LinkedIn introduced the “Open to Work” feature in 2020. It was created to help job seekers signal that they were interested in new opportunities during a period of severe labor-market disruption.
The feature lets members specify the kinds of roles they want, preferred locations, and start-date information. They can choose to share those interests with all LinkedIn members, which adds the recognizable green photo frame, or with recruiters only. LinkedIn also provides privacy protections intended to reduce the chance that recruiters at a member's current company will see the signal, although it does not guarantee complete confidentiality.
“Open to Work” is sometimes confused with simply writing that phrase in a profile headline or posting a job-search update. Those actions can communicate similar information, but the named LinkedIn feature is the structured career-interest setting launched in 2020. It is a job-seeking tool, not a separate employment marketplace.