7 Hidden LinkedIn Features That Cut My Husband's Job Search from 6 Months to 19 Days

Simply having a LinkedIn profile isn't enough. What matters is whether recruiters can find you - and most job seekers are accidentally making themselves invisible.

Here's what's happening behind the scenes that job seekers aren’t even aware of:

Recruiters are increasingly avoiding posting jobs. Why? They receive thousands of AI-generated applications per posting within minutes, making it impossible to review them all effectively. To prevent this influx, many recruiters have started running targeted searches on LinkedIn to find qualified candidates directly.

This shift to the hidden job market means your LinkedIn profile needs to be optimized for how recruiters search - not how most people think they search.

So what are recruiters looking for besides the obvious (fit)? Recruiters are checking for specific signals that tell them you're an available and responsive candidate.

Here are three things recruiters actually look for:

Hidden LinkedIn Features #1-3: Hard Skills Match

Recruiters don't use search terms like "team player" or "excellent communicator." They search for specific hard skills from LinkedIn's database. You're invisible in searches if you don't have these exact terms.

There are three ways you can identify the correct skills to add to your profile to optimize it for recruiter searches. 

AI-Powered Job Assessment

First, you can head to the job posting and use the LinkedIn Premium AI-Powered Job Assessment Feature if you have a LinkedIn Premium Subscription. You can ask what hard skills are required for the specific job. It will scan the job posting, pull the hard skills from it, and share some of them with you. It’s not a perfect science. Another option is to read through the job description yourself and highlight the hard skills or copy and paste the description into ChatGPT or Claude and ask it to pull all the hard skills and list them. 

Resume Builder Hack

Another option is to use LinkedIn’s Build A Resume Feature. It’s no longer easily accessible via your profile homepage. You must use the direct link here to access the feature. But it’s still the best option for aligning your profile with the exact hard skills required for your target job. LinkedIn will give you keyword insights once you enter your target job title.

Leveraging the Skills Section

LinkedIn has a Skills Database that lists more than 65,000 readily recognized and searchable skills. You can add up to 100 skills to your profile, and I encourage you to use all 100 spaces to optimize your profile properly and get discovered by recruiters who use the platform as one extensive candidate database. The skills listed in this database are the ones you want to ensure you’re using (don’t write out your own). Make sure you select skills from this list that LinkedIn populates. 

When you go to the “add skills” section of your profile, LinkedIn will make recommendations based on your profile. If you have your target job title in your headline and relevant experience in your work experience section, LinkedIn will make recommendations based on what it knows about your current and target roles. It will cull this data from its database of information on jobs posted, other people’s profiles, and what it knows about the skills required. This is a great way to mine out hard skills to add to your profile to align them with your target role while optimizing it for recruiter searches. 

Grab my free 18-minute video guide to learn the exact profile optimization strategy that generated a 5,500% increase in profile views and had recruiters reaching out within 24 hours →

Hidden LinkedIn Features #4-7: Response Signals

Recruiters get limited InMail messages, just like job seekers. So, they’re looking for specific profile signals that show you're more likely to respond. Not every member of LinkedIn is active or logging in daily or weekly. Most job seekers accidentally ignore or turn off these signals. 

Here are four of these signals:

The “I’m Interested” Feature

Turning on the I’m Interested Feature on a Company’s LinkedIn page signals to recruiters that you’re more likely to respond if they reach out to you about an opportunity. You can find this feature at the bottom of the company job posting or on their About page.

The Top Choice Badge

If you have LinkedIn Premium, you can mark up to three jobs as "Top Choice. " This adds a badge to your application, showing recruiters it's one of your top choices. You can even briefly explain why that specific company or position is a Top Choice for you. This is a perfect way to stand out from other applicants.

The Active Talent Spotlight

When you're active on LinkedIn in specific ways, the platform adds a special "Active Talent" spotlight to your profile, making you more visible to recruiters. Think of it like a VIP flag that tells recruiters you're worth contacting.

You can trigger this spotlight by:

• Recently updating your LinkedIn profile
• Turning on the "share resume with recruiters" setting
• Being in your current role longer than the typical tenure
• Working at a company that's had recent layoffs

While you can't see this spotlight yourself (it's only visible in recruiters' dashboards), you can activate it by keeping your profile fresh and ensuring your settings are optimized for recruiter visibility.

Open to Work Feature

Another way to signal to recruiters that you’re more likely to respond to their message is to turn on your profile's “Open to Work” feature. You don’t have to add the green banner if you don’t want to (although I recommend trying it out since LinkedIn says it increases your messages from recruiters by 40%).

The results can be dramatic when these features are appropriately used and optimized. Within 24 hours, I've seen profiles go from zero recruiter outreach to multiple interview requests. The key is understanding how recruiters use LinkedIn's backend systems and aligning your profile accordingly.

Now that you know these seven hidden LinkedIn features what about how to boost your profile views by 5000%? I've created a detailed video guide showing you the following:

• How to boost your profile views by up to 5,500% (the exact method that got recruiters reaching out within 24 hours)
• The 5 "recruiter signals" that make hiring managers want to contact you first
• Why most job seekers are invisible to recruiters (and the simple fix that changes everything)
• The exact headline formula that puts you at the top of recruiter searches
• How to tap into the 70-80% of jobs that are never posted

→ Get instant access to the 18-minute video training here.

The job market has evolved. The most successful job seekers aren't the ones submitting the most applications - they're the ones making themselves visible to recruiters. Start by implementing these insights, and you'll be well on your way to tapping into the hidden job market.

Discover how to get LinkedIn's algorithms working for you instead of against you - grab my free 18-minute video guide and learn the exact profile optimization strategy that makes recruiters reach out to you first →

Whenever you’re ready, 

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