How to Help Tax Recruiters Find you on LinkedIn - Without Your Employer Knowing

12 minutes ago

4 min read

You might not be actively looking for a new role. But that doesn't mean you wouldn't be interested if the right opportunity came along.

For experienced tax professionals at Manager, Senior Manager, Director and Partner level, this is often how the best career moves begin. You’re performing well in your current position; you don't necessarily want colleagues or your employer to know you are considering your options, but you would still like to hear about opportunities that could move your career forward.

The good news is that you don't need to announce that you're looking for a new job. With a few considered changes to your LinkedIn profile, you can make yourself much easier for specialist tax recruiters to find while keeping your job search discreet.

Make your headline searchable

Your LinkedIn headline is one of the first things a recruiter will see, but it is also an important part of how you appear in searches.

Simply listing your job title can limit your visibility, particularly if your employer uses internal or unusual job titles. Instead, include the terminology recruiters are likely to search for.

For example: International Tax Senior Manager | Corporate & International Tax | Pillar Two | Tax Advisory

Or: Transfer Pricing Director | International Tax | TP Advisory | Financial Services

This doesn't tell your employer you are looking for another role. It simply makes your expertise clearer, while helping recruiters searching for those skills to find you.

Use the right keywords throughout your profile

Recruiters don't always search LinkedIn by job title alone.

They may be looking for someone with experience in a specific tax area, sector, client type or technical discipline. So think about the terms someone would use if they were trying to find a professional with your experience. Depending on your specialism, these could include:

Corporate Tax
International Tax
Transfer Pricing
VAT / Indirect Tax
M&A Tax
Tax Technology
Tax Transformation
Pillar Two
R&D Tax
Financial Services Tax
Private Client Tax
Tax Advisory
Tax Compliance

Recruiters may also search for professionals with experience in specific industry sectors. If you’ve developed specialist tax expertise within areas such as Financial Services, Real Estate, Energy, Technology, Consumer Markets or Private Equity, make this clear on your profile too. Sector knowledge can be particularly valuable for roles where employers are looking for someone who already understands the commercial and tax challenges facing their industry.

Include relevant terminology throughout your headline, About section and experience. The objective isn't to stuff your profile with keywords. It is to make sure LinkedIn, and the recruiter, can quickly understand where your expertise lies.

Don’t neglect your About section

Your About section gives recruiters context that your job title alone cannot provide. However, it doesn't need to read like a CV or say that you are looking for opportunities. Instead, use it to summarise your professional expertise, the areas of tax you specialise in and the type of work you have been responsible for.

At Manager level and above, consider highlighting areas such as team leadership, client portfolios, business development, international exposure, complex advisory projects and specialist technical knowledge.

This gives recruiters a much better idea of your level and experience before they approach you.

Use LinkedIn’s private career-interest setting carefully

LinkedIn provides options that can allow you to signal your interest in new opportunities to recruiters without displaying the public #OpenToWork banner on your profile. If discretion matters, review your privacy and job-seeking settings before switching anything on.

No online setting can guarantee that your employer will never become aware that you are exploring opportunities, so it is still sensible to consider your own circumstances and how confidential you need your search to be. And importantly, you don't have to use an Open to Work setting at all to be found. A well-optimised profile can still appear in recruiter searches.

Turn off profile update notifications before making changes

This is an easy one to overlook. If you're planning to significantly update your LinkedIn profile, review your visibility settings first.

You may not want your network receiving notifications while you suddenly rewrite your About section, update several previous roles and add a long list of new skills.

Updating your profile isn't unusual – and it certainly doesn't automatically mean you're looking for another job – but keeping profile changes quieter can help if discretion is important to you.

Build the right network before you need it

You don't have to wait until you are actively looking for a job to connect with recruiters. Building those relationships earlier can be much more valuable.

Connect with recruiters who specialise in your area of tax and the locations that interest you. Follow their content and pay attention to the types of opportunities and market updates they share. When you eventually decide, you are ready for a conversation; you already know who operates within your market.

Likewise, being connected makes it easier for recruiters to keep you in mind when something particularly relevant arises.

Be specific when a recruiter contacts you

Getting found is only the first step.

When a specialist recruiter approaches you, you don't necessarily need to say, "Yes, I'm looking for a new job." You can simply be open to a confidential conversation.

If there are circumstances that would make you consider moving, tell them.

Perhaps you would only move for a Director opportunity. Maybe you want a clearer Partner pathway, greater international exposure, a different specialism, more responsibility, or a particular location. The more your recruiter understands what would genuinely interest you, the less likely you are to receive irrelevant opportunities.

You don’t need to be actively looking to explore the market

Some of the most interesting career conversations happen before someone has decided they want to leave. Understanding your options can be valuable even if you ultimately decide to stay exactly where you are.

Making your LinkedIn profile easier for specialist recruiters to find allows those conversations to happen without publicly announcing a job search.

At Kingpin International, we work with tax professionals from Manager through to Partner level across the UK and international markets, including Corporate and International Tax, Transfer Pricing, VAT and Indirect Tax, Tax Technology, M&A Tax and other specialist areas.

If you're curious about what your experience could be worth elsewhere, but aren't ready to tell the world you're looking, you don't have to.

A confidential conversation is often the best place to start. Get in touch today.