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“The most important purple flag on LinkedIn is the ‘open to work’ image.” This sizzling take is dropped at you by former Google recruiter Nolan Church.
And the dialogue continues. As I flick through my LinkedIn feed, there are nonetheless ongoing conversations concerning the #OpenToWork profile picture body.
Must you use it? Does it work? Is there even a small probability it could make you look determined or unoriginal as a job seeker?
Featured Voices:
Sure, #OpenToWork has potential.
However it’s not the one technique job seekers needs to be utilizing to land a brand new position.
“In my expertise, it looks as if the #OpenToWork body is much like sporting a t-shirt that claims ”Open to Work” — it’s going to solely get seen in case you make your self seen,” says Ramona Sukhraj, Principal Advertising and marketing Author at HubSpot.
Sukhraj was not too long ago within the job market herself.
“It‘s a visible assist that makes it clear you’re open to employment conversations on the platform, however in case you don‘t put up, have interaction, or make your self seen to the best teams, the trouble is generally in useless. So in case you’re going so as to add it, be ready to be energetic.”
In different phrases, it’s not sufficient so as to add the picture body, sit again, and anticipate the job gives to roll in.
The Recruiter Perspective
Katelynne Bazile, World Staff Lead, Rising Expertise Programming & Operations at HubSpot, shared the identical sentiment as Sukhraj once I requested concerning the effectiveness of LinkedIn picture frames.
“Whereas the #OpenToWork and #Hiring picture frames initially served a helpful goal by serving to people simply establish these searching for or providing job alternatives, the present job market’s volatility and excessive variety of people utilizing these frames have diminished their effectiveness,” says Bazile.
“Because the frames have develop into extra prevalent because of elevated layoffs, they could not have the impression they as soon as did when first launched.”
And she or he makes a great level about layoffs. To date in 2024, over 74,000 staff have been laid off, together with almost 300 tech corporations.
Unpacking the Scorching Takes
Regardless, Bazile mentioned she would not categorize the #OpenToWork picture body as “a sign of desperation or dangerous to job-seeking candidates.”
Although she does recommend that there are higher methods to make your self stand out.
“Personally, I’ve discovered extra impression in actively partaking on LinkedIn, interacting with content material from key figures and using the platform’s instruments to attach with related job alternatives,” says Bazile.
“It is necessary to adapt and refine our methods because the platform evolves. Whereas I would not discourage using picture frames, I like to recommend incorporating extra approaches to successfully attain your target market.”
Let’s face it — there are roughly 40 million individuals trying to find jobs on LinkedIn each week. In as we speak’s job market, it’s necessary to construct your community, begin conversations, and create a plan to make your self stand out.
The Brilliant Facet
Sukhraj did have some excellent news to share on the photo-frame entrance.
“I’ll say, once I initially posted a feed replace when including the [#OpenToWork] body, I obtained messages from a number of recruiters inside seconds,” says Ramona.
“This makes me imagine some people are monitoring the hashtag or even perhaps explicit job titles.”
And this is sensible — knowledge reveals that 77% of employers are nonetheless utilizing LinkedIn to supply candidates.
However I’d say the largest takeaway right here is that LinkedIn picture frames are nonetheless only one small half of a bigger technique.
The Backside Line
To reply the overarching query posed on this article, I’d say sure — LinkedIn picture frames can truly be useful. However they’re not made to face on their very own, and also you’ll nonetheless have to do the heavy lifting to land your subsequent gig.
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