3 Things People Getting Hired Are Doing Differently on LinkedIn
- andrea3920
- Oct 8
- 2 min read
Updated: Oct 30
If you’ve been applying to jobs and not hearing back, you’re not alone. The job market has changed and the people getting hired are doing things differently.
Instead of relying only on job boards, they’re making LinkedIn work for them and getting recruiters to reach out directly. Most people think of LinkedIn as an online resume, but it’s actually a search engine for recruiters.
Here are the three specific things they’re doing on LinkedIn that most job seekers miss and how you can set them up step by step.
1. They Upload Their Resume to LinkedIn
Most people don’t realize you can upload your resume so only recruiters can see it. When you upload your resume and choose to share it with recruiters, LinkedIn may use information from your resume, like skills and experience, to improve how you appear in recruiter searches, even though that data isn’t shown on your public profile.
How to set it up:
Go to your LinkedIn profile.
Go to LinkedIn Settings & Privacy -> Data privacy -> Job application settings.
Toggle on the option for “Share resume data with hirers.” This stores it in LinkedIn’s backend.
2. They Max Out Their Skills Section
LinkedIn recently doubled the number of skills you can add from 50 to 100. Think of each skill as a keyword that helps you show up in recruiter searches.
How to set it up:
Go to your LinkedIn profile.
Scroll to the “Skills” section.
Click the “+ Add a new skill” button.
Type in relevant keywords related to your field.
Click the pencil icon next to “Top Skills” to pin your top skills. These are the ones recruiters see first.
3. They Use “Open to Work” Privately
You’ve seen people with the green “Open to Work” banner but there’s another setting most people miss. Instead of publicly displaying that banner, you can turn on a private setting that signals ONLY to recruiters that you’re open to opportunities.
Why this works:If you’re job searching while still employed, this lets recruiters find you without your company knowing.
How to set it up:
Go to your LinkedIn profile.
Click the “Open to Work” button below your headline.
Fill in the details for what you’re looking for like job titles, locations, start date, and employment type.
Under “Visibility (who can view you’re open to work)” select “Recruiters only.”
Click Save.
IMPORTANT: Internal recruiters who use a personal email, contractors mis-tagged as external, or employees who recently left but still appear in LinkedIn’s system could still get the recruiter view. So this setting is discreet but not 100% risk-free
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