Job hopping? LinkedIn lets you know who saw your profile, and how often

Members can use the feature to see which firms are interested in them as prospective employees

Ever wondered how many times your profile on LinkedIn has been viewed by a prospective employer and, specifically, by which one? If so, the professional networking site has you covered. Last week, it launched a Search Appearances feature through which the network's half a billion members can find out how many times and by whom their profile was discovered.  

Members can also use the feature to see which companies are interested in them as prospective employees. This can help the user assess the job opportunities in the market. Also, users can pursue the job openings at each company with just a click, along with being able to track down the hiring managers at these firms.  

These insights, which have been rolled out on both mobile and desktop, will help users optimise their profile "to get connected to a new job or other professional opportunities". 

According to agency reports, in April this year, the professional social network, which was acquired by Microsoft last year, said its membership had swelled to 500 million as its user base showed steady growth.  

In April, according to Vice-President Aatif Awan, LinkedIn has some 10 million active job listings, access to nine million companies, and more than 100,000 articles published every week. 

According to cnet.com, the new feature is part of a slew of such tools released by LinkedIn in recent months, including messaging; Open Candidates, a feature which enables members to discreetly notify recruiters they're job-hunting; and Salary, which assists users who want a better salary.

Search Appearances enables a user to:

1) See how many people found you in search results on a weekly basis.

2) See companies and job titles of the people who found you in search to provide a better idea of the types of opportunities that you may be a fit for.

3) Click through to each company for information on the open jobs that are relevant to you, as well as who the hiring managers are.