How To Keep Your LinkedIn Job Search Undetected While Currently Employed

Because it would suck to lose your current job before finding a new job.

This is a guest post by Chris Perry. If you’d also like to guest post here on JobMob, follow these guest post guidelines.

There is a lot of great advice out there for job seekers on how to use LinkedIn to build their personal brands and find new career opportunities.

Some of these tips include maintaining a 100% complete LinkedIn profile, building your network of connections, getting recommendations, sharing valuable and relevant content to enhance your personal brand, joining and contributing to industry-specific and job search LinkedIn groups, following companies, applying for opportunities via LinkedIn Jobs, and more.

However, I am often asked how professionals who are currently employed can leverage LinkedIn effectively, yet discreetly, without compromising their current job security.

Here are 5 critical steps to ensure your LinkedIn job search efforts are successful, yet go undetected by your current employers:

1. Stay Off the Feed

Whether you’re already active on LinkedIn with a 100% complete profile or you’re just getting started, the first thing to do is to change your privacy settings so that your activity is not automatically broadcast to your network in the news feed and so your network cannot see your activity feed on your profile. Here’s how:

1. Once signed in to your account, click on your name in the upper right-hand corner of the screen and click on “Settings” in the dropdown menu.
2. Find “Profile” in the bottom section of this “Settings” page and then “Privacy Controls” to the right.
3. First, click on “Turn on/off your activity broadcasts.” Un-check the box that says “Let people know when you change your profile, make recommendations, or follow companies.” Click the “Save changes” button.
4. Next, click on “Select Who Can See Your Activity Feed.” Set this to “Only You.” Click the “Save changes” button.

Note: This doesn’t hurt your overall visibility on LinkedIn, but just helps make your activity related to job searching more discreet to help protect you and your current job.

2. Don’t Openly Advertise Your Job Search

Hiding your activity from the news feed doesn’t make all of your LinkedIn activity totally undetectable. While this may seem obvious, be very careful not to openly advertise your job search. Here are some examples to consider:

• DO NOT post any LinkedIn status updates that would imply that you are dissatisfied with your current job and/or looking for a new job opportunity. DO post status updates that demonstrate your expertise and interests and that support your personal brand.
• DO NOT include language anywhere in your profile implying that you are dissatisfied with your current job and/or looking for a new job opportunity. DO leverage your profile as a selling document for you and your personal brand by including your accomplishments, skills and more.
• DO NOT post anything openly related to your job search in LinkedIn Answers or in LinkedIn Groups, especially those related to job search. This doesn’t mean you can’t participate in these places. It just means you should focus your participation and contributions on building your personal brand in your area of expertise and should message people of interest directly and thus, discreetly.
• DO NOT show all of your groups on your profile. When joining LinkedIn groups related to job search or any groups you don’t want people from your current employer to see, go immediately to the group after joining, click on the “More” tab and click on “Your Settings” in the dropdown menu. Under “Visibility Settings,” un-check “Display the group logo on your profile.”
• DO NOT ask your current manager or colleagues for LinkedIn recommendations. You can ask previous managers and colleagues, but just be careful when they also work for the same employer. You can always say, “I just wanted to ask you for your feedback before too much time had passed since we had worked together.”
• DO NOT display the optional Job Seeker badge on your profile if you choose to pay for a premium LinkedIn account.
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3. Be Strategically Visible

While you don’t want current co-workers to see your job search activity, you do want potential employers, recruiters and hiring managers to be able to find you, see your profile and consider you for new jobs.
Therefore, you will first want to ensure your public profile is fully visible in LinkedIn and search engine results. Here’s how:

1. Once signed in to your account, click on your name in the upper right-hand corner of the screen and click on “Settings” in the dropdown menu.
2. Find “Profile” in the bottom section of this “Settings” page and then “Privacy Controls” to the right.
3. Under “Privacy Controls,” click on “Edit your public profile.”
4. Find “Customize Your Public Profile” on the right-hand side.
5. Select “Make my public profile visible to everyone.” Check the boxes for all the profile content you want to allow others to search for and see. Your settings will be saved automatically.

Second, because other LinkedIn users can see who has viewed their profile, you need to consider how you show up here depending on whose profiles you are viewing. If you’re viewing your current co-workers’ profiles to see how they look, you might want to make yourself show up anonymous; however, if you are looking up recruiters or managers at target companies, you may want to make yourself show up with full information to prompt them to look at your profile. Either way, here’s how:

1. Once signed in to your account, click on your name in the upper right-hand corner of the screen and click on “Settings” in the dropdown menu.
2. Find “Profile” in the bottom section of this “Settings” page and then “Privacy Controls” to the right.
3. Under “Privacy Controls,” click on “Select what others see when you’ve viewed their profile.”
4. Select “Your name and headline” to be fully represented or select “You will be totally anonymous.” Click the “Save changes” button.

Tips 4,5, and complete article

5 Tips to Refresh Your LinkedIn Profile

So maybe you sent your youngster off with a new backpack and a thermos. Maybe you shipped your college student off with a few huge suitcases. For you, however, it’s time to get back to the matter at hand – succeeding at work (or finding work) and letting social media help you.

Now is the time to embrace new opportunities to learn, to network, and to make new connections. All with just a few changes and updates to your LinkedIn profile.

Here are five things you can do – all while you drink your morning coffee or sit on a conference call – to get your LinkedIn profile ready to make the grade.

1) Your profile should be a dynamic digital representation of who you are in your professional world. That means it needs to change, grow and develop with you. Why not take a few minutes to refresh your profile, add new positions, interests, even work and volunteer affiliations? Finally, add a short personal statement – two sentences – on your “vision for success” for your organization or your role as a co-worker.

2) Do a Keyword/Search Engine Optimization makeover. Industry “buzz words” change. New areas in your field of expertise demand more attention. Even some long-held terms and concepts fall out of favor. You don’t want your profile to be the tweed jacket with elbow patches in a business casual world. Today, update your profile to show you are staying current in your field. The question to ask: when people put in key search terms for your job or industry, will your profile pop up?

3) Brag, even just a little. LinkedIn has added many new categories for your personal profile. Don’t be shy. Add in your honors, awards, certifications, projects, publications, and more. Use links if your work is posted in industry journals or on your company’s website.

Tips 4,5, and complete article

How Heroes Should Be Using Linkedin

There are an inordinate number of fluff pieces “teaching” those in transition out of the military (or already out) how to use LinkedIn for job search. This won’t be one of them.
While it would be great if all military personnel had a LinkedIn profile from the time they entered service (not sure if the respective branches would like this idea), at the very least each of you should consider creating one the moment you put in your EAS papers. It doesn’t have to include the grandiose, tell-all content the “career experts” instruct you to have (I’d include a link or two but there are so many and as far as I can tell they all say the same things) but should include some key “identifiers” of your time in such as:

1. The recruiting station that put you in the service (if you can remember that);
2. Your first “Camp” – as well as all subsequent “Camps”;
3. Your “Tours”;
4. Your chains of commands (you’ll see why in a bit):

• Air Force: Base, Wing, Unit…
• Army: Divisions, Brigades, Battalions, Companies, Platoons, Squads…
• Coast Guard: District, Division, Unit…
• Marines: Regiment, Battalion, Companies…
• Navy: Command, Fleet… (don’t expect too many folks to say they’re part of SEAL Team 6 – remember, it doesn’t exist)

5. Your duties and “accomplishments” for each (I’d consider not mentioning “kills” anywhere in your LinkedIn profile – those who haven’t served or those who don’t have a solid connection to the military can be a bit squeamish);
6. Honors and Awards: List all of your military accolades.
7. Summary: This is the toughest part to write because many of you are transitioning out – and you really don’t know what you want to do. That’s fine…do you really believe many new college grads feel any different about their career direction? Yet what you do know – and I’ve spoken to enough folks who have transitioned out to know this is true – is whether:

• You like to work with your hands;
• You like to work with your mind;
• You prefer Coke over Pepsi (use other comparisons too);
• You prefer Ford over Toyota;
• You buy or use a specific company’s products or services (make a list)

We’ll return to this list a bit later on – but you’ll see why I’m suggesting such a granular detailing of your service (just a pre-FYI, the Summary might be the hardest part of your LinkedIn profile to write).
The bottom line about LinkedIn is that it’s a tool to help you connect to people who are either like you (or were once like you) and who might be able to connect you to people who are perhaps more like you  – and finally to people who are in direct position to help you get into a company – or profession – of your liking.
Let’s see how someone transitioning out of the Army might use LinkedIn to make a BIG difference in their career search:
(incidentally, noticed I didn’t write “post military”; for some, the process of “finding” a career might actually lead you BACK into the military)
My Dad’s an original soldier in 10^th Mountain Division – I’m talking WWII original (you might see why I’m using the Army as an example).  The 10^th is the most deployed Division in the Army – so let’s use them as an example of how you might use LinkedIn to develop your network.
Once you’ve logged in to your LinkedIn account:

1. Click on “Advanced” next to the People box (upper right side).
2. In the “Keywords” box, type in: “10th mountain division” OR “tenth mountain division” (with the quotes – notice how only OR is capitalized)
3. Click on “Search”

1,173 people on LinkedIn with some connection to the Mountaineers…
You’re probably thinking, “I don’t know these people – and even more, why they would they want to help me?”
Because you share a common bond; do not for a single second think otherwise. My soon-to-be-89-year-old Dad goes weekly to the VA hospital near Ft. Hamilton for treatment and when he sees other – and far younger – 10^th soldiers, the walls come down and they’re yapping away like they’ve known each other for eons. Shoot – he’ll even sing the original – and highly bawdy – 10^th song to these folks. They all laugh and talk about battles, guns, life…
So start looking at the profiles of the 1,173 people and note the ones who were part of the 10^th but also live in an area where you might want to live…for example, Chicago, IL:

1. Go back to the results page (the page with the 1,173 results);
2. In the “Postal Code” box, type in “60607” and select “50 Miles” in the “Within” box

17 people live in a 50 mile radius around Chicago…
Connect with all of these folks and ask them if they wouldn’t mind being Mentors to a transitioning Mountaineer. When you do connect, I know you’ll play “20 Questions” with each person – and gain a very solid networking buddy.
Just so you don’t think I’m being biased to one branch over another, run the same top search if you’re a Marine:

1. Click on “Advanced” next to the People box (upper right side).
2. In the “Keywords” box, type in: (marines OR USMC) AND (“Force Recon” OR “Force Reconnaissance”) (with the quotes and parentheses; notice how OR and AND are capitalized)
3. Click on “Search”

347 people on LinkedIn with some connection to Marines who were part of Force Recon…

More Tips, Examples, and complete RecruitingInferno article

Starting a LinkedIn Group to Grow Your Network

BY TED PRODROMOU 

In his book Ultimate Guide to LinkedIn for Business, author Ted Prodromou describes how to best to leverage the networking site as a business tool. In this edited excerpt, the author details how to start and manage groups, a smart way to grow your online community.

LinkedIn Groups are an easy way for you to start an online community for your company. If you already have a lot of customers and prospects who areLinkedIn members, starting a LinkedIn Group for them is a smart thing to do.

Before you start your own group, you need to determine if you are willing to make the time commitment to make the group a success. Starting a group is easy, but growing it and keeping it active can take a lot of work, especially in the beginning. I highly recommend you create a team of people who can share in the management and promotion of your group.

The topics you choose to be the focus of group discussions will determine your group's appeal. Research topics within your niche that generate interest and choose the top two or three as the basis for your group.

When you start a new group you will need to fill out a profile that includes a description of the group, which includes keywords that will help to generate interest. Look at some popular LinkedIn groups and see how they worded their descriptions.

LinkedIn offers many options for configuring how your group will function in the "group settings" section under "manage." It's important to consider all of these when configuring the "group settings."

Make sure to check the "enable the discussions" box and "news features," which is on by default. You have the option to conduct group polls and display promotions and jobs, and to allow your group members to do the same. I recommend only allowing moderators and managers to use these functions until you get to know the group members.

You can also temporarily moderate new group members, new LinkedIn members and members with few or no connections who are usually spammers.

If someone is new to LinkedIn or has few or no LinkedIn connections, I wouldn't approve their membership because they wouldn't be able to provide much value. Once they become established on LinkedIn, they will understand how groups work and be able to contribute. The only time I would admit a new LinkedIn member is if I knew the person, or someone I trusted recommended them.

You have two membership options with your group. You can automatically approve all members if you want your group open to everyone, or you can keep your group closed so everyone needs to be approved.

From my experience, open groups that serve large audiences can become unfocused if the moderator doesn't participate actively. A good group manager can keep the group focused on a topic by starting new discussions, featuring popular, relevant discussions and privately contacting members who are posting discussions that are off-topic. It also helps to have multiple moderators for a large, open group.

More Advice, Tips, and Complete Entrepreneur Article

5 Important LinkedIn Red Flags You’ll Wish You’d Considered

by Dawn Rasmussen

I just saw a great blog post on how LinkedIn can cause problems at work, and it got me thinking that there are some things that job seekers should be aware of in addition to the excellent points mentioned in that article:

Sudden Flurry of Updates Tells Your Network Something’s Afoot

Every time you update one area of your profile, everyone in your network is updated. So imagine if you really start tinkering with your profile in earnest… that means there’s activity going on… and that you are cleaning up your act, possibly preparing for some action. Instead: take the profile off public visibility, update it with everything you intend to change, then make it visible again to avoid multiple updates. Better yet: regularly update your profile with one thing at a time, perhaps once per week. If updates are constant and regular, there are no red flags.

Reasons to Be Contacted

If you include “Looking for job opportunities” or anything that implies an active job search, you could be informing your employer indirectly that you are anticipating a change. If you are employed, keep your reasons to be contacted business-related only.

Using Your Work Email Address to Register

So you have a robust network, lots of recommendations, and everything is humming along. Except you just lost your job as well as your company email address. Guess what? You could get locked out of your account if your employer decides to exploit this and changes the password on your LinkedIn account too. It would be a whole world of pain trying to get logged back in – so the point here is: Take your account registrations OFFLINE to a personal email account. You won’t regret it as you will always have control of who logs in… YOU!

Tips 4,5, and complete article

LinkedIn Profile Quick Tip #3: Turn Off Activity Broadcasts

BY J.T. O'DONNELL

It’s common to fuss over your LinkedIn profile. Just as people spend way too much time tweaking their resumes, many job seekers obsess over their LinkedIn profiles – and this can hurt your job search. Here’s why…

Tip of the day: Turn off your activity broadcasts.

Inside the settings of your LinkedIn account is a “Turn on/off activity broadcasts” option. You should make sure it’s turned off when you are making changes. Otherwise, every time you make a change, everyone (yes, EVERYONE) in your LinkedIn network is getting an update that you made a change and what it is.

Do that enough times and it’s a dead giveaway that you are A) obsessing over your profile, and B) have a lot of time on your hands. It’s better to keep the obsession to yourself.

More tips and complete CareerRealism article

Facebook Won’t Like This LinkedIn News

• BY RYAN TATE

LinkedIn might be the uptight suit of social networks, but it seems it wants some of the casual, after-hours club flair that is Facebook. Witness the news LinkedIn will add notifications, a productivity-undermining feature that lets you know when someone views your profile or “likes” something you’ve shared.

The notifications, which consist of icons and color highlighting in LinkedIn’s navigation bar, ape a very similar feature on Facebook. LinkedIn rolled out the notifications on its website, but says they will soon come to its iPhone, iPad, and Android software.

It seems odd for a workplace social network to deploy such an intentionally distracting feature. “You’ll never miss a comment or update to an engaging discussion about a news article or trending topic on LinkedIn,” the company says of notifications – as though that’s a good thing.

In some cases, such office diversions can be a good thing, at least according to the thinking behind recent social enterprise acquisitions, like Twitter-aping Yammer (sold to Microsoft for $1.2 billion) and Facebook-aping Rypple (sold to Salesforce.com for a reported $60 million). Big American corporations are working hard to become more innovative amid competition from well-funded startups at home and low-cost peers abroad; social networks are seen as ways for clever staff to quickly cut across divisional walls, management hierarchies, and other bureaucratic obstacles to unlock hidden stores of knowledge or implement new ideas.

In other words, Linkedin is trying to graduate from a simple resumé-and-headhunting site into something big — Facebook big - Read the rest of the WIRED article to find out more.

Reputation Management Tips: Using LinkedIn for Personal Branding

by Lida Citroen

I never used to advocate a universal marketing platform for all professionals seeking to build their personal brand. That has changed, as LinkedIn has become the premier business tool for contemporary professionals wishing to build visibility and engage in reputation management.


When LinkedIn was developed in 2003, it was the place professionals went to look for a job. If your boss found you on LinkedIn, that was a bad sign!  Today, LinkedIn is a business tool used for research, connection, information and deal flow, and professional positioning of personal brands.

I conduct workshops and presentations around the U.S. on building powerful personal brands using many of the dynamic social media tools (LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.). Below are some of the highlights from my program on LinkedIn as it relates to reputation management.

1. Consider your LinkedIn profile as a marketing piece. Use every tool and feature to create an impression of your experience, passion, interests and goals. This is marketing and positioning. Use it!
2. Get very clear on your target audience. Simply pursuing “hiring managers” is not specific enough. Be clear about what kind of hiring managers, what kind of companies, where they are and what they are looking for. Then, you can tailor your personal profile content to be consistent with their goals and needs.
3. Do not just put your resume up on LinkedIn (see point #1). Customize each section to meet your goals and attract your target audience. Be specific about what you’re looking for, what you enjoy, what you’re good at and why people value you.
4. Seek specific recommendations. They give viewers an idea of how others have viewed your work. But don’t leave them up to chance. When someone offers to give you a recommendation, suggest key words, phrases or specific experience for them to comment on. This is your marketing piece, and you should direct it.
5. Consider Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Populate your profile with key words and phrases that increase your likelihood of being found when a prospect searches for you. In my case, I use two terms, “Reputation Management” and “Personal Branding for Executives” often in my profile. If you search for “Reputation Management” in the “People” search, check out how I rank amongst 190,000 results!

Tips 6-10 and complete article

LinkedIn, Unemployment And The Online Job Search

Arthur Delaney Become a fan

arthur@huffingtonpost.com


When Mark W. Riley of Little Rock, Ark., became unemployed for the first time in two decades, he ventured into the Great Online.

"Once I found out I was going to be laid off in April of last year, I realized how much job-hunting had changed in 20 years," Riley said. "The big advantage now is that in order to give people the opportunity to see my work ... I'm able now to put all that stuff online."

Riley, a 54-year-old marketing expert, created accounts on LinkedIn and YouTube, where he uploaded commercial spots he's created for educational institutions, grocery stores and political candidates.

"I had an interview yesterday and the interviewer had already taken a look at my portfolio, based on the links I'd put up," Riley said. "So that was a big improvement over what it was like 20 years ago. [Back then] I either had to open up a big notebook or ask, 'Have you got a VCR?'"

Riley's doing what job counselors (and even the government) tell unemployed people to do: Get online. It's a phenomenon LinkedIn cofounder Allen Blue said will revolutionize the economy and empower jobseekers.

"The world of employment, the world of how the economy functions, is undergoing radical change right now because of big data," Blue said in an interview at The Huffington Post's "What Is Working" jobs expo in Tampa, Fla. (More than two dozen companies and nonprofits have partnered with HuffPost to search for ways to reduce unemployment. LinkedIn is pitching in with an online forum and data on job openings.)

"Within a few years there’s going to be tremendous perception of what’s actually happening at all levels of the economy and we’ll actually be able to see it clearly, really, for the first time in history," Blue said. "The great thing about it is that that power’s actually going to be in the hands of the individual job seeker."

Read The Rest Of The Huffington Post Article