After months of sending in applications, fielding emails from recruiters, and attending interviews, you finally found a new job. Congratulations!

But before you officially make the switch to your new firm, you’ll need to tie up some loose ends first — like handing in your letter of resignation to your current employer and signing employment agreements with your new company. In the midst of this whirlwind of change, you might be wondering when you should go public about your new role — by announcing your new position on LinkedIn, for example.

When should you update your LinkedIn profile?

Our advice? Hold off for at least two weeks after you've started your role before updating your LinkedIn profile. Here's why.

Why wait to update your LinkedIn profile?

You’re really excited for your new role and want your whole network to know as soon as possible. So why bother waiting at all? Why not flash your new title the moment you put in your two weeks’ notice?

There’s a chance your new job won’t work out

We don’t want to be the bearer of bad news here, but there’s still a small chance your new job might fall through. While it’s uncommon for employers to renege on a job offer, it’s not unheard of. After all, things aren’t truly official until you’ve sat down in your new company’s office.

Not only that, some jobs even come with a probationary period, where employers closely monitor your performance on the job to decide if you’re really the best fit for the role. Probationary periods usually don’t last for too long — most conclude within the first few weeks or months — but it’s most ideal to wait this length of time out before you share your new job with your professional network.

You may not like the job

Probation is often seen as an opportunity for employers to evaluate new employees, but it also gives new hires the chance to see if the role is right for them. You may decide several weeks into your new job that it just isn’t for you — and decide to quit right then and there. As a result, it’s best to wait until you know you’ll be here to stay before you formally announce this new change on LinkedIn.

You’re swamped with work

New hires are often asked to hit the ground running, so you might not have time to do much outside your new job. Not only will you have to familiarize yourself with new surroundings, software applications, and co-workers, you’ll also need to adapt to new processes, standards, and procedures. In other words, merely acclimating to your new job will fill up your entire plate, so save LinkedIn for later.

You don’t know what the role entails

Updating your LinkedIn profile to reflect your new position isn’t as simple as inputting your new job title. You’ll also need to describe the position and offer details on what you’re doing. However, as a new hire, you’re often left with more questions than answers over your job duties — and may not have the information you need to describe your new role as well as you’d like. Wait until you have a better understanding of what the job is really like before you put it into your own words on LinkedIn.

Announcing your new job on LinkedIn — a few templates

Template 1: Thanking your previous company

When you're settled in to your new role, you can start updating your LinkedIn profile. In this section, we'll give you a few templates you can use to announce that you've joined a new team.

After [X] incredible years at [Previous Company], I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve joined [New Company, e.g. Resume Worded] to [1 liner of what you're doing, e.g. 'lead our research and product development team.]

What excites me most about Resume Worded? Two things: The mission and the people.

We live in a world where people are changing their careers every 2 years. This is crazy compared to ten years ago, where people stuck with their industry or company for ten+ years. Resume Worded is at the centre of this transition, and it's equipping jobseekers with all the right tools and support they need to make the right career decisions and changes.

Resume Worded's leadership and our talent universe are comprised of pioneers, category creators, and technology geniuses who, most importantly, are also all-around great humans. I’m so honored to be a part of this amazing team, where I get to learn from [John Doe, Stephanie Steph, e.g. you can tag people in here]!

Thank you to [Alice Peter, Peter Smith, ... tag people who helped you in the job search] and the Resume Worded product team for this opportunity—and to [perhaps a recruiter who helped you, or someone you'd like to call out again] for bringing me here.

If you’re ready to join the movement to help jobseekers change their careers to what they want to do, please reach out to me. We are hiring!

This template is excellent if you want to call out specific things about your new company — as well as thank people who helped on your job search or people you're excited to meet at your new company.

Template 2: Simple LinkedIn post to announce your new job.

Here's a second template from a LinkedIn user (with details anonymized).

Template 3: Simple LinkedIn post to announce your new job.

Here's a third sample post that is short and effective at giving an overview

Tips for updating your LinkedIn profile in a professional manner

Start with the basics and go from there

This one’s pretty self-explanatory. Find the correct organization, put in your official job title, and enter your start date — defined as the first day on the job, and not the day you received your offer letter.

List your job duties and accomplishments in bullet point format, and quantify them if you can. Keep your content short and digestible, and avoid long sentences. Start each bullet point with an action verb — words like “created”, “sourced”, “gathered”, “negotiated”, or “coordinated”. Also, include a sentence or two on the company and its clients — who are you working for, what do they do, and who do they serve?

Update your LinkedIn headline, too. This is the first thing people see when hovering over your profile, and it’s a great attention-grabber.

You can update your LinkedIn headline by including keywords relevant to your new role. Use the tool below to find the best ones.

Optimize your LinkedIn profile

Beyond headlines and written descriptions, there are a myriad of other things you can do to make your LinkedIn profile more attractive and tailored to anyone who might stumble upon it. This may help you generate leads, find future job opportunities, or meet new people. Resume Worded’s LinkedIn Review can offer you pointed feedback on how to polish your profile and increase your visibility. Below, we offer even more suggestions to help you take your LinkedIn to the next level.

Include links to job-related projects

LinkedIn gives you the option to link relevant primary sources. projects, papers, or sites to your new position. This is an excellent way to optimize your profile and showcase examples of work you’ve done on the job, so use it to your advantage. After all, showing — rather than telling — is one of the best things you can do to allow your network to really understand what you’re up to.

Update your account only when you need to

This ties closely back to what was mentioned in the first half of the article, but it bears repeating that you should only update your profile when you have something of substance to add. Specifically, announce new roles and duties only after the details have been set in stone. Don’t write that you’re a “future” or “incoming” hire at a company, even if you’ve accepted the new job offer. Additionally, don’t post anything until you’ve left your current job — doing otherwise may dampen your current firm’s perception of you.

Remove internships once you’re working full-time

Once you’re onto your second or third full-time job, you can safely remove any internship experience you might have had while you were in college. This keeps your LinkedIn looking fresh and neat. After all, most people aren’t interested in knowing about a two-month summer stint when you’ve had three years of full-time work experience post-graduation.

Related: How To Update Your LinkedIn After Graduation

More things to do when announcing your new role

You don’t have to stick strictly to your profile when switching roles. Take the opportunity to write a post about your time at your current job — what you did, what you learned, who you worked with, and how you felt about working there. Thank your co-workers, supervisors, and mentors, and tag them on LinkedIn if they have a profile.

Finally, do the same for your new job, and mention your new company and role. Tag your hiring manager or future supervisor, and let them know that you’re excited to work with them. It’ll be a great way to start things off on the right foot.