LinkedIn has launched a premium feature called “Open Candidates” that allows a job hunter to tell the world they are open to new opportunities–except without signaling their intentions to a current employer or recruiters associated with their current employers.


In announcing the service, LinkedIn says:

  • Who among us hasn’t tried to find work without our boss finding out?
  • (You can) privately indicate to recruiters on LinkedIn without worrying.
  • LinkedIn will hide the Open Candidates signal from recruiters at your company or affiliated company recruiters.

Wow! Those are some bold claims to promise individuals who are doing something that could have a major impact on their careers.

While we are fans of LinkedIn, we can’t forget that it announced earlier this year a breach of 117 million passwords. And we’ve talked to many SmallBusiness.com users who’ve learned the hard way that it can sometimes be a challenge to set all the privacy features LinkedIn has. (There are many great features, but they are often obscure and don’t always have intuitive labels. We have an article on that topic).

This new feature may be perfect for you, as a recruiter or as a candidate.

Just, beware.

Open Candidates is available in the U.S, U.K., Canada and Australia on the desktop and mobile Web for now and will be rolling out globally soon.


Cartoon | Thinkstock

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