LinkedIn is the No. 1 professional networking tool on the internet. It’s a great way to keep in touch with key contacts and stay up to date with your professional accomplishments. According to a Jobvite survey conducted in 2014, a whopping 94% of recruiters who were polled used LinkedIn to assess potential job candidates.
In fact, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner claims that the site lists over 6.5 million jobs, making it the go-to place for job-seekers.
It’s obvious, then, that it’s worth having a LinkedIn profile if you’re serious about your career — particularly if you’re looking to move on from your current position. It’s also a no-brainer to keep your profile updated at all times so that you can be found by recruiters looking for people with your skills and experience.
But did you know that every time you make a change to your LinkedIn profile, all your connections receive a notification? Being on the receiving end of all those notifications can be highly annoying — especially if you have a lot of very active connections. And frankly, I don’t want my every move watched by others, some of whom I don’t personally know. I also don’t want to be spamming my friends every time I decide to change my profile picture or update my work preferences.
Even more seriously, constant notifications of changes to your LinkedIn profile could jeopardize your current job.
Imagine that you have had enough of your current job and are on the hunt for something better. You might get in touch with recruiters and contacts to see what possibilities are out there. You will also want to update your LinkedIn profile with details of your current job. Many of us are connected to our bosses and colleagues on LinkedIn.
Now imagine that they all get notified of your updates to your LinkedIn profile. What is your boss going to think about this? They might smell a rat and realize that you’re looking for another position. It’s not a good idea at all.
To avoid being responsible for all that spam — and to keep what you do as well as when you do it privately — you need to turn off your notifications. To do this, take the following steps:
Turning off notifications on LinkedIn
- Log into your LinkedIn account.
- Hover over your name on the upper-right corner of the page. A dropdown menu should appear. Click on the ‘settings’ option.
- Scroll to the bottom of the page. Click through to the privacy controls section and click ‘turn on/off your activity broadcasts.’
- You will now see a small pop-up that will let you check or uncheck a box that gives people updates. Uncheck the box and save your changes. You have now ensured that every change you make on your LinkedIn profile will not be broadcast to your connections. You can safely make changes without everyone being notified.
COMMENTS