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Industry Insights
Career Advice
HR Insights
Melissa Hoegener
06 February 2026
Most high-level placements don't happen because a recruiter stumbled upon a clever headline or well-written "About" section. They happen because a recruiter executed a specific search query within LinkedIn Recruiter, and the algorithm surfaced a profile based on hard data points.
Recruiters use LinkedIn Recruiter daily to find candidates, and what actually drives visibility might surprise you. Traditional career advice fixates on the "About" section, headlines, or skills lists. But these elements are largely ignored in the initial screening process. The true drivers of discovery are the Experience section, the Open to Work backend signals, and the specific Recruiter View architecture.
According to SHRM's 2025 Talent Trends report, 75% of organizations struggled to fill full-time roles in 2024, making profile optimization and visibility to recruiters more critical than ever for supply chain professionals.
Professional recruiters spend their days inside LinkedIn Recruiter, a separate, license-based platform that strips away the social noise and presents candidates as data sets. This is not the LinkedIn you see when you log in.
In the Recruiter View, the "social" aspects of a profile are either minimized or completely invisible during the initial search phase.
Headline: While visible, it is often truncated or ignored in favor of the current job title and company. Recruiters do not search for "Aspiring Supply Chain Ninja"; they search for "Logistics Director" or "Demand Planner".
About Section: Internal meeting transcripts with senior recruiters reveal this reality: "I don't read the summary unless there's not enough information elsewhere." It is a secondary validation tool, not a primary search driver.
Activity & Posts: Recruiters using the dashboard do not see your comments, likes, or posts in the primary candidate card.
This dictates a shift in strategy. Time spent crafting a poetic "About" section or a clever headline is essentially wasted capital. The return on investment comes almost exclusively from optimizing the data fields that the algorithm actually indexes: Current Title, Past Titles, Years of Experience, and the Experience Description.
Recruiters use Boolean search strings to filter the global talent pool. A recruiter looking for a Logistics Director in Chicago with SAP experience constructs a string like this:
("Supply Chain Manager" OR "Logistics Director" OR "Director of Operations") AND ("SAP" OR "Oracle" OR "S/4HANA") AND ("Chicago" OR "Greater Chicago Area")
The implication is binary: if the specific keywords within the string are not present in the searchable fields of your profile, you do not exist in the search results. The algorithm cannot infer experience; it can only match text.
When recruiters scan search results, they're looking for profiles where the keywords they searched for appear in the Experience section. Make sure you're using the exact terms from job descriptions.
LinkedIn Recruiter uses "Spotlights" to prioritize candidates who are not just qualified, but likely to engage. The dashboard categorizes candidates into specific "Spotlight" buckets:
Open to Work: The strongest signal. These candidates are placed in a priority view.
Active Talent: Candidates who have recently updated their profile, engaged with content, or logged in frequently.
Company Connections: Candidates who share 1st-degree connections with employees at the hiring company.
Interested in Your Company: Candidates who followed the company page or engaged with its content.
You can strategically "stack" these signals. By following the pages of companies you want to work for and connecting with their employees, you move yourself from the general "Result" pool into the "Spotlight" bucket.
Once a profile appears in a search, recruiters spend an average of 6 to 10 seconds scanning it to assess fit. In this brief window, the Experience section must do the heavy lifting. This is similar to what recruiters look for on your resume – concrete results and specific skills matter most.
To optimize the Experience section, candidates should adopt the SCOPE approach of evidence-based assessment. A highly effective structure for bullet points is:
[Action Verb] + [Technical Skill/Tool] + [Measurable Outcome]
Consider the difference in impact:
Standard: "Responsible for inventory management and reducing costs."
Optimized: "Reduced inventory holding costs by 15% ($2M annually) by implementing SAP IBP and optimizing safety stock levels across 4 distribution centers"
In the optimized version, the recruiter sees three critical signals immediately:
The Result: 15% / $2M savings (Financial Impact)
The Hard Skill: SAP IBP (Technical Competency)
The Scope: 4 distribution centers (Scale of Operation)
To execute this, professionals should review 3 to 5 job descriptions for their target roles and extract the recurring nouns and hard skills.
Software & Tools: SAP S/4HANA, Oracle Cloud, Blue Yonder, Kinaxis, Tableau, Power BI, SQL
Methodologies: Lean Six Sigma, Kaizen, S&OP (Sales & Operations Planning), IBP (Integrated Business Planning), Strategic Sourcing, Category Management
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): OTIF (On-Time In-Full), COGS (Cost of Goods Sold), EBITDA, Inventory Turns, Days Payable Outstanding (DPO)
These terms should be woven naturally into your success stories. Avoid "keyword stuffing," as this damages credibility during the human review phase.
Supply chain professionals often struggle to quantify roles that are operational or preventative. The answer lies in the counterfactual or the scale.
Scale: "Managed a spend of $50M across 200 global suppliers."
Volume: "Oversaw the movement of 5,000 TEUs annually."
Efficiency: "Reduced onboarding time for new suppliers by 20%."
If exact numbers are proprietary, percentages or ranges are acceptable substitutes. A recruiter needs to know if you managed a warehouse of 5 people or 500; a spend of $5M or $500M.
There's a myth that using the "Open to Work" feature signals desperation. In reality, for recruiters, it signals availability and efficiency. Recruiters prioritize candidates they know are reachable.
LinkedIn offers two distinct modes for this feature:
Public: Adds the green #OpenToWork frame to the profile photo. Visible to all members.
Recruiters Only: Visible only to users with the LinkedIn Recruiter license.
For employed professionals planning a confidential transition, the Recruiters Only setting is the mandatory choice. For those actively unemployed or in immediate transition, the Public setting (Green Banner) can be effective as it leverages the broader network for referrals.
When activating "Open to Work," users are prompted to fill out specific preference fields. These fields are active, searchable filters in the Recruiter dashboard.
Job Titles: You can select up to five. Use standard, market-recognized titles here (e.g., "Supply Chain Manager," "Sourcing Manager") rather than niche internal titles.
Locations: If you are open to relocation or remote work, you must specify this here. Listing multiple target metro areas increases your visibility radius significantly.
Job Type: Specifying openness to "Contract" or "Temporary" roles can open doors to interim leadership positions.
Start Date: Indicating "Immediately" vs. "Flexible" helps recruiters prioritize based on the urgency of their requisition.
For LinkedIn Premium subscribers, the "Top Choice" job feature represents a potent tool for cutting through the noise. This feature allows a candidate to mark up to three job applications per month as a "Top Choice".
Data indicates that applicants using this feature are, on average, 43% more likely to receive a response from a recruiter. This feature also allows for a brief message (elevator pitch) to be attached. This shouldn't be a generic "I'm interested." It should be a value proposition: "I have 5 years of experience implementing the exact WMS system mentioned in your job description and led a similar team at [Competitor]."
The overarching theme of successful recruitment in 2026 is Clarity. Providing recruiters with the keywords, metrics, and signals they need to instantly validate your fit. Understanding the supply chain job market in 2026 can help you position yourself strategically.
Audit Your Experience: Rewrite your last three roles using the "Result | Skill | Outcome" formula. Ensure the metrics are visible and the hard skills are included as keywords.
Activate Hidden Signals: Turn on "Open to Work" (Recruiters Only). Populate the hidden fields with precise, market-standard job titles and locations to appear in "Spotlight" buckets.
Engage the Algorithm: Follow 10 target companies and connect with peers to trigger "Spotlight" filters and improve your "Likelihood to Respond" score.
Leverage Premium: If available, use "Top Choice" applications for your highest-priority targets, utilizing the elevator pitch to bridge the gap between your resume and their needs.
Remove the Fluff: Delete generic "About" sections or headlines that do not contain searchable keywords. Focus 100% of your energy on the fields the recruiter actually uses.
In the data-driven world of supply chain, you are the product. Your LinkedIn profile is the spec sheet. Ensure it is optimized not just to be read, but to be found.
Whether you're targeting the highest-paying supply chain roles, or positioning yourself for the most in-demand positions in 2026, your LinkedIn profile is the first place recruiters will look. Make sure it's optimized to actually be found.
According to LinkedIn's own research, candidates with complete profiles are 40 times more likely to receive opportunities through the platform, reinforcing the importance of profile optimization.
If you’re ready to explore new opportunities, check our current supply chain job openings and see where you fit in the current market.
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