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As polls go, the results of one I conducted on the Open to Work banner were mixed—very mixed. What surprised me most was how negatively many people reacted to the question, “Open to Work Banner: Advantage or Disadvantage.”
Only 20% were in favor of the banner. Twenty-one percent (21%) voted Disadvantage, 33% chose Depends on the job seeker, and 26% selected No strong opinion. This tells us that 74% of respondents held a strong opinion about the usefulness of, which was implemented on LinkedIn in 2020.
With that context, let’s break down why the Open to Work banner should—or should not—be used.
Advantage
The purpose of the green Open to Work banner is simple: it alerts anyone viewing your profile that you’re open to new opportunities. Ideally, if a hiring authority sees your profile, they’ll click through to determine whether you’re worth contacting.
If your profile isn’t up to par, you’ll be passed over immediately. There’s no shortage of posts and articles explaining how to build a strong LinkedIn profile, yet many job seekers still don’t grasp this concept. They present bare-bones profiles and hope that simply advertising unemployment will attract attention.
Some recruiters actively search for candidates using the green banner. As Jacob Mousseau explains:
“In my experience, it depends on how you select it. The green banner may not be ideal visually, but it’s worth using to be bucketed into a smaller candidate pool within LinkedIn Recruiter when actively applying for roles. I used that filter when sourcing talent, and many recruiters still do.”
Another recruiter, Amy Miller, disputes the "weakness" image the banner portrays and has written and produced videos in support of the green banner. She reasons that recruiters who hold a bias against the green banner leave hungry job seekers for her.
Another benefit of the green banner is that it removes awkward conversations. There’s no need for someone to ask, “So…are you working?” That said, unlike Jacob, some hiring authorities will run for the hills the moment they see it.
Disadvantage
Some believe the banner makes job seekers look desperate and that there are more strategic ways to signal availability. Mic Adam puts it well:
“This is a two-edged sword. On one hand, you want to indicate that you’re open to new opportunities so people know to reach out. On the other, it can signal weakness because recruiters don’t always take people with the banner seriously. Personally, I think it’s better to DM your network or post about your search.”
Wearing the banner also limits your ability to network in a strategic fashion, because it removes discretion from the process, shifting conversations from curiosity and mutual value to immediate availability. Hiring authorities who want to fill roles immediately might see you as a mid- to high-level talent as an entry-level candidate.
Another con, admittedly petty, is its color. This may be my personal bias against green, but let’s be honest—it’s not nearly as cool as the purple I’m Hiring banner. To me, green suggests untested.
Depends on the job seeker
Anyone who’s conducted polls knows that when you offer It depends, people will use it. In this case, it’s a legitimate choice. As Kevin D. Turner and Gina Riley point out, some job seekers can, or must, do without this albatross, particularly executives.
Kevin commented, "I've always thought it depends on the job seekers, Bob McIntosh. Entry-level and Graduating students get more value from the exposure, and Executives perhaps less or even a negative impact. What many do not know is that there is a Timed Value to this data decision. The longer it is on, the less it is considered in rankings. So if one uses it, they should renew it often."
Gina, whose clients are primarily C-level job seekers, recently wrote an article explaining why the Open to Work banner can be a red flag for her audience. (Here’s the shortened link: https://tinyurl.com/yyfz7vs6)
“[The Open to Work banner] positions you as active talent—versus sought-after leadership. There’s a reason it’s called ‘executive search.’ Recruiters are searching for matches they can’t find in a pile of resumes. These candidates are pulled in by relevance.”
Most executives don’t land roles by being noticed for a green banner or by applying online. They land roles through networking. Their job searches are typically longer than those of entry-level candidates, and the banner can unintentionally lump them in with job seekers of lower perceived status.
When I ask executives in initial meetings how they’re conducting their job search, they almost always say networking. They rarely apply online—and they rarely use the green banner. To them, it must seem like the green banner is as useful as throwing chum-line into a vast ocean.
A very important question
The Open to Work banner may also have contributed to an increase in scamming by unsavory characters posing as recruiters. These scammers post real-looking—or entirely fake—jobs. Once a job seeker takes the bait, they’re often told their resume needs work and are referred to a fraudulent resume writer.
A former client of mine, Thomas Wiegelman (who has permitted me to use his name), fell victim to a scam involving a fake recruiter and a so-called “Professional Resume Writer.” The recruiter contacted Tom with what appeared to be a time-sensitive opportunity at Oracle. After reviewing his resume, she claimed it needed improvement and introduced him to the resume writer.
I’ll admit that when Tom showed me the correspondence, it looked legitimate.
Over time, Tom grew suspicious. I reached out to a trusted LinkedIn connection, Brian O'Keefe, who works at Oracle, and asked him to verify the role. Sure enough, it was fake. The giveaway was the email address—it did not follow Oracle's standard email format.
Although Tom didn't spend money on this scam attempt, he spent nearly a week communicating with the fake recruiter. This was, perhaps, the biggest blow to someone feeling the pressure of unemployment. I'm happy to say that he is gainfully employed.
Related: The Gentle Job Search: How To ‘Ping’ Your Network Without Asking for a Job