Getting a new job is cause for celebration, but how public should you be with your celebration? Some people might want to shout their professional achievement to the skies, while other, more introverted souls may just want to share the good news with family and friends.
There are, however, many practical reasons why you’d want to announce your new job on websites such as LinkedIn: networking with colleagues, promoting yourself to other (future) employers, or just giving credit to all the people who helped you on your career journey.
When typing up a LinkedIn announcement about a new job, you should try to include at least some of the following elements, which we’ll review in this article.
A dramatic, attention-grabbing opening
A clear description of your new job
What you’re excited about
Thanking your old employer
Thanking colleagues who helped you get hired
Keeping your announcement concise
Writing opening lines that hook readers in for your LinkedIn new job announcement
Whether you’re creating a story, a research paper, or a social media post, one single writing principle is universal: grab the reader’s attention with a good opening line or “hook.” If you’re writing up an announcement for your new job, this opening “hook” should immediately let your readers know what position you were hired for.
Ideally, your “hook” should get readers interested in your new turn of fortune and invested enough to read your announcement through to the end. Resist the urge to insert a lot of exclamation points and use language that’s “slangy” or juvenile. At the same time, don’t make your opening line long-winded or formal to the point of excess. Simplicity, clarity, and phrases with emotional content are the way to go.
Example Sample phrases and sentence patterns you can use for your opening line: “I’m excited to announce that…” “I’m pleased to announce that…” “I’m happy to say that…” “In a few days, I’ll be starting work at…” “Tomorrow will be my first day of work at…” “I took on the role of…at…” “I was just hired by…as a…” “It’s an honor to join…” “Looking forward to…” |
Describing your new job in a sentence or two
People who read your job announcement don’t need to know everything about yourself and your career change (particularly when it comes to private or boring details like your starting salary or daily schedule). They should, however, be able to understand what your new job is about and what you’ll accomplish working there.
This year seems to be a good time for posting new job announcements, based on a recent report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The current unemployment rate in the US hovers at around 3.4% (a level last seen in the 1960s) and roughly 4.81 million jobs were created during the last year.
Some job titles are self-explanatory. If you say you’re a newly hired social media manager, for instance, readers will know your job is about creating/planning official company posts on platforms like Twitter or Facebook.
Other job titles (for instance, front-end developer or communications specialist) are a lot more ambiguous. To make sure readers can grasp the nature of your new career, it can be helpful to describe one or two of the responsibilities you have in this position. For instance:
“As a Front-End Developer for Magnus Industries, I’ll be maintaining and updating the front end of their website and phone apps.”
“I’m looking forward to brainstorming new branding and promotion ideas with my fellow copywriters.”
Never make your new job description any longer than a standard career elevator pitch. If the responsibilities of your new job are too complex to describe in a single sentence, you’re probably better off glossing over it in your announcement. The nuts and bolts of your career, after all, are less important than what’s exciting about the new role.
Announcing a new job on LinkedIn: mention what excites you about your new job
When you describe what interests you about your brand new job, the language you use should be professional in tone but also genuine in sentiment. Think carefully about the new opportunities you’ll receive, the challenges you’ll tackle, or the people you’ll work with, then identify the details that truly excite you the most.
This part of your job announcement, more than other parts, is also a way to promote yourself and your accomplishments to folks on LinkedIn. Don’t try to brag or boast. Instead, try to show professionals in your field how your efforts and skills could benefit their businesses, businesses associated with theirs, or their clients if a future job opening occurred.
- Discuss these exciting parts of your new job:
- New tasks you’ll carry out
- New teams or departments you’ll lead
- New projects you’ll work on
- Specific organizations you’ll be working with
- Specific clients or customers you’ll be assisting
- Discuss these exciting parts of your new job:
- Your starting salary
- New medical benefits or insurance policies
- Convenient work schedules
- Easy commutes
- The specific names of co-workers or colleagues who cherish their privacy
Sometimes, your job announcement - and what you find exciting about your new job - can even advertise you to other companies who might want to hire you in the future.
Ideally, of course, you’ll thrive in your new position and work there for several years. Still, it doesn’t hurt to lay the groundwork for future prospects as you continue networking with other successful professionals on LinkedIn.
Thanking your previous business for what they gave you
As you promote yourself and your new job on websites like LinkedIn, it’s always a good idea to thank your old employers for the support they gave and the time you spent with them.
You don’t need to go too deep into describing your past history with your old company. Just list a few reasons why you’re grateful for your time with your old company and cite one or two cherished colleagues by name if they agree to it.
If you can’t, for whatever reason, mention the names of certain ex-colleagues, you can always try to mention other novel details about your old company such as:
The department you worked in
How long you worked there
Specific projects you helmed and completed
Why are you grateful for the time spent at your old company? Sometimes this question is easy to answer in your job announcement. Maybe you mastered important skills. Maybe you got along splendidly with certain colleagues and supervisors…or maybe you just really enjoyed the work you did. If you have a genuine reason for being grateful, small though it may seem, cite it.
Even if you’re parting ways with your old company, you shouldn’t burn bridges with any of your old associates if you can help it. Giving credit where it’s due in your new job announcement will help you maintain fond relations with your old company and colleagues, especially if you use # hashtags, @ symbols, and keywords to promote their names on LinkedIn.
Thanking colleagues who helped you get the new job
Sometimes you’ll get a new, better job thanks to the direct support of associates from and around your old workplace. Some examples of ways you might have been helped:
A career coach who found a job opening and recommended it to you
A colleague who encouraged you to keep pursuing your dreams
A supervisor who wrote a letter of recommendation before you left
A supervisor who offered helpful job search advice when you delivered your two weeks notice
A supervisor who secured you a generous severance package, freeing you to focus on your job search while unemployed
If people from your old workplace helped you in these or other ways, you should almost always mention them by name in your new job announcement on LinkedIn. Again, don’t get too bogged down in the details of how they helped. The important thing is demonstrating your gratitude and showing your old coworkers that you haven’t forgotten their aid.
Minimizing the word count of your LinkedIn new job announcement
As the paragraphs above illustrate, there’s a lot you can (and might want to) say when you write up your new job announcement on LinkedIn or other similar job board websites. At the same time, your job announcement needs to be concise and easy for readers to digest.
Make it too long, and people might just glance over it or fail to read far beyond your LinkedIn headline about your career change.
Like a writer trimming down their short story before submitting to a magazine, you should go over the first draft of your announcement with fine tooth comb and trim out any of the unnecessary details:
Words that are way too formal
Phrases that are confusing or indirect
Sentences that run on for too long
Mistakes of grammar or punctuation
Details that are too intimate or not yours to share
Sentences or descriptions that repeat information you already shared
Boil your job announcement down into a single, tight paragraph of no more than five sentences, then read each sentence out loud to make sure nothing sounds awkward.
Ideally, readers should be able to read this text easily on your LinkedIn.com profile and learn everything you need them to learn without needing to click the “see more” button.
If you think parts of your text will be cut off when it’s uploaded, rearrange your sentences so that the most important information (new company, new role, etc) rests on the first two lines.
Example Sample new job announcements #1:
“Tomorrow will be my first day working at [Company Name Here]! I can’t wait to collaborate with my brand new [Field of Work] colleagues as we [Responsibility #1] and [Responsibility #2]. Thank you to everyone who supported me back at [Previous Company Here]. I grew so much from our time together, and I’ll be drawing on those lessons learned as I embark on my new career.” #2:
“I’m pleased to announce that I’ve been hired by [Company Name Here] as a [Job Name Here]! I’m really looking forward to [Task Name Here] and collaborating with the [Department Name Here] to [Special Project Here]. I want to thank [Old Colleague Name Here] for their constant support back at [Previous Company Here]. Their help and advice made it possible for me to take this big new step!
#3:
It’s an honor to be one of the newest members of the [Company Name Here] team! This past first week at my new job has been very rewarding, and I’m very much looking forward to learning more about [Task Names Here] from my new colleagues! |
Key takeaways
When you write your new job announcement post, start with an opening phrase that grabs a reader’s attention and gets them to feel your excitement.
In a single sentence, mention your new job, the new company you work for, and what you’ll be doing there.
Explain why you’re genuinely excited about your new job and couch it in terms of what you could offer others as an employee should a future opportunity arise.
Thank your old company and colleagues for the time you spent and the opportunities they unlocked for you.
Mention and thank certain colleagues or supervisors by name if they actively helped you land your new job.
Keep your job announcement clear, concise, and within five or so sentences.