# The Job-Site Visibility Reference, One Row per Discoverability Toggle

*Look up any discoverability toggle on LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster, SEEK, Dice, Wellfound, Naukri or cord, know who it really exposes you to, and audit every account in about an hour.*

- Canonical URL: https://www.refolk.ai/candidates/guides/job-site-visibility-settings-reference
- Pillar: Positioning and materials
- Format: Reference
- Published: 2026-10-24
- Last reviewed: 2026-10-24
- Reading time: 18 min
- Keywords: profile visibility settings for job seekers, hide job search from current employer settings, public vs private resume job board who can see, block current employer from seeing my profile, why recruiters can't find my profile, how to make my resume searchable to recruiters

## Key takeaways

- In Refolk's index, 29,254 of 122,941 US recruiters (23.8%) work at staffing and recruiting firms, and employer-exclusion filters keyed on company identity do not cover them.
- LinkedIn's Recruiters only setting hides your Open to Work signal from your employer only when your current role and the recruiter's company resolve to the same Company ID, and LinkedIn cannot guarantee those IDs are correct.
- Confidential and hidden-contact toggles on Monster and Dice do not redact the uploaded resume file, so a phone number or employer name inside the file stays visible to anyone who opens it.
- Monster's Not Visible setting still matches you to recruiter campaigns, and replying to one unlocks your profile and resume, so every inbound message is a disclosure decision.
- SEEK has no way to hide your profile from a specific employer, so its four levels (Public, Standard, Limited, Hidden) trade reach against exposure to everyone at once.
- Once Monster has disclosed a resume to a third party it cannot retrieve it, so pausing a search protects you only from future exposure, not from downloads that already happened.

This reference is for setting every job-site profile and resume database so the recruiters you want can search for you and contact you, while your current employer and unwanted recruiters cannot. It is written for anyone with accounts on more than one network, live or forgotten. Each row records what a toggle controls, who sees you under each option, the documented default, and the gap the platform itself admits. It ends with a procedure for auditing every account in one sitting.

## What does each job site's visibility setting actually control?

Every visibility setting controls some mix of three things: whether you show up in recruiter search, whether a recruiter who finds you can open your full resume, and whether they can contact you. Check each row for all three. A setting that hides you from search can still leave the file or the contact route open.

Terms used below:

- **Resume database:** the searchable pool of candidate resumes that employers pay to access, separate from the jobs you apply to.
- **Intent signal:** a flag telling recruiters you are open to moves, such as LinkedIn's Open to Work.
- **Exclusion:** a mechanism that hides you from a specific employer, either automatically or by a block you add.

### LinkedIn (Open to Work)

- **Options:** All LinkedIn members, Recruiters only, Visible only to you.
- **Audience under Recruiters only:** people with active LinkedIn Recruiter seats, which means paid Talent Solutions subscriptions.
- **Exclusion:** LinkedIn compares the Company ID on your current role with each recruiter's Company ID. If they match, or the recruiter's company is mapped as an affiliate, your career interests are hidden.
- **Admitted gap:** LinkedIn cannot guarantee the IDs are correct, and agency recruiters have a different Company ID.
- **Default:** not established publicly.

### Indeed

- **Options:** Employers can find you on Indeed, or Employers can't find you on Indeed.
- **Contact:** Indeed gives your phone number and email address only to employers you apply to. If you type them into the resume itself instead of the fields provided, they may be visible to everyone.
- **Default:** not established publicly.

### Monster

- **Options:** Visible to Employers, Not Visible to Employers, Hide Contact Details.
- **Audience under Visible:** any registered company or individual recruiter who buys database access can view your resume and contact details. Other Monster job seekers cannot.
- **Under Not Visible:** recruiters can still run auto campaigns that reach matched private candidates. If you reply, they get access to your profile and resume.
- **Default:** if you never choose a setting, database recruiters cannot see your contact information.
- **Legacy blocking:** an old forum quote describes a Privacy Plus feature that blocked up to 20 companies. Whether it still exists is unverified, so check your own account settings rather than relying on it.

### SEEK and Jobsdb

- **Options:** Public, Standard, Limited, Hidden. Hidden is also known as "Applications only".
- **Under Public:** employers and other users searching on SEEK can find you, and so can search engines such as Google.
- **Partner software:** under Public or Standard it can view your full profile, including your default resume. Under Limited it sees the profile without the resume. Under Hidden it sees nothing.
- **Exclusion:** none. SEEK says there is no way to hide your profile from a particular person or employer.
- **Default:** a 2016 source records Standard as the default. The current default is not established publicly.

### Dice

- **Options:** a single Visible on or off toggle, plus a Confidential setting.
- **Admitted gap:** under Confidential, employers can still see everything in your resume.
- **Default:** not established publicly.

### Wellfound

- **Statuses:** Ready to Interview, Open to Offers, Closed to Offers.
- **Search:** private by default.
- **Exclusion:** hiding is linked to your "currently employed" entry. Recruiters at that company cannot see your job profile unless you apply directly to one of their jobs.
- **Admitted gap:** it hides only the Jobs Profile. It does not stop them seeing a public profile.

### Naukri

- **Exclusion:** Blocked Companies.
- **Admitted gap:** Naukri says it cannot guarantee blocking, and blocking does nothing for jobs you apply to yourself.
- **Always filterable:** recruiters can filter the RESDEX database by notice period and search for candidates currently serving notice.

### cord

- **Exclusion:** your profile is hidden from your current employer automatically. You can also block other companies by name.
- **Matching:** cord lowercases blocked names, strips punctuation and adds a trailing wildcard. It tested four matching approaches and chose the end-of-name wildcard over Levenshtein distance, a fuzzy-matching method that counts character edits.

> **Note:** Defaults are mostly unpublished
>
> Only Monster, Wellfound and cord document what happens if you never touch the setting. For LinkedIn, Indeed, Dice and current SEEK, open the setting yourself and record what it says, rather than assuming.

### Who can find, view, and contact you on SEEK and Monster

SEEK and Monster publish enough detail to set out the full audience under each option.

| Platform / setting | Found in search | Full resume | Contact |
|---|---|---|---|
| SEEK Public | Employers, signed-in users, Google | Employers | Employers |
| SEEK Standard | Signed-in employers | Yes | Resume details plus SEEK email |
| SEEK Limited | Signed-in employers | No | SEEK email only |
| SEEK Hidden | No | Only with an application | None |
| Monster Visible | Paying database buyers | Yes | Yes, if in the resume |
| Monster Not Visible | Not shown, but matched by campaigns | Only after you reply | Campaign message |

## Which setting fits a quiet search, an open search, or a pause?

Choose by mode. A quiet search wants outside recruiters to find you while your employer does not. An open search wants maximum reach. A pause wants minimum exposure. On most platforms you cannot get high reach with zero exposure, so the aim in a quiet search is the best trade available on each site.

- **Quiet search:** you are employed and your employer does not know.
- **Open search:** you are between roles, or your employer knows you are leaving.
- **Pause:** you are not looking, but you want to keep the accounts.

#### Reach against employer exposure

Horizontal axis runs from Low exposure to current employer to High exposure to current employer. Vertical axis runs from Low recruiter reach to High recruiter reach.

| Quadrant | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| Quiet-search target | Recruiters only, Limited or Standard, named blocks, scrubbed file |
| Open search | Public settings, public frame, contact details in fields |
| Pause | Hidden, Not Visible, Closed to Offers, delete dormant accounts |
| Accidental exposure | Forgotten accounts and unscrubbed files; fix these first |

*Every setting sits somewhere on a trade between how many recruiters can reach you and how exposed you are to your own employer.*

### Mode table, one row per platform

This table is my recommendation, built from each platform's documented options. Read it alongside the gaps in the next two sections.

| Platform | Quiet search | Open search | Pause |
|---|---|---|---|
| LinkedIn | Recruiters only | All LinkedIn members | Visible only to you |
| SEEK / Jobsdb | Limited or Standard | Public | Hidden |
| Monster | Hide Contact Details | Visible to Employers | Not Visible, or delete |
| Indeed | Can find you, contact in fields only | Can find you | Can't find you |
| Dice | Visible, scrubbed file | Visible | Off, or delete |
| Wellfound | Open to Offers | Ready to Interview | Closed to Offers |

On Naukri, Naukri's own guidance for a quiet search is to stay searchable and rely on Blocked Companies. It does not recommend making the whole profile unsearchable. On cord, the automatic hide from your current employer covers the main case, and named blocks cover the rest.

### What the published visibility numbers show

The platforms publish a few figures on visibility. None of them comes with a method, so treat each one as direction rather than size.

- **LinkedIn, via Fortune:** 200M members have Open to Work on privately and 40M show it publicly. People using the public photo frame are on average 40% more likely to receive recruiter InMails.
- **Dice:** a complete profile makes you up to 7x more likely to appear in recruiter searches.
- **Treat as unverified:** a widely repeated "2x" figure appears only in secondary sources, and Naukri multipliers come from third-party coaches, not from Naukri.

So visibility probably does increase inbound contact. How much is not established, and the numbers cannot tell you whether the extra contact is from recruiters you want.

## Named-company blocking: what it covers and what platforms won't guarantee

Employer blocking exists on only some platforms. Where it does exist, it keys on company identity, either an internal ID or a name string. That means it inherits every error in company data, and it never covers recruiters who work for a different company, such as an agency.

| Platform | Mechanism | Admitted gap |
|---|---|---|
| LinkedIn | Company ID match plus mapped affiliates | IDs may be wrong; agencies not covered |
| Wellfound | "Currently employed" link | Public profile still visible |
| cord | Auto-hides current employer plus name blocklist | Matching is string-based |
| Naukri | Blocked Companies | No guarantee; doesn't cover your own applications |
| SEEK | None | Cannot hide from a specific employer |

### The agency gap, measured

Your employer's in-house recruiters are not the only people who might recognise your name. Companies also hire staffing agencies, and an agency recruiter carries the agency's company identity, not your employer's. No exclusion keyed on your employer touches them.

**23.8% - Share of US recruiters in Refolk's index who work at staffing and recruiting firms**

29,254 of 122,941 profiles titled Recruiter, Technical Recruiter or Talent Acquisition Partner sit at agencies, outside the reach of current-employer exclusion.

| Segment | Count | Share |
|---|---|---|
| All US recruiters (3 titles) | 122,941 | 100% |
| At Staffing and Recruiting firms | 29,254 | 23.8% (derived) |
| Not at staffing firms | 93,687 (derived) | 76.2% (derived) |

These figures come from Refolk's index of professional profiles. The derived rows are computed from the two queries. Even with perfect company mapping, an employer filter reaches at most about three quarters of the recruiter population. A second comparison, in-house recruiters in software, failed because a query limited to the "Computer Software" industry label returned only 3 recruiters. That is an artefact of how industries are labelled, not a fact about the market, and it is a reminder that company metadata is messier than it looks.

### Why name-string blocks leak

Blocks keyed on names fail the same way company data fails. In a 25-profile sample of agency recruiters in Refolk's index, one firm appears under two spellings: "RCM Healthcare Services" (5 profiles) and "RCM Health Care Services" (1). A block on one spelling misses the other. cord's trailing wildcard handles suffixes such as "Ltd" and "Inc", but a wildcard at the end of a name will not catch a space added in the middle.

## Which fields stay visible whatever the setting?

Some data sits below the visibility toggles and stays visible whatever you set. That includes your application packet, the free text in your uploaded resume file, and anything already downloaded. Toggles protect the search index and certain structured fields. They do not protect what is in the file.

#### Where your data lives, most exposed first

1. **Public web and past downloads** - SEEK Public indexed by Google; Monster resumes already disclosed to third parties
2. **Search index** - Whether you appear in recruiter search; Monster still matches Not Visible candidates to campaigns
3. **Structured profile fields** - Indeed contact fields, Monster Hide Contact Details, Dice Confidential label
4. **Uploaded resume file** - Free text the toggles do not redact, including phone, email and employer name
5. **Application packet** - SEEK sends your full profile to every employer you apply to, under every setting

*Visibility toggles act on the search index and structured fields, not on the file you uploaded or the profile you send with an application.*

Fields documented as visible regardless of setting:

- **SEEK:** under every visibility setting, your career history, education, skills, licences and certifications go to the employer as part of your application.
- **Dice:** under Confidential, employers can still see all the information in your resume.
- **Monster:** resumes added before July 2023 may still contain contact information if the candidate did not remove it. The redaction was not applied backwards.
- **Indeed:** contact details typed into the resume body, rather than the provided fields, may be visible to everyone.
- **Naukri:** notice period is filterable. Naukri says 9K+ recruiters use notice-period search every day. Whether expected salary stays visible regardless of setting is not established from primary sources, so check your own profile preview.

> **Rule:** Scrub the file, not just the toggle
>
> Wherever you rely on a confidential or hidden-contact setting, the uploaded file must not contain your phone number, email address or current employer's name. The toggle only covers the structured fields.

The practical result is that a quiet search needs two versions of your resume: a scrubbed database copy and a full copy you attach when you apply. Keeping those two from drifting apart is where most people slip. [Refolk](/candidates) writes the resume from your own history and tailors it to each posting, so the scrubbed database version and the full application version come from the same source and stay consistent.

## How do visibility settings fail?

Visibility settings mostly fail silently. The setting looks right on screen while the exposure happens one layer below it, in the file, the company mapping or an inbound message. Each failure below gives the mechanism, the false sense of safety it creates, and the check that catches it.

> A hidden profile is a consent decision you make later, not invisibility.

1. **LinkedIn Recruiters only meets a mismatched Company ID.**
   - *Mechanism:* your employer's recruiter sits under a different or unmapped Company ID, or works at an agency your employer retains.
   - *False positive:* you feel safe because nobody can see a frame on your photo.
   - *Check:* confirm your current role links to the official company page, not a free-text company name.
2. **A stale current-employer field.**
   - *Mechanism:* LinkedIn and Wellfound exclusions key off the "current" flag. An unflagged job, or an old job still flagged as current, points the protection at the wrong company.
   - *False positive:* the exclusion is on, but it protects you from a former employer.
   - *Check:* read every work-experience entry and confirm exactly one is current.
3. **Confidential or hidden-contact toggles on Monster and Dice.**
   - *Mechanism:* the uploaded file is not redacted.
   - *False positive:* a "Confidential Candidate" label on top of a resume that shows your name.
   - *Check:* open the file itself and read the top line.
4. **"Private" on Monster.**
   - *Mechanism:* Not Visible candidates are still matched to recruiter campaigns, and replying gives the recruiter your profile and resume.
   - *False positive:* you believe nobody can reach you.
   - *Check:* treat every inbound campaign message as a disclosure decision before you answer.
5. **Indeed contact fields bypassed.**
   - *Mechanism:* contact details typed into the resume body skip the protected fields.
   - *False positive:* the fields are empty, so you assume your details are private.
   - *Check:* search the resume text for your phone number and email.
6. **Name-string blocking on Naukri and cord.**
   - *Mechanism:* spelling variants slip through. Refolk's index shows one firm under two spellings.
   - *False positive:* the block list shows your employer, so you assume coverage.
   - *Check:* block every legal, brand and group-company variant.
7. **Pausing after exposure.**
   - *Mechanism:* Monster states it cannot retrieve a resume from third parties once it has been disclosed.
   - *False positive:* switching to Not Visible feels like a reset.
   - *Check:* assume anything already downloaded is out there for good.
8. **Believing you have left a platform.**
   - *Mechanism:* Dice users who think they have left have often only set themselves as "passive".
   - *False positive:* an account you think is gone is still in the database.
   - *Check:* delete the account rather than toggling it off.

> **Watch out:** Agencies are the blind spot in every exclusion
>
> No platform's employer exclusion covers an agency recruiter your employer retains, and in Refolk's index agencies employ 23.8% of US recruiters. If your employer uses agencies, the scrubbed file and the public frame decision matter more than any block.

## How to audit every job-site account in one sitting

A full audit takes about an hour for a handful of sites. Find every account, fix the current-employer entry, set visibility and blocks to your mode, scrub the file, then verify. The time estimates are mine: about 20 minutes to find accounts, about 5 minutes per site to fix employer entries, and about 3 minutes per site to set visibility.

#### The one-sitting visibility audit

1. **Find every place your profile exists** - Search Google and Bing for your name, email address and phone number, and list every account, including dormant Monster, Dice and SEEK accounts.
2. **Correct your current-employer entry** - On LinkedIn and Wellfound, mark exactly one role as current and link it to the official company page.
3. **Choose a database visibility level per site** - Pick the quiet, open or pause setting from the mode table and record it on your audit sheet.
4. **Add named-company blocks wherever they exist** - On Naukri and cord, block your employer under its legal name, brand name and group-company names.
5. **Set intent signals to match your mode** - Set LinkedIn Open to Work, your Wellfound status and your Naukri job-seeking status, with the public frame off for a quiet search.
6. **Scrub the uploaded resume file** - Remove phone, email and current employer's name from any file sitting behind a confidential toggle.
7. **Check it worked and schedule a monthly recheck** - Re-run the step 1 searches, use any profile preview, and put a monthly recheck on your calendar.

Sources disagree on one point. Monster's advice puts removing your employer's name early in the process. Naukri's guidance is to keep the profile searchable and rely on blocking. Both can be right on their own platform. On Monster, where no current company block is documented, the file is your only control. On Naukri, the block exists and hiding the whole profile costs you reach. Follow each platform's own logic rather than one rule for every site.

**Visibility audit sheet**

```
Platform | Login email | Found via search (Y/N) | Current role correct (Y/N) | Setting chosen | Mode (quiet/open/pause) | Blocks added | File scrubbed (Y/N) | Verified on (date)
LinkedIn | | | | | | n/a | |
Indeed | | | n/a | | | n/a | |
Monster | | | n/a | | | | |
SEEK / Jobsdb | | | n/a | | | none available | |
Dice | | | n/a | | | n/a | |
Wellfound | | | | | | n/a | |
Naukri | | | n/a | | | | |
cord | | | n/a | | | | |
```

*One row per account; paste into a spreadsheet and fill in during steps 1 to 7.*

**Employer block-variant list**

```
Legal entity name:
Name as written on your offer letter:
Brand or trading name:
Spelling variants (spaces, "and" vs "&", abbreviations):
Parent company:
Subsidiaries and group companies:
Agencies known to recruit for this employer (cannot be blocked by employer filters; note them for awareness):
```

*Fill one block per employer; add every line to Naukri Blocked Companies and the cord blocklist.*

## How to keep visibility settings current

Visibility settings drift. Signals switch themselves off, spotlights expire, and platforms change defaults without telling you. Recheck every account monthly and whenever you change jobs, because every exclusion depends on the current-employer entry being right.

What changes without you touching it:

- **LinkedIn Open to Work:** LinkedIn turns it off when it decides you have lost interest. The trigger is described only loosely, as unanswered recruiter InMails or a few months of inactivity. The exact threshold is not published, so check the setting each month instead of trusting it.
- **Wellfound spotlight:** it can be snoozed, renewed or opted out of, which suggests it expires. No duration is published.
- **Defaults and option names:** the help pages behind this reference can change. When a row here disagrees with what your screen shows, trust the screen and re-read the platform's own page: SEEK's "Who can view my profile?", Monster's "Your Privacy Rights and Options" and "Candidate Privacy", Indeed's "What Do I Share with Employers?", Dice's "How do I make my profile not visible?", Wellfound's "How do profiles work?", cord's "Hide your profile from specific companies", and Jobsdb's "Profile Visibility".

When you change jobs, update the current role first, then rebuild your block list for the new employer. Remove the old employer's blocks only if you want them as a recruiting channel again. If you keep separate resume versions for databases and applications, regenerate both at that point. Refolk keeps them tied to the same history, so a new role reaches both versions at once.

#### Before you call the audit done

- [ ] Every account found by searching Google and Bing for your name, email and phone is on the audit sheet.
- [ ] Exactly one role is marked current on LinkedIn and Wellfound, and it links to the official company page.
- [ ] Each site's visibility setting matches your chosen mode and is recorded with today's date.
- [ ] Naukri and cord block lists include your employer's legal, brand, spelling-variant and group-company names.
- [ ] The LinkedIn public frame is off if you are running a quiet search.
- [ ] No uploaded resume behind a confidential toggle contains your phone, email or current employer's name.
- [ ] Your Indeed resume text has no phone number or email typed into the body.
- [ ] Accounts you meant to leave are deleted, not set to passive or invisible.
- [ ] You have decided in advance how you will handle inbound Monster campaign messages.
- [ ] A monthly recheck is on your calendar.

## Frequently asked questions

### Can my current employer see I'm open to work on LinkedIn if I choose Recruiters only?

Usually not, but LinkedIn does not guarantee it. Recruiters only shows your signal to people with paid LinkedIn Recruiter seats, and hides it when the recruiter's Company ID matches your current employer's or a company LinkedIn maps as affiliated. If your current role links to the wrong page, or your employer uses an agency, that agency recruiter has a different Company ID and can see you. Confirm your current role links to the official company page.

### Why can't recruiters find my profile?

Usually it's one setting you missed, or an incomplete profile. Check each site: Indeed set to Employers can't find you, SEEK set to Hidden, Dice's Visible toggle off, Wellfound's search private by default, or LinkedIn Open to Work set to Visible only to you. Dice says a complete profile is up to 7x more likely to appear in recruiter searches, though it publishes no method. Also check whether LinkedIn has switched Open to Work off after you went quiet.

### What is the difference between a public and a private resume on a job board?

Public means paying database buyers can find you, open your resume and contact you. Private usually means you're hidden from search, and that is all it means. On Monster, Not Visible candidates are still matched to recruiter campaigns, and replying unlocks the profile. On SEEK, Public also adds Google indexing, while Hidden means employers see your profile only when you apply and cannot contact you. Read each platform's row, not the label.

### Does a confidential setting hide my name and phone number from employers?

Not if they are in your uploaded file. Dice says employers can still see everything in your resume under its Confidential setting. Monster resumes added before July 2023 may still contain contact details. Indeed protects only the contact fields it provides, so a phone number typed into the resume body may be visible to everyone. Remove contact lines and your employer's name from the file itself.

### If I hide my profile now, does that undo earlier exposure?

No. Hiding only stops future exposure. Monster states that once your resume has been disclosed, it cannot retrieve it from the third parties who accessed it. Assume any resume downloaded while you were visible is still out there. If you want off a platform for good, delete the account. On Dice, many users who think they've left have only set themselves to passive.

### Should I make my Naukri profile unsearchable during a quiet search?

Naukri advises against it. Its guidance is to stay searchable and use Blocked Companies for your employer, under every legal, brand and group name. Naukri still says it cannot guarantee blocking, and blocking does nothing for jobs you apply to yourself. Recruiters can also filter for candidates serving a notice period, so that field reaches a lot of recruiters whichever way you set it.

---

*From the Refolk guide library. I revise these guides rather than replacing them, so the current version is always at https://www.refolk.ai/candidates/guides/job-site-visibility-settings-reference*