You may have seen a much smaller version of the symbol to the right on some people’s profiles next to their name and, generally, next to a Premium account symbol too. While it’s not that obvious, what it signifies is that the member is part of the OpenLink network on LinkedIn.

• Open Linkedin Without Login
• Open Linkedin Groups

Login to LinkedIn to keep in touch with people you know, share ideas, and build your career. “It’s no secret LinkedIn is the best resource for #smallbusinesses to make connections, stay in touch with our network, and grow. Thanks to LinkedIn for making it easier now for us to showcase our business and services to let people know exactly what it is we do.”. Open 1,733 followers on LinkedIn. Open is an independent design studio that creates rewarding experiences for people that look, read, and think. Open projects include identity systems for the. LION, in the LinkedIn world, stands for LinkedIn Open Networker. LIONs are basically open to networking with people that they have never met before, and they can help you be successful on the site because they bridge networks of closed people by finding a potential connection that would have gone ignored otherwise.

{As from May 2014, LinkedIn appears to have renamed Openlink as Open Profile (that’s Open Profile as 2 words it seems) which is actually a sensible move, I would suggest, as Open Profile would appear to better communicate the real benefits of the function … as you will hopefully discover below}

OpenLink (now Open Profile) is something that is available exclusively to Premium account holders and indeed, in my opinion, is a key benefit of these paid for business accounts. Essentially, it lets people who are members to find and get in contact with other professionals who are interested in meeting new people. It also opens up the ability for anyone to contact you and makes certain that anyone can see your full details in the search results, whether the searcher is part of your network or not. Let me explain …

Letting any LinkedIn member message you

For many people on LinkedIn, the goal is to find relevant people (and/or be found by them) and then make contact. Openlink directly helps in one aspect of that process by allowing all LinkedIn members to contact you directly. Normally, to send a message to someone outside of your direct network (your 1st level connections) or who you do not share a group with, you would need to use an Inmail which costs $10 a time – useful but undoubtedly too expensive for everyday situations.

Openlink takes away that cost for people looking to contact an Openlink Member. To use myself as an example, I have paid for a Business account and have activated the Openlink status – as a result anyone on LinkedIn can send me a message … anyone. All they need to do is go to my profile and then click on the ‘Send Inmail’ link on the right which will now have ‘free’ next to sit. (Try it out if you like on my profile! 🙂 )

For me, that is quite an additional benefit – so long as people are aware of it – because it takes away one of those first barriers to people just getting in touch which is the first key step to developing a relationship. This has taken on particular significance given the change earlier this year by LinkedIn where they removed the ability for members to send a free message to all members of their network (ie. 1st, 2nd and 3rd level connections) and restricted it instead to 1st level connections and shared group members instead.

Be more visible to those “out of your network”

A second key feature relates to your visibility to those members searching for people (or the skills, services or products they offer) on LinkedIn. That’s to say 90% of the people of there!

When using LinkedIn’s search, the details that people can see about you will vary according to the closeness of your connection and also the membership level of the person doing the searching. Essentially though if you not in someone’s network (in LinkedIn terms, that means your 1st level, 2nd level and 3rd level connections) then they won’t be able to see your name, just your job title and will only see a reduced profile for you. Even 3rd level connections will only see your first name and the first letter of your surname.

However, with Openlink, that changes and now all of your details – full name etc. – are visible no matter what your relationship with the person searching. Another really powerful benefit for those who wish to ensure they are easy to find on the site.

Finally …

There are some other elements associated with it as well – one is that, within the Advanced Search function, you also get the ability to narrow down your search to only people within the OpenLink Network. This means that, like yourself, they are Open Networkers and so are likely to be open to receiving messages from you freely.

So all in all, an underused and yet very powerful option I feel in LinkedIn making you both more visible and accessible to people that you are not already connected to – exactly the group of people that we are looking to tap into.

A recent new addition to LinkedIn is the #OpenToWork feature to help highlight to people viewing your profile that you are on the lookout for a new role and open to new job opportunities.

Open Linkedin Without Login

To enable the feature from your LinkedIn profile you need to click on your photo at the top of your LinkedIn homepage, select View Profile and then Add Profile Section (see below):

In the Add profile section you need to click on Intro and then Looking for job opportunities:

You then need to provide the requested information in the box that pops up:

You can choose whether you would like all LinkedIn members to see that you are open to job opportunities or whether just recruiters can see:

Once you have completed the pop-up box, select Add to profile. If you chose all LinkedIn members your profile photograph will have a green #OpenToWork symbol added to it and as an example you can see the profile from Chris below:

You can edit the #OpenToWork at any time so once you get a better idea of what you want in a new role you can go to View Profile, click the Edit icon from the Open to Work box (at the top of your profile) and then follow the prompts to edit the information. Don’t forget to click Save when you have finished!

If you get a new role or want to disable the feature, click I’m no longer open. You can re-enable it at any time, but you will need to complete your preferences again as your previous preferences won’t be saved.

If you wish to add the #OpenToWork feature via your mobile using iOS or Android, you need to:

• Tap your profile picture and View Profile. Tap Get Started from the Show recruiters you’re open box in your introduction card (at the top of your profile). Provide the requested information in the screen that appears, then tap Add to profile.
• To edit it tap your profile picture, then View profile. Tap the edit icon from the Open to job opportunities box, edit the information and then tap save.
• To disable the feature, tap I’m no longer open.

There are a couple of perspectives I have seen on this feature: Great and an easy flag to others you’re looking for a role or it can be perceived as a little desperate. In my view it comes down to your own choice and circumstances.

If you want to maintain a professional “front” whilst looking for the new role you might want to hold off for a little while but if you are seeking a new role or urgently hunting then I would definitely use it as it does set a big flag that you are available.

The one disclaimer that LinkedIn has added to the #OpenToWork feature is:

Open Linkedin Groups

“Important: To protect your privacy, we take steps to prevent LinkedIn Recruiter uses who work at your company and related companies from seeing your shared career interests, but we can’t guarantee complete privacy.”