Every one of us experienced being unemployed in a period of our life. It could be several months or in some cases years after graduating from college, after leaving or getting fired from a job, during a crisis (economic recessions, pandemics, family issues, etc.) and a lot of us wonder how to change LinkedIn profile when unemployed. Should we declare that we are unemployed, or is it better not to claim it out loud?
To change your LinkedIn profile when unemployed, you can update your profile headline and summary to reflect your current job search status, including the type of work you're looking for. You can also highlight any relevant skills or experiences that would make you a strong candidate for the positions you're targeting. Additionally, you may want to consider temporarily adding a profile picture that is more professional or conservative in nature, if your current one is not suitable for job searching purposes.
Updating your LinkedIn profile can be confusing since there is not really a part dedicated to declaring unemployment, which is odd, considering the employment nature of this platform.
On the other hand, LinkedIn obliges its users to select a title and current position for themselves, and if you simply decide to leave them empty, well it can cause the LinkedIn algorithms to identify your profile as incomplete and not show it in the results.
So how to change your LinkedIn profile when unemployed? Well, many people just go and claim it out loud and choose the “OPENTOWORK” frame for their profile photo.
That can be a good idea for some, but, to be honest, many recruiters don’t like to contact people who are out of work. So, yes, it can cost you some great chances. In simple words, you need your position to get visible on LinkedIn.
It is really compelling to fill the current position with false information but that is a grave mistake. Don’t lie.
Dishonesty is the worst idea on LinkedIn since employers can easily check your background. There are still some options you have to declare your job seeking without actually telling that.
The options of how to change your LinkedIn profile when unemployed?
There are some ways to change your LinkedIn profile when you are unemployed. The first one is to declare that you are job seeking like you can change your title to unemployed, or looking for a new role as (your desired role) or put that “#OPENTOWORK” ring on your profile photo.
This way is not really recommended for the reason we mentioned above. The second way is to put an end date for the last job you had and not add a new position. This is a good way since your profile is technically alright to appear in the search results, and you are not directly telling the recruiters that you are out of work.
You can also write a post like “looking for an SEO specialist role, please DM if you know someone hiring,” or you can write: “decided to change my job, please let me know if you know someone in need of a professional web designer.”
This is one of the easiest ways to let your connections know that you’re on a job hunt without declaring that you are unemployed. And don’t forget that people are much willing to help job seekers to find a decent position ASAP.
But if you do not want to loudly proclaim that you are out of work, you can just present yourself as an expert.
I think it is always better to write to a data analysis specialist, professional photographer, CRM specialist, book editor, Freelance Chinese legal translator, etc. than to declare that you are unemployed.
You can always add different sentences to these titles to make the recruiters understand you are looking for a better job. We have some suggestions for you to use if you are unemployed.
- X specialist looking for better opportunities
- X specialist available for new positions
- X specialist job seeking
- X specialist in transition
- X specialist exploring new openings
- X specialist desired at your company
- X specialist at self-employed
- Student at college.edu
you can even mention that you’ve left your previous companies on good terms in the description section (only if true). This will always have a perfect effect on recruiters and employers. For example:
Current position and title description:
Actively looking for a better position after leaving my last job at NHK corporate with a long record of successful advertisement production and a long list of recommendations (you can see below).
Another option for avoiding that mentioned bias is to simply not update your profile after leaving a job, especially if you’ve been out of work for a short time.
It may not be accurate, but you are not saying that you are unemployed, and you can always say that you forgot to update your profile. Let me say that once more, this is a good plan only if you’ve been out of work for a brief period. But if you’ve been unemployed for a couple of months, maybe it is better to update that profile.
It’s on you to choose one option, but one thing that can be a much more critical factor in successful job hunting is to have a decent, robust, and complete profile that highlights your expertise, skills, and achievement.
For example, evaluate your profile picture. This is the first thing the recruiters see, even before your name. If you think that it is not professional enough, change it. Recommendations can also get you forward in this path.
Reach out to your former employers (only those you are on good terms with) and request a LinkedIn recommendation. Be as accurate as possible. Double checking your profile details are always suggested.
Conclusion
The pandemic proved that even the best workforces might get out of work in a period, so it’s not that much of a big deal. But you need to know how to change your LinkedIn profile when unemployed to do as much damage control as possible.
You might hurt your chances if you declare that you are out of work directly, and you can also make the recruiters think that you are a liar if you do not mention that you left the company you used to work in.
There is a thin line between dishonesty and forgetting to update a profile. So if you are out of work for any reason, maybe it’s time for you to update your profile.