LinkedIn Settings for Jobseekers Part 1

In the first of a four-part series, we are going to examine common LinkedIn settings for jobseekers.

LinkedIn Settings for Jobseekers

“If you build it, they will come” may have been true for the Iowa corn farmer in the 1989 film “Field of Dreams,” but as a jobseeker, simply “building” a LinkedIn profile will not open the floodgates to job opportunities, nor will you have recruiters contacting you to solicit your interest in filling their open positions.

About 87 percent of recruiters (92 percent of recruiters with Fortune 1000 companies) use LinkedIn as a major source for finding and vetting candidates and posting positions. For your profile to have the greatest impact on your job search, there are two things you must do:

• Build a complete profile that is well-branded and keyword optimized (you may want to hire a professional to help you with this, if you haven’t already).
• Increase your visibility by optimizing your LinkedIn Settings and Career Interests. This guide will walk you through what to do, how to do it, and why.

To understand the importance of these settings, you need to know that LinkedIn has a separate platform called LinkedIn Recruiter that interfaces with your profile. By purchasing a membership on either Recruiter Lite or Recruiter Corporate, recruiters not only post job openings, but can search for candidates using various search parameters. Your LinkedIn Settings and Career Interests will increase your visibility and drive recruiters to your profile when using the Recruiter platform.

Getting Started

The first step is to locate the Settings & Privacy page in your profile; the following screenshot will show you how.

Hover your mouse over the word Me and click the drop-down arrow below the thumbnail image of your profile picture.

Scroll down to Settings & Privacy and click.

This will open the Settings & Privacy window, with four headings across the top (Account, Privacy, Ads, and Communications). You’ll want to be sure you have the window open for Privacy.

There are several categories of settings on this page, beginning with How others see your profile and network information. Scroll about two-thirds of the way down and you will find the heading for Job seeking preferences.

The next screenshot shows you what this section looks like and the five areas to address. Follow along…

Job Application Settings

Let’s start by looking at the various options available to you. Click on either the first heading or the word Change (as seen in the screenshot).

The first few settings address how your applications will be handled when you apply for a job via LinkedIn. You can save your application answers (I recommend turning this feature on), choose to apply for jobs with 1-Click Apply ( to activate this feature, you must first scroll down to Contact information and enter a phone number), and input an email and address and phone number where recruiters can reach you. The next screenshot shows you each of these options.

When you apply for an Easy Apply job on LinkedIn, you can save your application information and use the information as default for future job applications, allowing you to more quickly apply for jobs. You can also opt in to applying for jobs with 1-Click Apply based on this saved application information.

When you apply to jobs with 1-Click Apply, LinkedIn will send the job poster your full LinkedIn profile in addition to the following saved application answers:

1. Email address: You can choose from the email addresses you’ve already provided and verified. You can’t add a new email address with 1-Click Apply.
2. Phone number: You’ll need to provide a new phone number to be included with your application. LinkedIn won’t use the phone number stored in Settings & Privacy. Phone numbers will be pre-populated, either via the first application or from the job application settings page.

You can preview your application and change your answers before applying to any job.

Scroll down further and you will have the option of uploading a resume. You can have as many as four different versions of your resume uploaded and saved in your profile. The next screenshot shows you how.

Note: Resumes you have uploaded to your profile are not visible to other LinkedIn users. They are only stored in your account and available for you to attach to applications.

1. To upload a new resume, click Upload under Default Resume in the Resume LinkedIn will only store the four most recently used resumes that were submitted on LinkedIn.com or the LinkedIn Mobile App. If there are four stored resumes, the Upload button won’t be available, and you’ll need to delete a recently used Resume to upload a new one.
2. To replace your default resume for 1-Click Apply, click Replace Default under Default Resume in the Resume
3. To remove your default Resume for 1-Click Apply, click the More icon (…) next to the resume name under Default Résumé in the Résumé section and select Remove Default from the dropdown.
4. To delete a recently-used resume, click the More icon (…) next to the resume name under Recent Resumes in the Résumé section and select Delete from the dropdown.

Important: The ability to reuse recently uploaded resumes is currently only available on LinkedIn.com and the LinkedIn Mobile App. The feature is not currently available on the LinkedIn Job Search App.

Resume Requirements:

1. The file must be less than 5 MB.
2. The file format must be Microsoft Word or PDF only.
3. On mobile, you can’t attach a resume when applying for jobs. However, many jobs support applications with your LinkedIn profile. You can also save jobs and complete the application process on your computer if you prefer to upload a resume with your application.