Look for the inline banner reading "Your profile is live" with a View it link — that is the success signal. The status dot at the top of the builder also flips to Published, and an Unpublish button appears next to it. If none of those are there, the publish did not go through and the publishing checklist will say why.
Detail
The signals that it worked:
- An inline banner: "Your profile is live", with a View it link that opens your public page in a new tab. The banner appears right after you click and is gone once you reload or leave the page, so its absence later means nothing.
- The status dot reads Published instead of Draft.
- An Unpublish button appears beside the status, in place of Publish profile — its presence means you are published.
- The last entry in the main group of the dashboard sidebar changes from Preview to View your profile, and opens your public page in a new tab.
- The line under your name on the Dashboard home screen reads "Your profile is published — hiring managers can find and query it."
You should also receive an email containing your public link.
If none of those appeared, open the Publishing checklist toggle. A publish is refused when any of the six conditions is unmet, and the checklist marks each one with a tick or a cross plus a specific note on what is missing. The usual culprits are a missing still-developing skill and an elevator pitch under 100 characters.
If the button is dimmed, clicking it does nothing at all. That is the most common reason nothing seems to happen. Hovering over it shows "Complete all required sections to publish". Why won’t the Publish button enable? explains each condition and how to meet it.
Checking independently. Open your public profile address in a private or logged-out window. A published, public profile renders; a draft returns "page not found" (so does a published profile that is not public — see below). This is the check worth doing if you are unsure, because it tests the thing you actually care about rather than the interface.
⚠ A sidebar entry that still reads "Preview" means you are not live. While your profile is a draft, Preview opens a private draft preview inside your dashboard, with a banner saying "Only you can see this page." It shows your page the way a visitor would see it, but nobody else can open it. Only your public address shows "page not found", to everyone, until you publish. Preview / View your profile: your profile as a visitor sees it covers the draft preview.
Published, but the public address still shows "page not found". A profile can be published without being publicly visible. The builder reads Published, the sidebar entry still reads Preview, and the Dashboard home screen says your profile is "published but set to private". This is a state, not a setting: there is no control in your dashboard that puts a profile into it or takes it out. If you see it, contact support and we will explain what happened and what your options are.
Also worth setting: your availability badge only renders if you chose an availability status in Basics. A published profile that says nothing about whether you are open to work is usually one where that was skipped.
Related
- Why won’t the Publish button enable?
- Can I unpublish my profile, and what happens when I do?
- What exactly do visitors and recruiters see on my public profile?
Last verified: 2026-10-21