Does using Open To Work for Recruiters Only help on LinkedIn?

Just to clarify: Are you asking about signaling that you're open to work privately, i.e. only recruiters searching for you will know that you're looking, not the general LinkedIn public?

If that's the case, I think this is the best thing to do. The alternative is to have the green #OpenToWork ring about your LinkedIn profile photo so that everyone knows that you're looking. I don't think that helps as it doesn't communicate any extra information to the people that matter, and I've actually heard from Taro community members/recruiters that can hurt you with some recruiters as it makes you look desperate.

There is a stigma around engineers who broadcast that and have been looking for a while, and to be 100% honest, the candidates who have that green ring do tend to be lower quality.

That being said, I don't have a ton of evidence/supporting data around the green #OpenToWork ring, so if anybody has any insights there, would love to hear it.

Some discussion about this on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/linkedin/comments/1bfffyg/does_turning_on_open_to_work_only_appear_for/. Interesting idea of keeping it turned on always, so you don't have a decision to make.

I've never turned it on since I feel like I get higher-quality jobs through my network. I have heard that some companies (mostly startups) have a slightly negative association with people who have the open to work label. But for larger tech cos, and esp for recruiters, I think it's totally fine! It gives recruiters an additional signal that you'd entertain a conversation about a company.