You’re unemployed. It’s a fact you can’t avoid in an interview. But should you broadcast it for all to see on LinkedIn? Or should you conveniently forget to update your profile to reflect the change in your employment status?

It’s a good question. You don’t want to seem desperate by broadcasting your eagerness to find an opportunity, but you also don’t want to seem like you’re stretching the truth about your employment once someone investigates you a little further.

This very topic was tackled by Brad Attig on his blog, MyRetailCareer.net. Brad blogs about careers too with a focus on the retail industry and was also an executive recruiter in the past thus he has the experience looking at resumes and placing candidates to know that honesty is always the best policy. I tended to agree with his point of view which was not to lie, but not to be too desperate, ie. skip the full page ad in the NY Times advertising your availability.

One thing I’ll add that wasn’t really touched upon was that putting an end date to your most recent position in your profile isn’t screaming out that you’re unemployed… unless you want it to. Fellow colleagues and business connections will only see that you made this change if you’re privacy settings are so that any updates or changes you make to your profile are broadcast to your network in the updates portion of their homepage and in periodic LinkedIn updates emails. You can adjust this if you want to in “Account & Settings” section, always located in the top right hand corner. Or you can choose to have it broadcast to those connections so that people see you’re change in situation and maybe want to lend a helping hand on your quest to employment. It depends on which camp you decide to settle in.

As far as recruiters and potential employers checking out your profile, if they’re not connected to you anyway then they wouldn’t be notified of your change in status. They would only be looking on your profile because they found it for another reason. Most likely that reason would be that you showed up in their search results based on your experience and compatibility with the job they’re filling. Recruiters are trying to find the best possible fit for their clients and with so many people out of a job these days, they know that unemployment can mean very little about a candidates talent. What counts is what you can do for their client. Don’t let lying be the first attribute they find in you.

Take a look at what Brad had to say on the topic and let me know what you think about it. Any suggestions on how to ask your network for help without seeming desperate?