21 Tips for Announcing a New Job on LinkedIn + Examples

Amid a persisting gender pay gap, news of massive layoffs, and an increase in unemployment claims, a new job announcement on LinkedIn is like a breath of fresh air.

For many people, announcing a new job on LinkedIn is a gratifying last step in a challenging process. It’s also an ideal time to establish your personal brand, according to communication coach Lucy Samuels. Samuels’ personal branding expertise stems from her background in coaching and talent development as well as her own personal experience. When she changed careers, Samuels began using LinkedIn to build and share her new brand. Since then, her work has benefitted many job seekers, including those who are preparing to start a new job and want to share the news with their network.   

21 tips for announcing your new job on LinkedIn

1. Define your personal brand

Now that you’re starting a new job, this is a great time to define your brand. In fact, it just might be critical to your career development. “Personal branding involves reflecting on what you have done professionally and what you would like to either continue or start doing,” says Samuels. “By reflecting before taking action, you can have more control over your career development rather than letting it happen (or not happen) by default.”

In other words, your personal brand is about forming your professional identity: who you are,  what you can offer, and what makes you stand out. “There will always be other professionals with similar skill sets, but no one will have an identical brand. Taking the time to build your personal brand makes you more memorable.”

Being memorable translates to more opportunities, so use this next step in your career to define—or redefine—your personal brand before making your big announcement. 

2. Don’t get too hung up on the term ‘personal branding’

For some people, just hearing the word ‘branding’ makes them cringe because they associate it with pretentiousness. Samuels suggests reframing the term to get more comfortable with it. “If the idea of personal branding is a turnoff for you, focus instead on how and what you’re sharing. What do you want people to know about you professionally?” 

In its simplest form, personal branding is about knowing what you excel in and communicating that in a clear, consistent way. 

3. Wait for the final offer...then, wait some more

Whether you’ve been job searching for six weeks or six months, finally getting a job offer is exhilarating! It’s natural to want to share that excitement right away, but give it some time. According to Samuels, there are no rules about making your announcement, but it's best to be cautious. “While I think it’s good to announce it around your start time, it’s okay if you do it a little later.” At the very least, wait until you have finalized all negotiations and you have a firm start date on record. 

If you were recently unemployed, you can announce your new job once you’ve completed that step. However, if you are still employed and plan to give notice, do so before announcing your new job. Then, decide when you would like to share your news either during or after you’ve completed your notice period.  

4. Check your settings

According to LinkedIn, you can make sure you’re sharing updates with your network by going into Settings & Privacy, clicking the ‘Visibility’ tab, then turning the ‘Share profile updates with your network’ setting on. Enabling this setting means that your network will be notified when you add a new job, upload a profile video, have a work anniversary, or add other changes or milestones to your profile.

5. Update your profile

If you didn’t revise your LinkedIn profile while you were job searching, this is the time to do it. Job announcements tend to draw lots of profile views; take advantage of this increased visibility by making sure your profile is up to date, which could help you gain new contacts and expand your network. Here’s what Samuels suggests:

• Update your headline to include keywords that employers may search for, such as job titles, skills, or certifications like SHRM-CP or PMP.

• Use the ‘Featured’ section to build a mini portfolio of your work.

• Customize your profile using tools like name pronunciation, cover story, and background photo.

• Share content, such as a screenshot of a presentation or a list of books you’ve read

Your LinkedIn profile is one reflection of your personal brand—make it a good one!

6. Be yourself

Do you like messaging that is short and sweet or lengthy and long-winded? Are you going for a humorous or earnest tone? Share a message that feels true to you, even if it doesn’t jibe with what other people are posting or what they may expect from you. 

“While people may have their own impressions of you from having known you or worked with you, personal branding enables you to shape those impressions. I think of personal branding as an intentional, outward expression of that professional identity. Visually, that could mean anything from creating a logo for yourself to selecting a certain aesthetic when designing your portfolio. Verbally, it could be your writing style or showcasing your facilitation skills,” says Samuels, who has built a reputable brand even after navigating two layoffs and multiple career transitions.

7. Don’t feel obligated to acknowledge your most recent job

According to Samuels, you should only mention your old job if you want to. “Be gracious about the time you spent in your other role, but only if you really mean it. If not, then skip it.”

Skip it? Yes, skip it! You are not slighting your former employer by not mentioning them. In fact, if you had an unpleasant (or downright nightmarish) experience with your former employer, you will be doing them a favor by simply focusing your announcement on where you’re headed next. 

If you do want to give your former employer a shout-out, Samuels says “don’t bash the company or role you’re leaving behind.” Instead, briefly mention what you learned in your former position, then move on.

8. Avoid mentioning the jobs you didn’t get

It might seem obvious that you shouldn’t bash the employer you’re leaving, but what about the employers you never got the chance to work for? 

If your experience has been anything like the people surveyed by Joblist, you’ve gotten up to 10 rejections in your job search. Be sure not to mention those employers by name to avoid burning any bridges toward future opportunities. 

9. Use exclamation points (and caps lock) sparingly

Exclamation points can easily convey excitement, but if you overuse them, your message might seem inauthentic (or worse, like you’re screaming at people). Take a look:

Instead, try something like this:

This message conveys the same excitement but in a calmer manner that feels more genuine. 

10. Respond to the comments 

After you make your announcement, monitor and respond to comments within 48 hours. Providing a brief but genuine reply can go a long way in showing your appreciation and building rapport with the people who have congratulated you.  

11. Take the opportunity to connect with new coworkers

If your new coworkers comment on your announcement, send a connection request. When requesting to connect, keep it brief, thank them again for their kind comment, and express your excitement about working with them. Here’s an example:

12. Share job search tips

What advice can you give to people who are still job hunting? Share two to three things that helped you secure your new job. This will help your contacts glean inspiration from you and feel reassured that people are still getting jobs, even when the job market seems bleak. 

13. Avoid sharing anything private about your new employer’s hiring process

That doesn’t read so well, does it? Not only are you casting a negative light on your new employer, but you’re revealing a potentially private detail about their hiring process. When you announce your new job, avoid posting the ins and outs about how you were recruited and hired. 

14.  When in doubt, have LinkedIn do it for you

Let’s say you want to announce your new job, but don’t want to make an original post for it. In that case, let LinkedIn handle it. “When you add a new employer to your profile, you have the option of sharing that update with your network,” advises Samuels. This will prompt LinkedIn to generate an animated ‘Starting a New Position’ post that features your new job title, employer, and celebratory balloons.  

15. Include an appropriate image

If you do plan to make an original post, consider using an image. According to this LinkedIn article by marketing expert Fran Jakubowicz, posts that contain images can generate 650 percent more engagement than a post that only includes text. You can use personal or stock images that reflect your excitement about moving into a new role.

16. Use your tags and mentions wisely

Use hashtags to help people discover your post and link it to similar content, and use mentions to reference specific people in your post. “Don't be spammy with tagging or mentioning,” Samuels says, warning against excessive use of either feature. “Tagging is optional. But here are some examples of ‘good’ tagging/mentioning: if you had an exceptional candidate experience, feel free to mention it and tag the person responsible for it. You can also mention the great team you’re leaving behind. You can even tag your manager if you had that kind of relationship [with them].”

Ultimately, you don’t need more than a couple of mentions and two to three appropriate hashtags to cap off your job announcement. 

17. Announce promotions, too

Announcements aren’t just for new jobs at new companies. If you’re excited about a promotion at your current company, share it! Act almost as if you were joining a new company:  Wait until the promotion has been finalized to share the big news, then mention someone who helped you secure the promotion and tag your company, too, if you’re comfortable doing so. 

18. Only make the announcement if you want to

The best personal brands are built from authenticity: staying true to who you are and what works for you. That means you don’t have to make a new job announcement at all. If you prefer to enter this new season of your career discreetly, then that’s okay.  

“You can absolutely update your employer and job title in your LinkedIn profile in peace and quiet. While new job announcements have become more commonplace, they’re optional.” But Samuels, who started using LinkedIn as her own personal branding tool 13 years ago, says you can still inform specific people directly. “Not making an announcement doesn’t mean you can’t reach out to people privately via DM or email. Go ahead and contact your recruiter, former manager, or new coworker.” Contacting key people directly is a good way to keep in touch with them, update them on your career progress, and express an interest in their careers. 

“You can take it a step further and even write a LinkedIn recommendation for your recruiter or former teammates. Besides being a cool thing to do for someone else, expressing gratitude is another way to demonstrate your personal brand as a kind, considerate colleague.” 

19. Remember, personal branding is personal

“So much of personal branding is optional,” says Samuels. “Just because you see others making big announcements or sharing their personal lives doesn’t mean you need to do the same.”

Her advice is clear: Even if you look to other people for ideas, you get to make your own rules about personal branding.

20. Double-check the post before publishing it

Did you accidentally misspell your new job title? Mention the wrong person? Leave something out?

Catch it before you publish it. Make sure your post has the tone and messaging you want and contains no errors. 

21. Review examples before crafting your own

By checking out job announcements on your LinkedIn feed, you can get inspiration for your own post. If that doesn’t help spark your creativity, review these three examples that you can adapt to your own unique personal brand. 

Examples of new job announcements on LinkedIn

Short and sweet

Storytime

Pay it forward