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LinkedIn Tips & Traps. Time to update. (Based on member discussions, research, and experimentation.) 2
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Check your LinkedIn profile. Even if not currently looking, you need a strong, credible LinkedIn profile. Reconnect with people who know your work. Be found for your specialty and background by AI, recruiters, and managers. Your profile may look bogus due to changes made without your knowledge. Examples: Most HP positions were changed to HPE; LinkedIn has been robotically eliminating and standardizing company names with odd results.
Table of Contents. Follow these steps in order:
1. LinkedIn tips and traps (you are here)
2. Check critical LinkedIn account settings. Receive job leads and requests to connect but have appropriate privacy.
3. Optimize your Profile. So that recruiters, hiring managers, clerks, and AI tools can find you.
4. Optimize your Positions. Your profile displays your experience -- but doesn't look fake -- so you can be found. Accurately list your HP, HPE, Agilent, Compaq, DXC, EDS, Keysight, Micro Focus, Tandem, etc. positions.
5. Check company names. Company names and logos on your profile may have been changed without your knowledge.
6. Use LinkedIn's networking features. Find former co-workers who know your work. And avoid letting promoters, scammers, and fakes use your network.
7. Notification settings. Get the LinkedIn emails and notifications you want. Easy to fix.
Before making changes, be sure to turn off the
Share with Network feature -- unless you want your
current managers and co-workers to find out that you are on the move.
Why LinkedIn?
- People you are dealing with will look you up -- and expect to find at least a minimal profile.
- Recruiters and hiring managers search for skills and background to find people who aren't currently looking.
- You can search. Reconnect with people who know your work. Be found by recruiters. LinkedIn's article on how to search for people, jobs, and companies.
"Got a call from a recruiter who found me on LinkedIn. Led to a job with higher pay and rewards. My current job description had the primary skill my new employer was looking for."
"I'm diligent about keeping my profile updated -- it attracts inquiries about my consulting work. This often leads to a great contract."
"We're all in business today. There's very little job security -- and we have to keep up with the network of people we know."
If you don't have a LinkedIn account, start here: Account settings -- HPAA member advice on how to receive job leads and requests to connect -- but have reasonable privacy. Account settings
LinkedIn is now feeding your info into Microsoft AI to create content -- unless you turn it off. Generative AI systems don't just aggregate information -- they can make stuff up. (For example, ChatGPT said that Bill Hewlett and Steve Jobs were close friends.)
Go directly to settings. Or click on your photo, select "Settings & Privacy" from the pulldown under your photo. Then "Data privacy" on the left. Then "Data for Generative AI Improvement" under the heading "How LinkedIn uses your data." (While there, you may want to go through the other settings.)
Note: LinkedIn is not private. What you join, follow, post, comment on, or "like" is potentially available to recruiters, hiring managers, prospective business partners, and your connections -- but also potentially available to rivals, competing companies, scammers, and identity thieves. In addition, LinkedIn has been breached in the past.
Recruiters search for skills and background using AI tools. Check your LinkedIn profile. It may have been modified without your knowledge.
Before making changes, be sure to turn off the Share with Network feature -- unless you want your current managers and co-workers to find out that you are on the move.
Click your photo, select "View Profile." You may be surprised.
1. You may not be found.
2. Recruiters view illogical entries as fake.
- Decades-old HP positions were changed to HPE -- with the green logo. (The Hewlett-Packard company account on LinkedIn was apparently taken over by HPE.)
- LinkedIn has been standardizing company names, with odd results. Deleting inactive companies and eliminating organizational units from their company database. No information on an employer and no logo looks fake. (Instead, mention the old company, division, call center, subsidiary, or HP Labs in the Title or Description for a position.)
LinkedIn trap: It is easy to wind up listing a position that looks like a fake, such as employment at Hewlett Packard Enterprise before Nov 1, 2015 -- before that legal entity existed.
We have instructions on how to get LinkedIn to properly display positions at HP, HPE, Agilent, Compaq, DXC, EDS, Keysight, Micro Focus, and Tandem.
Strengthen your LinkedIn profile to be found by AI tools -- and to present you accurately to humans.
- Assume that recruiters, clerks, and AI tools searching for candidates know nothing about technology or the industry. They search for specific words or phrases, based on the job req they are trying to fill.
- You need to cover your technical specialties, experience, and skills; show that you are up-to-date -- and override some robotic LinkedIn features.
- You can emphasize or de-emphasize some of your background and de-emphasize your age.
Next step -- Account Settings:
Check account settingsClick to join our forums Question? Email us: info@hpalumni.org (Updated Oct 7, 2026)
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