Over the years, LinkedIn has become a go-to spot for career networking and job hunting. However, with a difficult job market and the growing issue of ghost job posts, it can be incredibly competitive and frustrating to find work. Fortunately, a career search expert has some hacks to share for job seekers that could help make using LinkedIn more effective in their job hunt.
Former HR recruiter turned author Madeline Mann offered three LinkedIn hacks on TikTok that could help job seekers get more recruiter eyes on their profile while also filtering out old, ghosted job postings during searches:
@selfmademillennial Here are three LinkedIn hacks to land more job interviews. They involve the LinkedIn open to work badge, how to find people who are hiring, and more! Use these job search tips to get more job interviews. #JobSearch #linkedin
1. Flip off “Open to Work” on weekends, flip it back on Mondays
Mann’s first piece of advice is to use LinkedIn’s “Open to Work” feature to your advantage. Signaling with your profile that you’re “Open to Work” helps, but only for so long according to Mann. Recruiters typically get alerted of newer potential recruits again and again, which can bury you towards the bottom of the pile if you’ve posted that you’ve been “Open to Work” for a month.
By flipping that “Open to Work” badge off over the weekend and putting it back on at the start of the work week, recruiters are freshly alerted to your presence and status every week, putting you more towards the top of their pile of notifications. This should help you get more messages from recruiters since they will actually see you and your profile.
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2. Type in “We’re hiring” and the job you want, then search under Posts
While job alerts and job postings are a helpful resource on LinkedIn, Mann suggests looking through people and companies’ regular posts for jobs as well. She suggests typing in “We’re hiring” and the position you’re looking for to see regular posts from folks on LinkedIn who are alerting their networks for open positions at their company.
For example, if you are looking for a marketing job, and type in “We’re hiring digital marketer,” you could see many companies posting about a recent opening or people alerting others about a position at their work that might be more timely than searching through regular job postings. Those posts could also provide you contacts regarding open positions or information on how to apply in case the company isn’t accepting applications via LinkedIn. It potentially creates a better networking experience than cold applying, too.
@elite.recruiter Stop wasting time applying to LinkedIn jobs competing with 500 people 🤦🏽♀️ Here's the hack that gets you hired first: - LinkedIn search: your role + "hiring" - Click "Posts" not "Jobs" - see hiring managers actively posting - Comment with value not desperation: "I've helped companies like X achieve Y" - DM within 24 hours: "Saw your post. I have X years doing Y, let's discuss" 💪 Works because you reach them before role gets flooded 🚀 You're having conversation, not submitting resume into black hole. Most won't do this because it feels too forward - that's why it works 🤷🏽♀️ Comment ELITE to get access to my free, no-fluff newsletter, The Elite Edge, packed with career trends, insider intel, and corporate truths no one else will tell you. #jobsearch #linkedin #careeradvice #jobhunting #careerstrategy #linkedintips #jobsearchtips #careercoach #professionaldevelopment #careergrowth #jobmarket #careersuccess #networking #jobapplication #executiverecruiter #eliterecruiter #jobmarket2025 #careeradvancement #workplacetips #jobhuntingtips
3. During a job posting search, find the most recently posted jobs by fiddling with the URL
This might be the biggest hack Mann offers when it comes to saving time and reducing the odds of applying for a ghost job. When searching for job postings on LinkedIn, there is a built-in offer of time frames when the job was posted (past month, past week, past 24 hours). But you can get even more specific than that.
First, do your typical search and reduce it to within the past 24 hours. After that, you should see the letter and digits ‘r86400” towards the end of the URL. That number (86400) is the amount of seconds within 24 hours. If you want to find even fresher job postings, you can manipulate this number to further refine your search. For instance, if you wanted to search for any new job postings within the last six hours, you can change 86400 to 21600 (the number of seconds within six hours).
This can help you find more recent postings, avoid more ghost jobs, and allow you to be among the first applicants to boot.
@workhap How to get noticed on LinkedIn #career #newjob #hiring
Finding a job can be difficult, but it doesn’t have to be as hard as it's been made to be. Happy hunting.
