I’m Not Updating My Job on LinkedIn

Here’s why you might decide to do the same.

Photo by Abu Bakar on Unsplash

Sometimes we make different decisions without even meaning to and stumble upon an idea that’s not so common. After getting this message, that’s what happened to me.

“When are you going to update your LinkedIn profile to reflect your new job?”

Me: “I’m not.”

It seemed weird for a self-confessed LinkedIn addict to say that and it was unintentional. This idea goes against all career advice and traditional conventions about creating an online presence.

Here’s why you may not want to update your LinkedIn profile.

Free promotion for your employer

When you update your LinkedIn profile with your job and effectively tag your employer by doing so, you’re endorsing them.

Here’s the thing: When you join a new company, you don’t know if their mission is pure or if they are the real deal. You could have done all the research and then still discover that the company is not what it seems from the outside.

Updating your LinkedIn profile is giving a company the thumbs up and you may not be ready to do that just yet or feel it’s your duty.

Failing in the first 6 months

Most employment laws around the world these days allows for a six month probation period. When you update your LinkedIn profile, you don’t know if you’ll still be at the company in six months. For all you know, you will part ways with your employer.

Updating your LinkedIn profile means that if you fail, it’s going to come up in your career history on LinkedIn.

For me personally, I don’t care and am happy to show people my career failures and setbacks (I’ve made a career out of it). But for some of you, you may not want the whole world knowing if you don’t make it through probation.

The focus of your career

Your LinkedIn profile tells someone a lot about you. For me, I don’t want to confuse people by trying to be too many things to too many people.