Why your LinkedIn updates might be the ultimate career blunder

August 20, 2026 — 1:01pm

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You might think you’re being stealthy when you start searching for a new job. Without telling anyone about your plans you secretly look up job ads, or you ask quietly around your networks to see if they have any leads.

But no matter how much you believe you’re tip-toeing around in silence, there’s a glaring giveaway that you’re about to walk out the door.

This month researchers confirmed this telltale sign by analysing tens of millions of professional online profiles and watching them change over several years. They noticed that most workers update their profiles on LinkedIn just before they start applying for new roles, and that there’s a direct correlation between when someone edits their page and how soon they’ll begin a new job.

The research was conducted by Stanford Professor Nick Bloom and several of his colleagues. They named the common occurrence of logging in to........

© The Sydney Morning Herald