🎃#HUNTOBER2026

LinkedIn LOCKED-IN

Leon Noel · 100Devs

U.S. applicants with a first-degree connection already at the company were nearly 7× more likely to be hired.

Source: LinkedIn Network Lift analysis (LinkedIn News, Sep 2026)

Agenda

Today's plan

01Why LinkedIn, why now

02Profile teardown

03How recruiters search

04Networking and outreach

05Learning in public

06Job search features

07Mistakes and scams

08Weekly plan and homework

Compiled from LinkedIn, recruiter, and creator sources · full list on the Sources slides

SLOP CANNON

Why this matters now

The market is crowded and runs on trust

64%

of U.S. talent acquisition pros say it's harder to know who to trust and what's real.

Applying alone isn't enough. An inside connection made applicants nearly 7× more likely to be hired.

Sources: NY Fed · LinkedIn News (Sep 2026) · LinkedIn Network Lift

The mental model

LinkedIn is a search engine + a trust network

Search engine

–Every section is indexed. Complete profiles surface first.
–Recruiters search location + skills + experience.
–Feed and matching read your industry, skills, experience, and geography.

Trust network

–Every comment, post, and DM carries your photo and headline.
–Recruiters' AI weighs verification, relevant experience, and connected apps.
–People hire people they know: an inside connection ≈ 7×.

Plain, accurate, specific beats clever. The human and the AI both need to “get” you in seconds.

Sources: Tiger Sisters · Jeff Su · Lara Hadry · LinkedIn News (Mar & Sep 2026)

Profile · Photo + banner

Look like a real, current dev

–Clear head-and-shoulders shot, smiling, or demonstrating your already do the job you want.
–Free fix: remove.bg plus a Canva gradient background.
–Banner: your stack, what you build, what you do
–Get verified with a free ID or workplace check.

21×

more profile views with a photo (older LinkedIn figure)

~90%

more profile views for verified members (LinkedIn, Sep 2026)

Sources: Cindy Dodd · Jeff Su · Lara Hadry · Matt Gray · Tobi Oluwole · LinkedIn Blog & News

Profile · Headline

Target title + stack + proof

Target title

The exact words recruiters type

3–5 keywords

Your real stack, from target postings

One value line

Optional: proof or a human hook

Example

Software Engineer | JavaScript · React · Node · PostgreSQL | Leader @ (Meetup You Made)

–Career changer? Software Engineer”
–“Software Engineer” plus your languages tells a recruiter more than “Web Developer.”
–Skip creator-style “own a word” headlines. They're built for founders, not search.

Sources: Lara Hadry · Cindy Dodd · Jeff Su · Matt Gray · Will Rhudy (Codecademy)

Profile · About

The 30-second pitch: the 3 S's

Your voice. One human line about who you are.

Sell

What you build, with numbers, and how to reach you.

Search-optimized

The keywords from your target postings.

Structure: intro line → 3 proof bullets with numbers → target roles → email CTA

–Be “one in a million, not one of a million.” Cut any line that could describe anyone.
–Write it yourself, in first person. LinkedIn's AI writer is a last resort.

Sources: Tiger Sisters (Sherri) · Jeff Su · Lara Hadry

Profile · Featured + Projects

Show, don't tell

75%

of hirers say context on how a skill was used is important.

4.5×

year-over-year growth in posts showcasing projects and products.

Featured

–Live app links
–A demo video
–A pinned build-in-public post
–A case study: problem → tools → obstacles → result
–Not your resume

Projects

–Name it and describe your role
–Tag the ~5 skills you used
–Link GitHub: recruiters look for consistency
–Connected Apps can show the tools you actually use

Sources: Lara Hadry · Cindy Dodd · LinkedIn Talent Blog · LinkedIn News (Jun 2026) · Codecademy

Profile · Experience

Career changers: reframe, don't hide

Instead of	Do this
Listing duties	2–3 bullets per role about results, with numbers
Hiding your past career	Reframe it as transferable skills
Leaving dev work off	Add projects, freelance, OSS, and volunteer builds above it
Skills floating on their own	Tie each skill to the roles where you used it
Inflating titles or tenure	Rename only for equivalent work. Never invent SWE titles.

Sources: Cindy Dodd · Lara Hadry · Will Rhudy (Codecademy) · LinkedIn Talent Blog

Profile · Skills

Skills are the field recruiters filter on

48%

of hirers on LinkedIn explicitly use skills data to fill roles

2×

more profile views and connection requests with at least one skill

4×

more messages with at least one skill (up to)

6.1×

bigger talent pool with skills-based vs. title-based hiring

–List up to 50 and pin your top 5. Aim for 15–25 that match your target postings.
–Mine 5–10 real job descriptions and reuse their terms in headline, About, Experience, and Skills.
–Get endorsements on core skills. LinkedIn says they lift you in Recruiter searches.

Sources: LinkedIn Talent Blog · LinkedIn Economic Graph · Jeff Su · Lara Hadry · Codecademy

Example · fictional profile, placeholder numbers

Before / after: entry level dev profile

	Before	After
Photo	Gray avatar, default banner	Headshot + stack banner
Headline	“Seeking opportunities”	Software Engineer \| JavaScript · React · Node · MongoDB \| Built a 2,000-user habit tracker \| Ex-Retail Ops → Dev
About	Empty	3 S's: voice, proof with numbers, email
Proof	None	Featured: live app, demo, build-in-public post · Projects with tagged skills
Experience	“Retail Associate: stocked shelves”	Results: “cut inventory errors 15%”
Skills	Microsoft Office, Teamwork, HTML	15–25 targeted skills, top 5 pinned
Settings	linkedin.com/in/jane-doe-8a7b3c12 · Open to Work off	Custom URL · verified · Open to Work (recruiters only toggled frequently)

Example only. Fixes from slides 5–10: Lara Hadry · Jeff Su · Cindy Dodd · Tiger Sisters · LinkedIn Talent Blog

Settings

Five minutes of switches

1Turn off “Share profile updates with your network” before you edit.

2Open to Work: Recruiters only and then switch it off

3Add your changes! Title, about, ect.

4Set workplace types and locations. Profile location = where you want to work.

5Claim a custom URL.

2×

more likely to get a recruiter message with Open to Work on.

Recruiters-only still puts you in the Recruiter “open to work” filter. Hiding it from your current employer isn't guaranteed.

Sources: LinkedIn newsletter & Help Center · Bonnie Dilber · Jeff Su · Lara Hadry

Getting found

How recruiters actually search

LinkedIn's own Boolean example

("developer" OR "programmer" OR "engineer")
AND ("java" OR "C++")
AND NOT ("intern" OR "junior")

–Use several title variants and spell out your stack.
–Filters: job titles, location, companies, skills, schools, industries, languages.
–Recruiters can also filter by interest in their company and connections there.

“If you aren't talking about what you've actually been working on, you're probably not going to come up.”

Tech recruiter, via Codecademy

Sources: LinkedIn Recruiter Help Center · Bonnie Dilber · Codecademy tech recruiter

Network

Follow → engage → connect → ask small

Engineers and managers at target companies, alumni, meetup speakers.

Engage

Thoughtful comments on their posts, so they know your name first.

Connect

Fix your profile first. They check it before accepting.

Ask small

Advice before referrals. Save your 3 monthly notes for top targets.

personalized invite notes per month on a free account, 200 characters max

~3×

as likely to get connection requests if you interact with your network's posts

83%

of Millennial and Gen X professionals say they'd help someone early in their career

Sources: LinkedIn Help Center · LinkedIn News (Sep 2026) · Harry Long · Bonnie Dilber

Posting · Learning in public

Stories
beat facts.

Tobi Oluwole's breakthrough was a personal story, changing his name on his resume, after 30–40 dry posts.

Format: hook in the first lines · 8–12 short lines · plain English · one visual

What to post as a Entry Level dev

–What I shipped this week
–A bug I fixed, and how
–Today I learned
–A project demo (GIF or video)
–A recap of a meetup talk
–Lessons from my past career, applied to code

Create “learning exhaust” and help your past self. Be willing to be wrong. — swyx

Sources: Tobi Oluwole · Matt Gray · swyx, “Learn in Public” · Harry Long

Posting · Cadence

Be consistent, comment well, don't game it

Your rhythm

1–3 posts a week + daily comments

–Comments are content: thoughtful ones put your face and headline in front of engineers and hiring managers.
–Reply fast on your own posts with a follow-up question, especially in the first hour.
–Review your monthly stats and repeat what works.

LinkedIn now demotes (Mar 2026)

–Automated comments
–Engagement pods
–Engagement bait (“comment to agree”)
–Recycled posts

Founder growth hacks (lead magnets, DM funnels) are off-target for job seekers.

Sources: LinkedIn News (Mar 2026) · Cindy Dodd · Harry Long · Matt Gray · Tobi Oluwole

Mistakes

Common mistakes, quick fixes

“Seeking opportunities” headline

→ Target title + stack

Empty or AI-generic About

→ 3 S's with proof

Padded, irrelevant skills

→ 15–25 targeted skills, top 5 pinned

No proof of work

→ Featured + Projects with live links

Cold “refer me?” DMs

→ Warm up first: follow, engage, ask small

Inflated titles or claims

→ Honest titles. Recruiters and verification catch it.

Sources: Lara Hadry · Cindy Dodd · Tiger Sisters · Jeff Su · Codecademy · LinkedIn Talent Blog & News

Safety

Red flags and scams aimed at entry level devs

90%

of reported scam messages try to move you off-platform, to WhatsApp or Telegram.

32% of Gen Z say they've been scam victims. FTC: $79.5M in reported job-scam losses in 2025.

Red flags

–Early asks for ID or sensitive info, upfront fees, equipment purchases
–Pressure to act fast, recruiters on Gmail, chat-only “interviews”
–Verify the job on the company's own careers site

Dev-specific: “Contagious Interview”

A fake recruiter sends a take-home repo. npm install or trusting it in VS Code runs malware that steals tokens, keys, and wallets. Use a throwaway VM and read package.json scripts and .vscode/tasks.json first.

Sources: LinkedIn Job Search Safety Pulse (May 2026) · USA Today / FTC · Microsoft Security · LinkedIn Help

Sources · 1 of 2

Videos, recruiters, and reporting

Videos

Tiger Sisters, “I Worked at LinkedIn. Here's How to Fix Your Profile.” · https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCAHgny6a4Q

Cindy Dodd, “LinkedIn Tutorial for Beginners (2026)” · https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCkgBTmAb9E

Matt Gray, “how to BEAT the new LinkedIn algorithm in 16 minutes” · https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H4uouOn7lI

Harry Long, “LinkedIn Is About To Change Forever” · https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y54ugabHNt0

Tobi Oluwole, “How I Got 400,000 LinkedIn Followers (And Made $6M)” · https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekJchiNqzWk

Jeff Su, “5 MUST-KNOW LinkedIn Profile Tips for Job Seekers!” · https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4OhuzwLc9o

Lara Isabella Hadry, “10 LinkedIn Profile Fixes You Must Make in 2026” · https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAkpljITW90

Recruiters, reporting, and other

Bonnie Dilber (Zapier) on Recruiter search · https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bonnie-dilber_if-you-hear-from-a-recruiter-on-linkedin-activity-7291838719366443008-TKDH

Codecademy, LinkedIn tips from a tech recruiter (2022) · https://www.codecademy.com/resources/blog/linkedin-tips-from-tech-recruiter

Jeff Su, referral playbook post (2025) · https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jsu05_google-activity-7355945455085654016-5NgZ

CNBC Make It, Catherine Fisher on specific asks (Oct 2026) · https://www.cnbc.com/make-it/2026/10/20/networking-specific-ask-linkedin-career-expert.html

Business Insider, apply-speed data (Jul 2025) · https://www.businessinsider.com/job-opening-apply-fast-linkedin-indeed-2025-7

NY Fed, Labor Market for Recent College Graduates · https://www.newyorkfed.org/research/college-labor-market

USA Today, FTC/FBI job-scam data (May 2026) · https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2026/05/21/fake-recruiters-ai-job-scams/90182324007/

Microsoft Security, Contagious Interview (Mar 2026) · https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2026/03/11/contagious-interview-malware-delivered-through-fake-developer-job-interviews/

swyx, “Learn in Public” · https://swyx.io/learn-in-public

Sources · 2 of 2

LinkedIn primary sources

LinkedIn Newsroom, Help Center, Talent Blog, Economic Graph

Network Lift / Gen Z networking research (Sep 2026) · https://news.linkedin.com/2026/linkedin-research-gen-z-professionals-are-becoming-key-business-decision-makers-yet-72-lack-confidence-to-turn-contacts-into-career-opportunities

Hiring Assistant 2 and hiring data (Sep 2026) · https://news.linkedin.com/2026/hiring-assistant-2

Feed changes: LLM ranking, pods, bait (Mar 2026) · https://news.linkedin.com/2026/ImprovingTheFeed

Job Search Safety Pulse (May 2026) · https://news.linkedin.com/2026/LinkedIn-Job-Search-Safety-Pulse

Verification expansion (Sep 2026) · https://news.linkedin.com/2026/linkedin-launches-new-verification-features-to-build-professional-trust

Connected Apps (Jun 2026) · https://news.linkedin.com/2026/visibility-builds-credibility---the-tools-you-use-every-day--now

Talent Blog, skills on your profile (Apr 2024) · https://www.linkedin.com/business/talent/blog/talent-acquisition/skills-on-linkedin-profile

Economic Graph, Skills-Based Hiring (Mar 2025) · https://economicgraph.linkedin.com/content/dam/me/economicgraph/en-us/PDF/skills-based-hiring-march-2025.pdf

All-Star profile tips (photo stats) · https://www.linkedin.com/blog/member/product/tuesday-tips-how-to-be-an-all-star-with-your-linkedin-profile

Open to Work 2× recruiter messages (newsletter) · https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/job-potential-3-linkedin-8it6c

Help: Open to Work · https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a507508

Help: Privacy for shared career interests · https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a510407

Help: Personalize invitations · https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a563153

Help: Invitation limit reached · https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a550555

Help: Apply for jobs (Easy Apply vs. Apply) · https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a512388

Help: Boolean in Recruiter · https://www.linkedin.com/help/recruiter/answer/a415295

Help: Boolean search on LinkedIn.com · https://www.linkedin.com/help/recruiter/answer/a524335

Talent Blog, Boolean precedence · https://www.linkedin.com/business/talent/blog/product-tips/measurably-improve-your-boolean-search

Help: Verification badge on job posts · https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a1492056

Help: Recognize and report scams · https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a1336387