LinkedIn is a popular social media platform used mainly for professional networking and career development. One of the features of LinkedIn is the ability for other users to share and react to major life events and milestones, such as work anniversaries. However, sometimes LinkedIn may not prompt users to share an anniversary or display shared anniversary posts to your connections. There are a few potential reasons why LinkedIn didn’t share your anniversary.
You did not share your anniversary
The most straightforward reason LinkedIn did not share your anniversary is because you did not proactively share it on the platform. LinkedIn will not automatically know about or share professional milestones unless the user indicates it. Here are some things to check if you expected your anniversary to be shared but it wasn’t:
- Did you post about your anniversary in a new post, story, or update to your profile?
- Did you use the LinkedIn anniversary tool or include the anniversary frame when posting?
- Did you only share your anniversary privately with connections and not publicly post it?
Unless you explicitly share an anniversary through one of LinkedIn’s tools, it has no way to know the milestone took place or share it for you. So the lack of an anniversary share is usually because the user did not share it themselves.
You did not opt-in to anniversary reminders
LinkedIn gives users the option to opt into email reminders about upcoming work anniversaries. If you did not choose this option in your account settings, LinkedIn would not have sent you any reminders to share your anniversary. To enable anniversary emails:
- Go to your LinkedIn profile
- Click “View profile”
- Go to the “Profile” tab
- Scroll down and click “Share anniversary update”
- Toggle “Get LinkedIn anniversary reminders” to “on”
Once enabled, you will get emails a few weeks before your anniversary date prompting you to share an update. Turning on reminders makes it less likely you’ll forget to share it yourself.
Your anniversary date is not accurate
In order for LinkedIn to recognize your work anniversary and send reminders, your employment history dates must be accurate. Here are some things to check:
- Is your employment history on your profile correct, with accurate start and end dates?
- If you have multiple roles within the same company, do you have each listed separately?
- Does your “Work Experience” section reflect job changes, including internal promotions and transfers?
If your dates are outdated or roles are missing, LinkedIn’s algorithm can incorrectly calculate your anniversary. Thoroughly reviewing your work history can help ensure LinkedIn recognizes the right anniversary.
You changed positions or companies
LinkedIn commemorates anniversaries based on your tenure within a specific position and company. If you changed roles or companies recently, it can reset the anniversary date calculation. Things to consider:
- Did you change companies in the past year? Your service anniversary would reset.
- Did you change positions within the same company? Your time in role was reset.
- Are you recognizing an anniversary based on aggregated tenure across various roles?
Anniversary recognition is position-specific. Changing companies or positions resets the calculation, so a long total tenure could still produce no anniversary if you recently switched roles.
Privacy settings are restricting sharing
LinkedIn allows users to control what information is visible to your network. If your privacy settings are strict, it can prevent sharing anniversary posts. Here are some settings to verify:
- Go to account Privacy & Settings
- Review profile visibility settings
- Make sure “Share profile edits with your network” is enabled
- Confirm anniversary updates are enabled under “Share job changes and milestones”
Having these settings too restrictive can result in your anniversary or anniversary posts not being visible. Adjusting sharing and visibility can allow proper anniversary sharing.
A glitch or bug is preventing sharing
In some rare cases, a technical issue on LinkedIn’s end could prevent anniversary sharing. This is uncommon, but things to try include:
- Clearing cookies and cache from your LinkedIn website and app
- Logging out and back into your LinkedIn account
- Trying from a different device or web browser
- Contacting LinkedIn customer support
While glitches are unlikely, trying these basic troubleshooting steps can help identify and resolve potential bugs preventing your anniversary from being shared correctly.
How to Share LinkedIn Anniversaries
Once you’ve ruled out the common issues above, sharing your LinkedIn work anniversary is easy. Here are some best practices:
- Compose an update or new post about your milestone tenure
- Use the LinkedIn anniversary sticker or frame when posting
- Share appreciation for colleagues, mentors, and leadership
- Reflect on accomplishments, learnings, and memories
- Include photos, videos, or images from work events
- Set the visibility to public to maximize shares and reactions
Follow these tips when crafting your anniversary post to maximize the impact! Be sure to also congratulate colleagues on their own anniversaries.
Why Share a LinkedIn Anniversary?
Posting about your LinkedIn work anniversaries has many benefits:
- Commemorates your commitment, growth, and contributions
- Keeps your network updated on milestones in your career journey
- Surfaces memories and relationships with colleagues
- Acts as a celebration of your skills, knowledge, and experience
- Demonstrates your professional capabilities to connections
Marking major work anniversaries allows you to reflect while showcasing your achievements. The anniversary post itself also gets shared which expands your visibility and reach.
Key Takeaways
Here are the key takeaways on how to troubleshoot and share LinkedIn anniversaries:
- Proactively post anniversary updates, don’t wait for LinkedIn to automatically share
- Confirm your LinkedIn profile work history is accurate and complete
- Adjust privacy settings to allow sharing milestones with your network
- Leverage LinkedIn tools like anniversary stickers and frames
- Troubleshoot technical issues like cookies, browser caching, etc.
- Share appreciatively, highlight learnings, memories, and relationships
Following these best practices will ensure your professional milestones are celebrated properly on LinkedIn. Anniversary posts are a great way to engage your network while advancing your personal brand and career.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did some connections see my anniversary post but others didn’t?
How widely your anniversary post is shared depends on your settings. If visibility is set to “Connections only”, it will only appear to your 1st degree connections. Setting it to public expands the audience. LinkedIn’s algorithms also control visibility and may not show it to your entire network.
Can I retweet an old anniversary post instead of creating a new one?
Yes, you can retweet or reshare previous anniversary posts instead of creating new updates each year. However, fresh content referencing new memories, accomplishments, etc. tends to get better engagement.
Does LinkedIn send anniversary reminders for personal milestones too?
Currently, LinkedIn anniversary reminders only apply to professional work milestones, not personal life events like birthdays or wedding anniversaries.
Is there a way to customize or change the anniversary stickers?
LinkedIn’s anniversary stickers are standardized and cannot be customized or modified. However, you can supplement the stickers with your own photos, images, or visuals.
Can I share an anniversary for previous jobs, not just my current one?
Yes, you can post about anniversaries and tenures from past jobs also. Your profile work history enables LinkedIn to recognize those milestones too.
Conclusion
LinkedIn work anniversaries are meaningful milestones to share with your network. By proactively posting anniversary updates, verifying your profile details, adjusting settings, and troubleshooting issues, you can ensure important career achievements are highlighted appropriately. Anniversary posts help strengthen connections while advancing your personal brand and career development.