We have mentioned social networking several times in our blog posts, and this week we decided to focus specifically on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is a social networking website for professionals like yourself, and if you’re not on it, you should be. It allows you to reconnect with former colleagues, post your curriculum vitae, and broaden your connections. A fact not to be overlooked: 80% of all companies expect to find their next employee through LinkedIn.

Gone are the days when you can walk into a hospital or clinic and make a casual inquiry about job openings. Most likely, you’ll just be told to look at the company’s website for job postings. And a cold submission to an online job posting won’t go nearly as far as a submission through someone in your social network. Nowdays, it is critical to have your resume online and for you to develop a web network of contacts.

Most recruiters first look online when deciding on viable candidates. LinkedIn can eliminate a number of hoops for a recruiter, and if your profile is not readily available but someone else who is equally qualified does have an online profile available, guess who moves on to the interview process? LinkedIn is the new first impression, and it allows you to sell yourself and market your skills and achievements.

When setting up your LinkedIn profile, you can download your current resume then rearrange it to highlight the skills and experience you feel are most crucial for a recruiter to see.

One of the best features on LinkedIn is your ability to request a recommendation from people in your network. These recommendations will appear on your public profile so that any recruiter can easily see the positive impact you have had in your various positions. We recommend that you have at least three recommendations and keep them current.

LinkedIn now has a feature similar to Facebook which allows you to start conversations. Looking for advice on a difficult decision? You no longer need to make phone call after phone call or send an email blast out. Simply post your dilemma on LinkedIn and everyone in your network will see it. Someone from your network may not have the answer but may be linked to a specialist in his network and can get the word out. The possibilities are endless!

Another great feature about LinkedIn, which is especially true for the seasoned professional who has worked at several hospitals and/or clinics over the last decade or so, is the ability to find former colleagues. Once you start this, the domino effect begins. This is where the real networking happens. A former coworker can introduce you to a friend or colleague of his and then you are “LinkedIn” with someone new, and so on. The more “Connections” you have the wider your “Network” becomes and your profile is reached by more and more people.

LinkedIn allows you to post as much or as little information about yourself as you want. If you’re looking for a job, contemplating a career change or wish to relocate, the best advice is to put all of your professional credentials out there because you never know who may be looking…for you!

Referrals and recommendations are an important part of the job searching process, whether online or off. Job searchers should, as a rule, consistently seek these while job searching. You can never have enough, but five or so recommendations/referrals that are current (last 6 months) are important to keep in your file.

As we discussed before, a Linked In profile can be essential to a solid job search. Within the Linked In profile options; there is an area for recommendations where the people who are connected with you on Linked In can write a recommendation about you. Often people trade recommendations. As an example, I recently taught a class on social media marketing and one attendee afterwards was especially enthusiastic about the class and all that she had learned. She asked how she could “thank” me and I told her the best way was to write me a quick recommendation on Linked In. She agreed, and I wrote her one back.

But wait! I had only known the woman a couple hours and only in a class setting. Could I really recommend her for a job? No, but this didn’t make me uncomfortable writing a recommendation. Why? Because a recommendation should focus on only what you know. I clearly stated that she attended one of my classes, that she asked good questions and seemed very detail-oriented and willing to learn. That was the honest truth and I clearly stated that I didn’t know her well. But it helped her build her recommendations and the one she wrote about me (clearly focused on the class she took) also helped me when someone else was looking for social media people to speak at a conference.

A recommendation should also only focus on the good points of a person. Although on Linked In, the connection has a final choice whether to publish it or not, positive is the name of the game and the most professional way to approach a recommendation. “I liked Mike until he showed up for work late two days in a row” is not acceptable and reflects poorly on the writer, as well as Mike. So if you can’t think of positives or are uncomfortable, don’t write a recommendation. I do have one writer connection on Linked In who is continuously asking for one. I keep saying no to her because at this point we haven’t connected at all outside of Linked In. If I hired her to write for me, I would probably be able to write her a recommendation but in the meantime, I won’t.

Don’t be afraid to ask for a recommendation from a connection. You can never have too many and it gives a wonderful impression to those employers who are looking at your profiles.  As soon as I conduct business with someone, meet them in person or collaborate with them in some way, I ask for one. Do I always get one? Of course not. But every bit helps.

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If you have found yourself searching for a job in this economy, you may have also found yourself in a quandary. The job search has almost exclusively moved online. And online networking has become truly key in finding your Dream Job.

In this series we will highlight the best social sites for making job network connections and review the benefits of each one. The first one is the best for job connections: Linked In.

The benefits of LinkedIn are numerous and include:

Online Resume- The profile option on LinkedIn allows you add your work experience, including the employer, dates of employment and more. Anyone can go to your page and get some basic information on your past (or current) employers and you can also use the Work History option to list any volunteer positions that you hold. How much you want on your profile is up to you. Profile page example.

Recommendations- The recommendations option truly sets LinkedIn apart from many other social sites. You can recommend your connections and they can recommend you. Others can view what is written, if you choose. It’s a great way to give potential employers the ability to view positive opinions of you. And it is completely acceptable in LinkedIn land to request recommendations from your connections if they have worked with you in some way.

Pull-Ins- From your Twitter feed (we will cover Twitter in another post) to your blog, LinkedIn can pull various applications into your homepage which means that not only can your connections see your resume, but also other things that you are working on, expertise from your blog and your interaction with other people online (should you choose).

Connections- LinkedIn has sophisticated technology in place to recommend connections to you. When you are looking at job listings, for instance, it will tell you if you are connected to that employer in some way or if someone in your network is connected with them. This can give you the ability to connect with someone connected more closely (and often working for) that organization. In addition, LinkedIn also recommends people that you might know in a sidebar and lets you know when new colleagues from your listed organizations arrive on LinkedIn.

Groups- LinkedIn has many professional groups available where users post discussions and job opportunities. You can choose to receive a daily or weekly digest which includes a briefing of all the activity in that group. Sign up for groups in your area of expertise and reply within the discussions when there are subject matters that you can talk about. You can also befriend those people within those groups.

> Join LinkedIn

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