Company flags employees' LinkedIn profiles, demands they remove all skills, certifications, and endorsements: 'They are trying to keep people from being recruited'

Author image for JR Atkinson
JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor
Jun 26, 2025 10:00 PM EDT

It can be hard to remember that your social media is public (if it is). You might be comfortable in your bubble of friends and followers, but it's easy to forget that anyone can look up your name and have so much access to you. Especially when you're looking for jobs. It's a known fact that employers will look at prospective employee's social media profiles to get a little more information on them. Maybe they're just looking for any major red flags or maybe they're looking at more subtle things. Does this put you on edge? Absolutely. Should everyone be more upfront and transparent about everything? Yes. That doesn't stop some employers, though.

Most of us can accept a little social media snooping, but when does it go too far? When does it stop being appropriate and start becoming invasive? Are LinkedIn profiles even sacred anymore? 

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    My company is demanding we all change our LinkedIns

    Everyone is getting emails saying our profiles were "flagged" as if we're doing something illegal. They say we have to remove all skills, certifications, and endorsements immediately. They say we can only have our headline as "Title at Company," and that we can't have any details of what we do.
    via u/Beginning-Meet-6611
  • 02
    Cheezburger Image 10521426944
    via Mimi Thian

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • Those were the questions raised by this story about an employer who got a little too cozy and asked for too much. They thought they would reach as far as they could into their employee's privacy and see what boundaries they could cross. Read on for the story to see what you would have done in this situation. 

  • 03
    I'm pretty sure they can't do this, but I don't know how to respond. They might just be looking for excuses to fire us, but that would be a relief at this point.
    via u/Beginning-Meet-6611
  • 04

    Commenters came in with ideas about what they thought was going on here.

    Knockoutpie1 · 1h ago Sounds more like they don't want you have your marketable skills listed so you're not "qualified" to apply for other positions, and so that recruiters don't reach out to you.
    via u/Knockoutpie1
  • 05
    MikeTalonNYC • 1h ago It's this, and you need to reach out to a lawyer who knows the laws of your country and locality to find out what you can do if they do fire you for not complying.
    via u/MikeTalonNYC
  • 06
    Beginning-Meet-6611 OP 1h ago • Thanks, this is definitely the right advice. I'll ask an employment attorney.
    via u/Beginning-Meet-6611
  • 07
    孤 AC POLO POLO CLU
    via Mimi Thian

    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • 08
    Kngbnkr "No."
    via u/Kngbnkr
  • 09
    Beginning-Meet-6611 OP 100
    via u/Beginning-Meet-6611
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    bcorm11 1h ago • Nothing there is considered trade secrets. The information they want taken down is the same info you'd post in a resume on Indeed, Monster or any other similar job seeking site. They probably want it taken down because with Al recruiters can scrub LinkedIn looking for specific skills and actively and aggressively try to recruit them.
    via u/bcorm11
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    Basically rather than make an effort to actually retain you they want to make it harder for others to recruit you.
    via u/bcorm11
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    DaHarries 1h ago "You must change your LinkedIn as we're fully aware of how bad we treat you and how much under market value you're paid, but we don't want recruiters offering you a better position"
    via u/DaHarries
  • 13
    Ecstatic_Account_7... • 1h ago "I think you're confusing my LinkedIn with your property."
    via u/Ecstatic_Account_744
  • 14
    larsloli 1h ago Say you can't login. Forgot my password too busy and don't care
    via u/larsloli
  • 15
    tallmattuk. 1h ago I presume these are personal profiles. If they want you to change them get them to pay™ for it
    via u/tallmattuk
  • 16
    Due-Average-8136 · 39m ago . They are trying to keep people from being recruited. Screw 'em.
    via u/Due-Average-8136
  • 17
    CurrentNo6487 1h ago • If you're in the US they can absolutely do this. The only speech protected from an employer is whistleblowing. Can an Employer Fire Me for My Speech Outside Work? - Levy Employment Law https://share.google/SycVxxx ZKHOCIDESe
    via u/CurrentNo6487
  • 18
    school4enigmatics 48m ago Detach your profiles from the company profile.
    via u/school4enigmatics
  • 19
    derickkcired 1h ago See I had it the other way around..... some years ago I worked for this rube company that I dont even have on my resume. They hounded me like every few weeks to update my resume to show that I worked for them and
    via u/derickkcired
  • 20
    blah blah blah. I just kept "forgetting" or "not knowing my password" or "I dont use linked in"......and they finally shut up. My profile was hidden and super generic anyhow...but by god they wanted their name on it.
    via u/derickkcired
  • 21
    kjbtetrick 1h ago Oh h I no! LinkedIn is a professional networking/social media site, but what your personal LinkedIn looks like is not within the control of your employer.
    via u/kjbtetrick
  • 22
    bsteak13.59m ago First, I agree with you that this is ridiculous. Second, I used to work in a very heavily regulated field where falsely representing your role could get your license removed and we had strict rules on what could be
    via u/bsteak13
  • 23
    included in a LinkedIn profile, including exact wording that could be used. I'm not saying this is the case here, but in that industry at least it was standard regardless of which company you were at.
    via u/bsteak13
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    Cheezburger Image 10521388800
    via u/Leavariox
  • 25
    Iweinmunson • 43m ago Are you in the financial sector? I think it's the SEC that says that any form of public endorsement is a form of advertising that compliance officers need to control. It mostly applies to advisors I think, but most companies just blanket that rule onto everything.
    via u/Iweinmunson
  • 26
    thenord321 • 39m ago . The only time I've seen legitimate "don't post your role and skills online." Is anti- phishing with high level security IT or security firms.
    via u/thenord321
  • 27
    BeMancini 1h ago So while I agree, the answer is "no," please check the company's social media policies about this. I know every year we have social media training, and it's explained to us that we can be fired for certain things. They specifically cite "you
    via u/BeMancini
  • 28
    can say you work for us, but you cannot represent us" showing an example of an employee defending the company on Twitter. They make it clear that "defending the company on Twitter is not your job. Please don't do that, we hire people to defend us on Twitter. Just worry about your job and not what people say about us on Twitter"
    via u/BeMancini
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    So maybe they're angling to let people go, or maybe they're angling to prevent people from getting recruited, so check their social media policies to see if there's anything they may be interpreted a certain way.
    via u/BeMancini
  • 30
    It may not be legal, but they may have something in their social media policies that they'll be using to justify whatever this is about.
    via u/BeMancini

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