When you opt in to the new feature, called Open Candidate, recruiters are able to see that you are interested in potential opportunities. At the same time, LinkedIn will do its best to block your information from appearing to recruiters at your company or its subsidiaries.
When you opt in, you can select a few specifics about what type of job you would like, what city you want to work in, and write a short message to potential recruiters.
“It’s really a way for a person to signal to the recruiting community that they’re on the market and share a few things about what would be compelling to them,” says Dan Shapero, director of product management for LinkedIn Careers.
Though LinkedIn does its best to hide your information from recruiters at or affiliated with your company, Shapero notes that they can’t guarantee that it won’t be seen. Still, he says that early testing of the feature has been successful on all sides: so-called “open candidates” are more likely to be contacted by recruiters and recruiters are more likely to hear back from them.
Open Candidate is available to all LinkedIn users and can be turned on in the preferences section of your account.
