If you’re happily employed, the last thing you probably think of is updating your career interests on LinkedIn. Even more, you might even think that you don’t need your profile anymore. However, even if you are not looking for a job, remember that you still need your LinkedIn profile. If you don’t have it, you practically don’t exist in the professional world.

But, it’s not enough just to have a LinkedIn profile. You need to carefully tend to it and keep it updated. You need to write a resume, maybe even a resume that crosses borders. Don’t forget that a professional-looking photo is important. Also, you need to add your portfolio and make relevant connections. But, unfortunately, all of this is for nothing if you’re not visible to recruiters.

Every serious professional should have a LinkedIn profile.

Become visible by updating your career interests on Linkedin

If you use this feature to your advantage, your visibility will be significantly improved. For this reason, this might be one of the most important things to do when setting up your profile. The recruiters who use LinkedIn Recruiter Service will have have an easier way of finding you and you’ll get more job opportunities.

To do this, at the top of your page, go to View profile mode. And then, when on the Profile’s Dashboard, click on Career Interests. Finally, you have to do the following steps:

Where it says “Let recruiters know that you’re open”, switch the button to on, since the default is off Next, you have a place for writing a note. This should tell recruiters why they should hire you, so do your best to give an answer to this in 300 characters. After scrolling down, you get to fill in some more information about your career interests. Try to have in mind that you should choose a lifestyle, not just a career. Basically, choose a job that you’re passionate about and that fits your lifestyle. With that in mind, answer the following questions.

Where are you in your job search?

You have four available options for answering this one. While you should choose “Actively applying”, the other options are “Casually looking”, “Not looking, but open to offers” and “Not open to offers”.

Note that in privacy settings you can choose that your current recruiter doesn’t see this information. However, be very careful. It’s not guaranteed that your recruiters won’t find out for sure. And, as a consequence, you might end up losing your job.

What kind of job are you looking for?

The rest of the questions are regarding the job titles you are considering. Also, there are questions about the most basic job preferences. For example, about the preferred location of your new job. Keep in mind that you can add multiple locations, in order to answer this question. Also, there’s even a question about your preferred ways of commuting.

Naturally, there’s a question whether you’d like to work remotely, and what are the types of jobs you’re open to. For the latter one, aside from Full-time and Part-time, you can choose Contract, Internship, Volunteer and Temporary.

Finally, when giving the answer to the preferred industries, try to choose no more than 3 options. The platform allows you to choose more, but you want to give off the impression of a focused candidate.

A word of caution

A reason to be careful when using this feature is that your current recruiter might find out. And employers don’t really like to find out that employees are looking for another job. The reason might be because of an employee working on a sensitive project with confidential information. Also, they don’t like hearing that employees are paying attention to something else, rather than their own job.

There’s a reason to be careful even with privacy settings. The reason is that some recruiters aren’t directly working for your employer. As a result, this is not a connection that LinkedIn is able to see.

In order to prevent this, on the platform, go to your current job and click on the logo of the employer. Check the page of the company and see if it’s your employer. While LinkedIn will not allow your employer to have this information, there’s not a guarantee.

You don’t want your current employer to know about your job hunt.

Keep in mind, however, that there’s another possible disadvantage. By updating your settings this way, the recruiters will be able to flag you as an active candidate. But, some employers or recruiters don’t think too highly of these candidates. They might not choose a “desperate” candidate. Especially if the candidate has been “desperate” for a while. And this is the information that they’ll have. They’ll be able to see how long you’ve been looking for a job while working at the same time.

So, who are the recruiters looking for? They might be looking for candidates with jobs, but who aren’t looking for a new job. It’s a paradox, but it’s true. This might be hard to grasp when you’re depressed because of your job. And you want to motivate yourself by exploring opportunities.

You need to realize something: when updating your career interests on LinkedIn, you’re giving away certain information. It’s good to know that the recruiters with LinkedIn Recruiter service will be able to see:

That you’re open to new job opportunities In addition, they’ll know how long you’ve been actively looking for a new job Job titles, roles, and preferred industries Type of job arrangement you prefer

With this visibility, you should write a perfect resume and do your best to prepare for the interviews. Also, don’t rely solely on some Linkedin features. Instead, use the whole platform and follow the good old rules for job hunting. In time and with some luck, a good offer will show up.

So, is it worth updating your career interests on LinkedIn? Even with all the possible risks in mind, it’s definitely worth it. The added visibility will give you a chance for more job opportunities. And hopefully, one of them will be perfect for you.