Have you heard of LinkedIn’s newest tool called Open Candidates? This is the perfect tool for those professionals who are currently working and want to conduct a confidential job search.

A Free Flare to Recruiters

Open candidates is like sending up a flare to recruiters who use the platform. Your profile is marked with a hidden signal that allows recruiters to contact you about roles but hides it from your current employer! The icing on the cake, Open Candidates lets you modify your signal to identify roles and companies in which you are most interested.

How to Use Open Candidates

It is common sense but in order to receive the benefits of the Open Candidates, you must have a LinkedIn profile. Turning it on is easy!

• Log in and go to your home page.
• You will see a “Jobs” tab at the top of the page. Click on “Jobs”.
• Look for the “Preferences” tab in the toolbar. Click on “Preferences”. A window will appear. Turn “On” the Open Candidates feature by sliding the button to the “On” position.
• Answer a few short questions to match yourself with positions and recruiters that meet your requirements.

If you have trouble LinkedIn created an easy-to-follow quick tutorial for using Open Candidates.

Open Candidates in Action

Now that you are “On” in Open Candidates, your information will be broadcast allowing recruiters to see that you are open to new career opportunities. Best of all, Open Candidates hides your signal from recruiters at your company and partner companies. No feature is full proof so see below for the risks based on the program’s limitations.

Open Candidates Geography

The new feature is available in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia via desktop and mobile devices.

Spruce Up Your Profile

Is your profile clean, up to date and optimized? If not, take care of this before using Open Candidates. You don’t want to lure recruiters to your profile to turn them off without dated work employment, an old or terrible photo, a poorly written summary or typos/grammatical errors.  Put your best foot forward! Be ready to answer questions about anything listed on your profile, especially if it differs from your professional resume.

Risky Business

Irina Shamaeva, a recruiting and sourcing expert, blogged about this feature in “A Close Look at ‘Open to New Opportunities’”. She discussed two potential risks you should be aware of. 1) Your flare is sent only to LinkedIn Recruiter product subscribers. These subscribers are typically larger companies due to price. If your core target is small to mid-sized employers or start-ups, they may not see the signal 2) The hidden signal is not full proof if divisions of your employer register as a separate business.

Weigh the Risks

Confidentiality is always difficult during a job search for the employed. The open candidates feature will definitely aide those who are looking while working but it not foolproof. Remember that while unlikely, it is not guaranteed that your current employer may not have a friend, family member, and board member, etc. who can find you.