Open to opportunities? Here comes “Open Candidates”

Ever tried to job hunt on the quiet?

It’s not easy. These days, everyone is connected on LinkedIn – and if you so much as tweak the “Hobbies” section of your profile, everyone you’ve ever met suddenly knows about it. People may be actively searching your profile, or statuses about your new Krav Maga class might just ping up on their news feed – but the fact remains, social media is not exactly the place to go incognito.

So, it’s no wonder that employed people struggle to use tools like LinkedIn when they’re jobseeking. They’re terrified of pressing the wrong button and suddenly alerting all of their 503 connections that they’re on the job market.

But what if there was a way around this?

Well, now there is: LinkedIn’s brand new tool, Open Candidates.

LinkedIn regularly rolls out new features, but this has to be one of their best. Now, when you’re going undercover to look for a new job, you can privately let recruiters know you’re available – and any recruiter with LinkedIn’s RecruiterPro subscription (not as many as you might think, as it’s real pricey) can choose to be instantly alerted.

The best part? According to LinkedIn, it’s risk free – because employees in your current company will be automatically excluded from the heads-up. [Although, with our cynical heads on, we’re well aware that this would not prevent one company’s HR speaking with another to check whether any of their employees are looking for a new job]

When Open Candidates highlights your availability to relevant recruiters, it also flags up companies where you have a mutual connection, so you can use existing contacts to your advantage – a familiar face could be your ticket in!

And if the faces aren’t so familiar, you can go into the company records and virtually “meet the team”. Culture is a huge part of changing jobs, so any tool which gives you an advance taster of your potential workmates has got to be a winner.

So, hit the ‘Preferences’ tab on the LinkedIn Jobs page, fill in a few boxes about your ideal new role and await the approaches…

[NB: We have one of these! So, if you are job seeking – in the words of Liam Neeson – “we will find you…”]

Open to opportunities? Here comes “Open Candidates”