionals choose to keep their profile private to avoid being drawn into public political debates that could jeopardize their careers.
This is especially common among civil servants, political appointees, professors, and other roles viewed as impartial.
8. Part-Time Freelancing
People who freelance on the side of their regular job sometimes keep their LinkedIn profiles private and separate from their full-time professional persona. This allows them to network and find freelance/contracting opportunities without implicating their main career.
9. Premium Feature: Browsing Anonymously
LinkedIn Premium subscribers can set their profile to private and then use a feature that allows them to browse other profiles anonymously. This means they can access public profiles and search LinkedIn privately without other users being notified.
10. Keeping a Low Profile
Some well-known professionals prefer to maintain a low public profile and stay out of the limelight. Celebrities, ex-politicians, journalists, tech executives – there are many reasons public figures value their privacy on LinkedIn and beyond.
The site offers settings like private mode and anonymous browsing to help them network while limiting their public exposure and searchability.
Should You Keep Your LinkedIn Profile Public or Private?
There are benefits to both public and private LinkedIn profiles depending on your priorities and situation. Here are a few factors to consider:
- Public profiles allow you to be found more easily by recruiters and business contacts. This can enhance your career opportunities.
- Private profiles give you more control over your professional brand and online identity. This can be reassuring if you have privacy concerns.
- Public profiles help you expand your network by letting connections send requests. But they also increase unsolicited outreach.
- Private profiles limit unwanted messages but also reduce your networking and visibility to potential contacts.
- Public profiles showcase your capabilities fully. But private profiles let you selectively reveal information.
- Check your employer’s policy. Some require employee profiles to be private or anonymous.
Weigh your personal preferences, career goals, and company policies. You can always change your privacy settings later as needed.
While profiles set to private limit some LinkedIn functions, you can still participate in the core value of networking professionally. Focus on building quality connections that further your objectives versus quantity of contacts.
