The moment that you accept that new job offer you want to shout about it to the world. When all the formalities have been completed (including referencing, etc) you might also consider the merits of letting your LinkedIn network know about it. Hopefully you have an active LinkedIn network. It is likely that your most personal contacts there will be delighted for you.
In this blog, we explore how to announce a new job on LinkedIn:
- When do you announce a new job?
- Ways to announce a new job on LinkedIn
- What to include in your new job announcement
Be deliberate in your new job messaging. Think carefully about what you want to say.
Shape your new starter narrative.
Most people use LinkedIn as a job search tool, but it is also a place for people to learn about you. New colleagues will be curious to get to know you and many of them will check you out on LinkedIn. A new job announcement post allows you to control that initial narrative.
When do you announce a new job?
Most employers would hope that new employees would want to update their LinkedIn profiles the moment they join. There are a few reasons for this:
- You can connect with your new colleagues and engage with them.
- Employee advocacy may be important in certain roles.
- Your boss may want to “mention” you (in your new capacity).
There is no good reason to wait to update your profile. If you are unsure about how the job will work out, you may want to wait to settle in before you inform your network. In this case, play it cool and mention to anyone who asks that you haven’t had the chance.
Unless you work in sales, marketing, or HR, you can certainly leave the job responsibilities section blank until you have your feet under the table.
Ways to announce a new job on LinkedIn
There are a number of options when it comes to announcing a new job on LinkedIn. Don’t go overboard. Find the communication mix that best suits your situation.
Automatic notifications
LinkedIn has a functionality that informs your network of any major change that you might make to your LinkedIn profile. Adding a new job section will trigger a notification to appear for your entire network, but so do a whole raft of other actions, so only switch on this functionality when you are sure that you are ready.
This will create an automatic “update” post that your network can engage with. Many LinkedIn users have a habit of liking or commenting on these posts as they want to celebrate your success. We would recommend turning on this functionality for a new job – you never know who may pop back into your life from your distant professional past.
You can turn on your notifications to inform your network of your job change by doing the following:
- Click the “Me” icon on the LinkedIn homepage
- Select Settings and privacy from the drop-down
- Click the tab named Visibility
- Under Visibility of LinkedIn activity click Share profile updates
- Choose On to share your profile edits. Click Off to turn it off (default)
Shutting off “Open to Work”
The green LinkedIn #opentowork banner on your profile picture may have attracted the attention of recruiters and employers during your job search, but many LinkedIn users celebrate the fact that they are turning it off! This might be a quick update note to your network.
You could combine this note with a few words of gratitude to those who helped you in your search. Tag a few recruiters who helped you along the way – even if they didn’t find you the final job, you can be sure that they did their best. They will appreciate the social visibility and will remember you fondly the next time your resume comes their way.
New beginnings post
Everyone on LinkedIn loves an inspirational post about new beginnings.
People there engage with all sorts of positively oriented content, but it feels especially meaningful to support someone who is embarking on a new role. While the generic “new job” update is pumped out by LinkedIn automatically (with a weird graphic), many people choose to share a more personal new beginnings post with their own words and maybe a selfie at their new place of work.
This will offer an opportunity for your new colleagues to get behind your social efforts (maybe tag your boss and a couple of colleagues). It may also trigger potential clients or partners from your network to come forward and offer their assistance.
90% of people on LinkedIn are passive consumers of content, so if you are one of them, the rarity of your new job announcement post will be more impactful.
What to include in your new job announcement
When you sit down to write a new job announcement on LinkedIn, you should take a moment to consider your audience.
Maybe you are writing to introduce yourself to new colleagues (because you are joining a company that is hot on socials). Alternatively, you might want to position yourself in a certain way for potential suppliers or clients. Lastly, a new job post is also a way to look back and say one last thank you to those that you worked with in the past.
Here are a few things that you may choose to include in a new job post:
- Start with something memorable. Every social media post needs a “hook.” Begin with a brief sentence about what the job means to you. Offer some context. Exude a childish sense of delight at the excitement of a tantalizingly blank page for your career story.
- Share details of what the role entails. You are more than your job title. Share what interests you about the role – and make sure that it is something relevant to your online network. Convey a sense that this is the next step (up) on your career journey.
- Express gratitude to previous colleagues. Your new colleagues will appreciate the fact that you value your previous team. Many of them will have indirectly contributed to this career move and helped you develop, so do not forget them as you open a new door.
- Don’t forget the basics. Make sure that you post at the right time of day for your network to see it (don’t post on impulse in the middle of the night). Tag either new colleagues or old ones (we suggest that you don’t do both together). Consider including a selfie (for once). Make sure that you use a couple of hashtags to enhance visibility. Reply to the comments.
Key takeaways
A LinkedIn post is a nice bookend for an old role and can create a positive start in a new one. Not everyone in your new company will check you out on social media on a whim, but if they see your post, they will be more likely to do so. The more they know about your skills, the more curious they may be to get to know you a little better.
- Make sure that you pitch the tone of the new job announcement right
- Do more than the automatic notification – and engage with the post
- Think carefully about your audience for the announcement
- View this as an opportunity to introduce yourself to new colleagues
