LinkedIn’s new feature helps users to find jobs without boss finding out

LinkedIn has rolled out a feature that helps users conduct online job searches without their boss knowing it, the professional network announced yesterday.

The feature called Open Candidates allows users to privately signal to recruiters that they were open to new job opportunities.

Users can select the type of companies they were considering, the most relevant roles, the company size and extra information about themselves. Recruiters on LinkedIn would then be able to see the users looking for a job but people within users' organisation would not come to know.

"Who among us hasn't, at some point, tried to find work without our boss finding out? Now, you can privately indicate to recruiters on LinkedIn without worrying. We will hide the Open Candidates signal from recruiters at your company or affiliated company recruiters," LinkedIn careers product leader Daniel Shapero, said in a blog post.

Open Candidates is now available in the US, UK, Canada and Australia on desktop and mobile web and will be launched "soon" globally, LinkedIn said.

However there is a disclaimer in fine print, which says the platform cannot guarantee users' current employer would not be able to see their job search.

According to commentators, the move was an interesting one for LinkedIn, which emerged as a giant in the recruiting world due to the access it gave recruiters to millions of desirable "passive candidates" who were not actively job hunting.

Some 87 per cent of recruiters said they used LinkedIn, according to a survey by Jobvite.

According to estimates from the consulting firm CEB, about 40 per cent of the labour market comprised people who did not want to be contacted by recruiters  at all, while another 35 per cent were not looking but open are open to contact.