Following is an email I received from a client of mine.

Hi Bob,

I Thought I’d share my latest LinkedIn story. I have the experience to be more than entry level, but due to my life situation (single mom) I choose to make my child my priority, not money and work responsibility.

I have been working [part-time] in an entry level position for about [two] years. Ready to go [full-time], the company [for which I work] was not interested in increasing my hours, so I updated my LinkedIn profile and made it available for recruiters [using Career Interests]; that’s all.

A week later I was contacted by a recruiter in Chicago stating they had a position I was perfect for. Reluctantly, I arranged a telephone conversation with the recruiter who sent me the job description and advised that she was hiring for a Cambridge, MA, company.

It was like the description was written from my resume. So I forwarded my resume over thinking, can’t hurt. Two days later the phone rang, the company wanted to bypass the telephone interview and meet me face to face. So I did.

Yesterday I accepted the position of contracts manager for a 30k-person company based in Japan. I will work in Cambridge. After travel and parking expenses I will be making almost three-times my current salary. LinkedIn works well!!! At least for me! And you showed me how.

All my best, Kelly

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LinkedIn explains how “Career Interests” works

Among the many Recruiter spotlights we provide, the Open to New Opportunities feature allows LinkedIn members to privately share their career interests with Recruiter users who aren’t affiliated with their current or related companies.

Once a candidate opts to privately share their career goals with recruiters, users of LinkedIn’s Recruiter product will be able to see that candidate as “open to new opportunities” when running a search that aligns with their background.

If an open candidate starts a new position, they’ll be prompted to turn off their signal if they’re no longer open to new opportunities. They’ll also receive a reminder to respond to InMail messages from recruiters if they haven’t responded to two consecutive InMail messages.

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I was excited to hear about Kelly’s success, especially given that her new job got her out of a jam. She is making three-times more than she previously made. I would call this a success story.