A young woman I know has set her status in LinkedIn to “Looking.” She *is* looking, but her employer doesn’t know. Would this be a red flag for her employer? Or is this common in LinkedIn culture?

Great question, and to clarify, she meant “open to work” and the answer is: it depends.

If you are open to a new position but do not want them to know, then yes it is a flag. I tell my clients in similar situations to let friends and colleagues whom they trust and know so their candidacy is better suited that way to work the referral market, rather than the recruiter meat market. IMHO, it’s much more efficient. Know that using “messages to communicate on LinkedIn is private only between/among those in the conversation. But it doesn’t hurt to ask the other person(s) in the messages for privacy, keep it confidential.

When you are ready to show your intention to move up and on, then you can append the “#opentowork” ribbon below your headshot to trigger more visibility. See this for more details how to add it: https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a507508

Employers, same paradigm: if the position you envision filling is not ready to be advertised (perhaps the current person is not aware of a change), but you want your colleagues to refer  viable candidates, no ribbon is needed. Or if the secret shroud is pulled back to reveal an opening, use “#hiring.” See this: https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a516858

Finally, a few additional words of privacy caution from LinkedInHelp are tangentially associated with this topic and worth your review: https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a512233.

The good news is you own the ability to control your message on LinkedIn.