How to Set an Out of Office on LinkedIn

Holiday season. Out of office replies everywhere. And then there is the dream candidate who finally decides to respond right after you left.

You get back, you see their reply, you rush to follow up, and you hope they have not already signed somewhere else. This is avoidable.

LinkedIn lets you set an out of office message in both your personal account and LinkedIn Recruiter. Most people do not know about the Recruiter version.

Your Personal LinkedIn Account

Go to linkedin.com/messaging and click the three dots at the top. A dropdown appears with "Set away message" as the last option.

Click it and a screen opens where you set a start date, end date, and message (maximum 300 characters).

Note: you need a paid LinkedIn account to use this feature.

Your LinkedIn Recruiter or Recruiter Lite Account

In LinkedIn Recruiter and Recruiter Lite, go to your message inbox, click the gear icon in the bottom left, and select Away Messages. A similar screen opens as on your personal account.

One difference: the character limit in Recruiter is only 200 characters. Keep it short.

Set the message before you leave. The candidate who replies on day three of your holiday gets an honest answer instead of silence. That impression lasts.