Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn in Your Job Search

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There will be other places in your LinkedIn profile (the Specialties field, in particular) to regale us with your certifications and technical qualifications.

Use your Summary to let the person viewing your Profile know exactly what you're about and what you drives you in your career.

3. Mind Your Settings

You can set up your LinkedIn account (using the Settings link at the top right of each LinkedIn page) to keep all but your close friends (known on LinkedIn as "first-degree connections") from viewing your profile, but what's the point of that? If you're job-hunting, it's better to let hiring managers and recruiters find you easily by opening up your profile to public view. That means you need to click on the link that enables your Public Profile on LinkedIn. Other settings will allow you to dictate how LinkedIn communicates with you and about which issues (new invitations, e.g.), whether your contact list should be visible to your connections (I recommend that you let your friends see who your other friends are—that's the point of LinkedIn), and more.

4. Show Us Your Mug

LinkedIn began allowing users to upload a photo to their profiles a couple of years ago, and these days we can't imagine LinkedIn without user photos. A good photo adds life to your profile, and the absence of a photo raises questions (why doesn't this person want us to see what she or he looks like?) and just looks strange. Get a decent digital photo that shows you looking halfway professional (on-the-slopes and other leisure-time shots are fine as long as you look like a person who might function in the business world, vs. someone we couldn't remotely picture in a professional setting). Upload the photo to your profile, and you're all set.

5. Get Connected

Once your LinkedIn profile hits the 70-percent mark, it's time to start adding connections. LinkedIn won't be nearly as useful to you if you're sitting on your own private networking island. The point of LinkedIn is to allow your connections to make introductions for you, and vice versa, so you'll want to start adding first-degree connections ASAP. First, download the address book you use the most (Outlook or Gmail, e.g.) and let LinkedIn's downloading tool tell you which of these folks already use LinkedIn. Don't worry—LinkedIn won't start e-mailing everyone you know. You get to pick which people to invite to your network. When you do, be sure to personalize your LinkedIn connection invitation. "Hi Stan, I hope you and Jane are doing well. Shall we connect on LinkedIn?" is worlds better than "Since you are a person I trust, I'd like to add you to my network." Customization is key,

Once a person accepts your invitation to join his network, or vice versa, the two of you become first-degree connections. It's a two-way link. If you've accepted Jack's connection, you don't need to invite him to join your crew.

6. Add More Contacts

After you've downloaded your address book and invited as many folks as you'd like from it to join your network, it's time to look further afield for LinkedIn connections. Use the Colleagues and Classmates features (tabs at the top of the LinkedIn pages in the Add Connections area) to locate people you went to school with or worked with at previous jobs. Don't forget to personalize these connection invitations, too. Make sure to invite Colleagues and Classmates to your network with care. If someone from your alma mater or your old job doesn't remember you when your invitation arrives, he or she could click on the "I don't know Bob" link, and that's not good. Earn too many "IDKs" on LinkedIn, and your invitation privileges could be suspended. So only invite former colleagues and classmates you truly know.

7. Join Groups

LinkedIn has some 500,000 Groups, all of which can be found in the Groups section of the site, and you can join one or several to network with folks who share your professional interests.

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