Five months ago a candidate went public on LinkedIn about looking for a new job. Green #OpenToWork banner switched on, an honest post, a clear ask to his network: help me find the right role.

The post landed. Almost 150,000 impressions. Thousands of likes, hundreds of comments, more messages than he could answer. By every metric LinkedIn shows you, a complete success.

He is still searching. No contract, no role that fits. And this is not a one-off — I see the pattern constantly. The most visible candidates are often the ones who search the longest.

I'm Jan Nordh, founder of Nordh Executive Search. Nineteen years in executive search, senior and executive roles in cybersecurity, enterprise software, AI infrastructure and data centers across the DACH region and the Nordics. Before that, 25 years on the other side of the table — enterprise sales, sales leadership, country management, launching US technology vendors into Europe.

Why demand creates trust and searching creates doubt

Picture walking through an unfamiliar city in the evening, looking for somewhere to eat. Two restaurants sit side by side. One is full, with a small queue at the door. The other is empty and the waiter is standing in the doorway waving you in.

Almost everyone picks the full one. Not because there is any proof the food is better. Because demand creates trust. We go where other people already want to go.

The senior job market runs on the same instinct. The candidate who is visibly wanted becomes more wanted. The candidate who is visibly searching has to explain why nobody has taken them yet. It isn't fair. It is how people decide.

Reach is not pipeline

Anyone who has carried a number knows this feeling. Your deal board is full of activity — clicks, meetings, motion everywhere. End of the month arrives and there is still not one qualified opportunity on it.

That is exactly what happens to candidates who maximise visibility. They confuse attention with demand.

There's a second reflex every good enterprise seller has in their gut: you don't cut the price before the customer has asked. The moment you volunteer a discount, you change how you are read. The customer doesn't think "great deal." They think "why is this suddenly negotiable?"

What the green banner actually signals

The #OpenToWork banner is a discount sign you hang around your own neck before anyone has asked for one.

Or picture a busy marketplace. The banner is a sign you hold up in the middle of it. The only question is what the sign says. The candidate believes it reads: experienced leader, available now. Part of the market reads something else entirely: been looking a while, nobody has said yes yet.

Same sign, two different messages. And you don't get to choose which one the decision-maker reads.

When the #OpenToWork banner does work

The banner is not wrong in itself. For plenty of people it works well. Early in your career, restarting after a relocation, without a strong network yet — volume is an advantage. Recruiters actively filter for that signal. At that level, reach genuinely is demand.

Why it backfires at Director, VP and C-level

The higher you climb, the more the math flips. Senior hiring doesn't run on volume. It runs on trust, on scarcity, on the sense that someone is wanted without having to ask.

The green banner plants a quiet, usually unspoken question in an experienced decision-maker's mind: why is this person actually available? Fair or not, that question shows up. At this level, perception is part of the evaluation.

150,000 impressions, zero offers — what that really tells you

Back to the candidate from the start. Almost 150,000 impressions. Impressive number. But the deciding question was never how many people saw the post. It's which people.

A post with 8,000 impressions can produce more real conversations than one with 150,000 — if those 8,000 include the right CEOs, the right CROs and the right headhunters. Being visible and getting hired are two separate things. The goal was never maximum reach. It's maximum credibility.

And here is the uncomfortable moment I wish every strong candidate would sit with. If a post reaches 150,000 people, thousands react, and five months later there is still not one concrete offer — that is not bad luck. That is a signal.

In that moment the wrong question is how to get more reach. The right question is harder: why didn't the banner work? Because when 150,000 impressions and an open-to-work signal don't produce a role, the problem is rarely visibility. It's the approach.

You may be optimising the wrong thing entirely — being seen by as many people as possible, instead of being found by the right ones. By the one headhunter filling the role that fits right now. By the one CEO looking for exactly your profile. Five months and a viral post with nothing to show for it is not a reason to get louder. It's a reason to ask why, honestly. Most people skip that question, because the reach feels like progress. It isn't.

A VP Sales who turned the banner off

An example from my own practice, anonymised. About a year ago I spoke with a very experienced VP Sales. Strong track record, someone who had built tens of millions in ARR over the years. He had been searching a solid six months. Banner on, profile full of keywords, several posts written about his situation. Barely any serious conversations.

Looking at his profile, the problem was obvious in seconds. At first glance you could see that he was looking. What you couldn't see was what he was worth.

We changed two things. Removed the banner. Then rebuilt the profile away from the search and toward results — concrete numbers, concrete turnarounds, concrete teams he had built.

Within weeks the conversations were completely different. He hadn't become a different person. The market simply read him differently. One of the hiring managers said something to me later that stuck: "When someone at that level wears the green banner, I can't help asking myself what the others know that I don't." Unfair. Also exactly how a lot of decision-makers think.

What to do instead: three rules

• Optimise for credibility, not reach. The right 8,000 beat the wrong 150,000. With every post, don't ask how many people will see this. Ask who should see it.

• Lead with results, not availability. Nobody hires you because you're looking. They hire you because you solve a problem their business has right now. Show what you've moved, not that you're free.

• Treat the banner as a tool, not a plan. If you use it, pair it with a strong message about your value. The more senior your target role, the more seriously you should consider the quieter route — direct, targeted outreach to the right decision-makers and the right headhunters almost always beats the public signal.

The quieter option: Open to Work, recruiters only

LinkedIn gives you two ways to signal availability, and most people only know the loud one. The green frame is public. The second option shows your availability exclusively to recruiters using LinkedIn's hiring tools — so the people paid to find you can, and your network, your current employer and the hiring manager evaluating you cannot.

To switch it on:

• Open your LinkedIn profile and find the Open to Work section.

• Click Get Started and add your target job titles, locations and industries.

• Under visibility, choose Recruiters only instead of All LinkedIn members.

• Save.

For most senior candidates this is the better trade: you stay findable in the searches that matter without hanging the sign around your neck. One honest caveat — LinkedIn does not guarantee the recruiters-only setting stays invisible to everyone, particularly if your employer uses LinkedIn Recruiter. It reduces exposure. It doesn't eliminate it.

Because this gets misread so easily, let me say it plainly. There is no shame in looking for a job. None. This isn't about hiding it. It's about making sure your search isn't the first thing a decision-maker reads about you.

The market doesn't hire the person searching the hardest. It hires the person it trusts the most.

FAQ

Does the #OpenToWork banner hurt your chances on LinkedIn?

It depends entirely on your level. Early-career candidates and anyone rebuilding a network benefit from the visibility, because recruiters filter for the signal. At Director, VP and C-level it often works against you: senior hiring runs on scarcity and trust, and the banner invites the question of why nobody has hired you yet.

Should senior executives turn off the #OpenToWork banner?

In most cases yes. Switch the setting to recruiters only instead. At executive level, targeted outreach to specific hiring decision-makers and retained headhunters produces better conversations than a public availability signal. If you keep the banner, pair it with a profile that leads with results — numbers, turnarounds, teams built — rather than with the fact that you are searching.

Do recruiters prioritise candidates with the Open to Work badge?

No. In nineteen years of executive search I have never shortlisted someone because of the badge. Recruiters search on skills, track record and how closely a profile matches the brief. A well-built profile without the banner attracts the same attention — and reads as more deliberate.

Why do candidates with viral LinkedIn posts still struggle to get hired?

Because reach and demand are not the same thing. Impressions measure how many people scrolled past, not whether the right CEOs, CROs and headhunters engaged. Eight thousand impressions in front of the right audience beat 150,000 in front of the wrong one.

About Nordh Executive Search

Nordh Executive Search places senior and executive talent in cybersecurity, enterprise software, AI infrastructure and data centers across the DACH region and the Nordics. If you have questions about your own positioning, reach out on LinkedIn or at nordh.de.