I just started a new job and want to post about it on LinkedIn without sounding like everyone else.

Example: three new job posts for three situations

Moving to a new company (about 450 characters):

“New job: as of Monday I'm a senior data analyst at Northwind Health.

I spent four years at Brightline Retail working out why shelves ran empty. Now I get to ask the same kind of question about hospital wait times. What made me say yes: the team publishes its wait-time numbers every month, good and bad.

Priya Raman, thank you for the Friday SQL sessions in 2022. I complained the whole time and I use them every day.

#dataanalytics #healthcare”

A promotion inside the same company (about 390 characters):

“After three years on the support desk at Halden, I'm moving to the product team as an associate product manager.

The tickets taught me most of what I know about our customers, including the 40 that came in the week we changed the login page. That login flow is my next project, so if you have opinions about it, I'd like to hear them again.

Dana and Luis, thank you for vouching for me.”

A career change (about 340 characters):

“Two years ago I was teaching eighth-grade science. This week I started as a learning designer at Corvel, building training for warehouse staff.

What carried over more than I expected: writing instructions someone can follow while tired and distracted.

If you're a teacher wondering whether the switch is possible, my messages are open.”

All three name the role in the opening sentence, give one reason or detail nobody else could write, and thank people by name instead of thanking “everyone who made this possible”.

What to put in and what to leave out

Put in: the role and the company in the opening line, since LinkedIn shows roughly the first 210 characters before “see more”. One reason you took the job, or one thing you'll work on. A thank-you to a named person. That's a complete post at 400 to 700 characters.

Leave out:

Salary, title negotiations and anything your new employer hasn't announced, such as a product you'll be working on. Anything about why you left that your old manager wouldn't want to read. “Thrilled”, “humbled”, “excited to embark” and other words that appear in thousands of posts a day. A long list of hashtags. Two or three at the end, or none. A job you haven't signed for. Offers do fall through, and deleting the post later is awkward.

If the post feels thin without the adjectives, add a fact instead: a number from your old job, the team you're joining, the city you're moving to.

Timing and LinkedIn's automatic job update

When you add a new position to your profile, LinkedIn can tell your network for you. The setting is called Share profile updates, under Settings & Privacy, then Visibility. LinkedIn Help says that with it on, your network may see a post in their feed, an in-app notification or an email, and that updates about your job may take up to two hours to be shared. It also says anyone who views your profile sees your edits as soon as you save them, whether or not you notify your network.

That gives you two clean options. Let the automatic update be the announcement and skip the post, or switch the setting off before you edit your experience and write your own post. Doing both on the same day means your contacts hear the news twice, once without the story.

Two more checks before you post. Tell your current manager and close colleagues first, in person or by message, so nobody learns it from the feed. And ask your new employer whether they'd rather you wait until your first day; some teams want to announce senior hires themselves.