LinkedIn publicly open to work

[Toomanylosthours]

I’ve spent four years raising serious financial/legal risks at work and doing most of the follow‑up work on top of my actual job. I manage a team of 20 and despite awards and praise from senior leadership, nothing has been done to reduce the pressure. Yesterday another known risk was realised and I completely snapped at my manager via teams with both of us WFH. Which is extremely unprofessional of me .My LinkedIn has been set to “open to work” for recruiters only for six months, but my niche job title means I barely show up in searches. I’m now thinking of switching to a public “open to work” banner. My husband thinks it’s too much. I feel like it’s the only boundary I can set after years of unpaid overtime and being devalued. It risks alerting my direct reports to my unhappiness but will also allow them to understand why im not available 10 to 12 hours a day

YABU to change to public open to recruitment on linkedin and shoukd keep to recruiters only view
YANBU and should change my LinkedIn to publicly open to work

I think you should take 24 hours to cool off and then think constructively about 1) boundaries to put jn place and 2) practical steps that support you finding a new job.

Do not do something petty, unprofessional and not especially productive.

Thank you for your response. Just to add a little extra context, I previously requested an occupational health assessment after a month off with stress, but I received no follow‑up. Since then, I’ve taken steps to involve HR, mentoring, and coaching as part of resolving the issues. My team has also raised a formal complaint with HR that has remained unresolved for nine months, and they are now at their wits’ end with both the ongoing problems and the lack of progress. I’m absorbing as many of the issues as I can, which is leaving me increasingly isolated, patience has now vanished. If you have any suggestions I'd welcome these

Wouldn’t it be more sensible to either approach recruiters yourself, or amend your job title to something less niche?

Yabu, and it won’t set boundaries it’s just going to make work life even more awkward for you. As @titchy says just be more proactive reaching out to recruiters in your field to be like I’m looking to move to progress my career can you keep me in mind etc

I think even the public open to work setting on LinkedIn aims to hide itself from others in the same organisation. So they may not see. But if they do see, given what you've said is that such a bad thing? I'm not sure how doing this would "set a boundary" for you - it's not going to lead to them suddenly taking steps to resolve all the issues you've flagged. It might just mean others in your network flaf opportunities to you.
Are you actively in touch with recruiters and what other roles you may have relevant skills for even if they aren't directly in your niche area? If it's all as bad as you say where you are and nothing changing, I think active steps towards moving are needed rather than just changing LinkedIn settings.

If you want a different job, then speak to an agency, or start job hunting.
If you just switching your LinkedIn to make a passive aggressive point to your seniors, then YABU.

sounds like a very stressful time for you, but kindly, I think you’re looking at the LinkedIn banner as a boundary, when it isn’t really one.

You’ve spent four years raising concerns, taking on extra work and working 10-12 hour days. The fact that nothing meaningful has changed suggests your employer already knows there’s a problem and has decided not to fix it.

If you’re ready to leave, then by all means use the public Open to Work banner if you think it will help recruiters find you. But I’d do it because it’s a useful job-search tool (if it is) not because it’s a message to your employer.

IMO, the boundary that matters isn’t a LinkedIn setting. It’s deciding what hours you’re prepared to work, what responsibilities are actually yours, and what happens when more work is handed to you than can realistically be done. Is everything REALLY your responsibility?

Also, don’t beat yourself up about ‘snapping’ at your colleague. It sounds as though you’re exhausted and have been carrying a huge amount of pressure for a very long time. One bad moment doesn’t erase four years of trying to do the right thing.

From what you’ve written, I’d put my energy into finding a new role rather than hoping this one will suddenly become what you need it to be. Four years is a long time to wait for change 💕

If you are serious about getting another job then just putting the green halo on will do nothing to help. All it will do is damage relationships in your current role. The job market is really bad at the moment. Many I know including myself have taken many months to find new roles. My point is you'd better have something solid lined up before you make it public you want to leave.

Yeah that’s not a barrier. Not doing the additional work is a barrier. Try that.

Sorry, I am already speaking with recruiters and have my CV on several job sites, im prepared to take up to a 20% cut in salary. Adjusting my profile to jnclude a more generalised job title is definitely an option and something i hadnt previously considered. As for boundaries, I’m not expecting my employer to change. I know it’s time to leave. But I’m thkight it may help my peers and direct reports to understand why I'm not as committed as I once was, which might lower their expectations of me. Even after a really unprofessional argument with my manager yesterday, I still stayed 2.5 hours past my contracted finish because I didn’t want to let my team down. I know I’m my own worst enemy.

I have someone on my team who changes her status to publicly open to work whenever she gets pissed off about something. We all just roll our eyes as it’s so passive aggressive. I don’t think it means very much these days, I’ve always just reached out to recruiters when I’ve been job hunting and not relied on them finding me.

Can you not set a boundary with your direct reports in terms of contact and expected response timescales, and explain your your peers you need to protect your wellbeing so will be working fewer extra hours etc? A stated, explicit boundary that you stick to will do much more than anything you post on social media - your idea smacks of “vaguebooking” rather than setting a boundary.

Oh I tried this. If I let something drop i get asked why, when it'll get done, told to do it whilst another thing then drops which I then get told is a priority and that's when the really demotivating phrase is pulled out by my own manager "you're not the only one that's busy and stressed". It's a vicious cycle. Somehow he seems to think all the priorities can be done without a ball drop

But I’m thkight it may help my peers and direct reports to understand why I'm not as committed as I once was, which might lower their expectations of me.
it won’t, passive aggressive style open to work won’t change anything positive for you at work. While waiting for a suitable job you need to just stick to boundaries at work and set realistic expectations rather than trying to absorb all the problems.

This smacks of changing your relationship status to “it’s complicated” in 2010 to signal to your friends that you’ve had an argument with your boyfriend. It’s not going to get you more job offers. I’ve never had any results from Linkedin job ads or recruiters and would recommend looking at Indeed and also tweaking your job title to get past the AI sift.

Thanks all, so general consensus is to up my game on job searches and let the balls drop at work which os the only way to set those healthy boundaries without feeling guilty.

This was definitely not the intention.

I've actually been pretty successful with LinkedIn over the years, with headhunters. Everyrole ive had in the past 20+ years has been found via word of mouth or headhunters

Isn't this know as a Linkedin Flounce? I heard the term at work.

Ultimately it could be detrimental to you if your employers at work see it. Just leave if you are unhappy rather than playing pass agg games.

Reminds me of the posters on MN who write those long 'I'm Leaving because...' and then next month they are back in the same topics but under a different name.

Pending actually leaving, all you can do is keep putting the ball back in his court.

Tell him "this task will take about 4 to 8 hours, do you want me to do it before or after that other task that will take about 2 to 3 days"

It is your job to estimate (with a wide margin for error) how long each task will take and how much time you have free each day after any daily or weekly routine tasks. Also tell him if the time is impossible to estimate or if it will be extended as snags and issues are uncovered.

It is his job to prioritise your tasks once you give him this information.

Don't be available outside your designated working hours. Just log out, switch off your phone, and be unobtainable until the next working day.

Never put yourself as "open to work" on LinkedIn. It makes you look desperate and undesirable.

Essentially. I would recommend you sort out your ability to set to set boundaries* before you take a new job. Most workplaces take the piss if you let them. I’m guessing that moving jobs is a big deal to you (based on the fact you’ve stayed somewhere that you’re miserable for 4 years) so don’t take the risk of going into the new job and having the same problems follow you.

*Of course your employer will resist any attention you to set boundaries that don’t benefit them. You have to manage that, that is part of the process.