How to Share Your LinkedIn Profile
The link is easy to copy and easy to break, because changing it leaves every CV you already sent pointing at nothing.
Here is how to share a LinkedIn profile: open the contact info panel on the profile and copy the public URL, or use the share control, which copies the same address. On desktop you can edit that address to your name first, which is worth doing before the link reaches anybody.
The app also offers a QR code for your profile, which is the fastest way to exchange profiles in person.
One caution: changing the URL does not redirect the old one. Anything that already links to it breaks the moment you change it.
A shared link converts better when the profile looks established rather than new, because the first thing a stranger checks is the size of the network behind it. Connections on a LinkedIn profile acts on that number.
That missing redirect is a small technical fact with an outsized consequence, because of when people tend to change the address.
The usual sequence is this. Someone tidies their profile before a job search, notices the URL has numbers in it, cleans it up — and only then starts sending it out. That order is fine.
The damaging order is the other one: send the CV, then clean up the URL. Every recruiter holding that document now has a link to a profile that does not exist, and LinkedIn returns a not-found page rather than taking them to the new address. Nobody searches for your name after a dead link; they move to the next candidate.
The same applies to the link in an email signature, on a company team page, in a conference bio and on other profiles. Those are all copies, and none of them updates itself.
So: change the address once, early, to something you can keep. Then treat it as fixed. A middle initial or a short trade descriptor is a better permanent choice than a number that reads like a temporary workaround.
Finding and copying the link
On the profile, open contact info. The public profile URL is the first line.
On desktop there is also an edit public profile and URL panel on the right, which shows the address and the controls that affect what it displays.
On the phone, the share control on your own profile copies the link directly.
The link works for anyone, including people without a LinkedIn account, as long as public visibility is on.
Changing the address
The edit control accepts letters, numbers and hyphens, within a length limit.
Names are taken first come, first served. A common name may need a middle initial, a city or a trade.
Once changed, the old address is released and can be claimed by someone else, which is an argument for not experimenting.
There is a limit on how often it can be changed in a period, which exists to stop exactly that experimenting.
A name that is already taken is the usual obstacle, and the workarounds differ in quality. A middle initial or a second surname reads as a person. A number reads as an account that was created in a hurry, and a trade appended to the name ages badly when the trade changes. If the name is genuinely common, adding the city is the version that still works in five years, because people move employers far more often than they move countries.
Sharing a profile that is not finished
There is a version of this question that is really about timing, and it has a practical answer.
If the profile is mid-rewrite, switch off sharing profile updates before editing, so the network is not told about every change, and only then send the link.
If a recruiter asked for it today and the profile is thin, fill three things first: the headline, the current role with the company attached, and the about section. Everything else can wait, and those three carry the first screen.
If you are sending it in an application, send the custom URL rather than the numeric one. The numeric address reads as an account that has never been looked at.
And check the profile while signed out, in a private window. That is what the other person sees, and it is routinely narrower than what you see.
The QR code, and when it is better
The app generates a QR code for your profile and can scan someone else's.
In person it beats typing a name, particularly a name that is spelled in more than one way.
It is the same public profile underneath, so the same visibility settings apply.
It also avoids the connection request queue: the other person lands on your profile and decides, rather than receiving a request they may ignore.
The link is only worth sharing once the profile holds up, which building the profile itself covers, and what a visitor actually sees depends on the public settings described in what the public version shows.
Sharing someone else's profile
The share control on another person's profile offers sending it in a message or copying the link.
Sharing a profile is not an introduction. If you want one, say who they are and why, because the recipient sees a link and nothing else.
People can see when their profile is viewed, but not when it is shared.
If the person has public visibility off, the link you send will not work for anyone outside LinkedIn.
One courtesy that costs nothing: when you send somebody's profile to a third party, say why in the same message. A bare link asks the recipient to work out what you want, and it is the reason most shared profiles are never opened.
What the person sees when they arrive
What is public is controlled by you, section by section, in the public profile settings.
A profile with the experience section hidden from the public view looks empty to a signed-out visitor, which defeats the point of sharing the link.
The headline and photo carry most of the first impression, since they are what appears before any scrolling.
And the activity section is public by default. If you share your profile with clients, look at what your recent likes say about you.
A profile that opens to an empty network answers a question the visitor did not mean to ask. Connections on a LinkedIn profile acts on that first impression, and the other LinkedIn services we carry are listed in one place.
Questions people ask about the profile link
Where is my LinkedIn profile URL?
In the contact info panel on your profile, and in the edit public profile and URL panel on desktop.
Can I change my LinkedIn URL?
Yes, to any available combination of letters, numbers and hyphens. There is a limit on how often it can be changed.
Does the old URL redirect to the new one?
No. It stops working, and anything already linking to it breaks, which is why the change should come before you share it.
Can people without an account open my link?
Yes, as long as public profile visibility is on. Otherwise they are asked to sign in and see nothing.
How do I share my profile in person?
Use the QR code in the app. The other person scans it and lands on your profile.
Is the person told when I share their profile?
No. Sharing is not notified, although viewing their profile is.
Keep reading
- connections on a LinkedIn profile — A shared link converts better when the profile looks established rather than new, and connections on a LinkedIn profile acts on the number people check first.
- building the profile itself — The link is only worth sharing once the profile holds up, and building the profile itself covers the fields that matter.
- what the public version shows — Public visibility decides what a visitor sees, and what the public version shows explains the per-section controls.