Have you recently been laid off? Are you unhappy with your current boss? Do your coworkers drive you crazy? 

If so, perhaps you are already looking for a job. If not, maybe you should be.  At the very least, if you aren’t thrilled with your current position, you should have a strong LinkedIn profile and network so that the right job can find you.

Since LinkedIn is a major part of the reason that I have a job (in more ways than one), I’ll share some active and passive ways you can use LinkedIn:

1. Update and publicize: If you’re worried about the time it takes to update your profile, you can save the link below and set aside brief chunks of time to make one update a day for the next week. LinkedIn is organized neatly by position, company, education background, skills and other sections that you take on one bite at a time.  Then, add the link for your public profile to your email signature block so people will have easier access to your updated information. This link will take you to your profile page: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/edit
2. Get feedback from your proofreader: This tip implies two key actions: 1) ask someone you know and trust to read your profile for the content, professionalism and tone that you want to project to people who may hire you and 2) ask them (or someone else) to proofread it for grammar, spelling or other mistakes so you’re not trying to put your best foot forward while wearing two different socks.
   
3. Grow your network: Many people miss the fact that the most value you can gain from LinkedIn comes more from how it works, rather than just how it looks.  By connecting to all the people that you actually know (instead of just connecting to anyone with a profile and a pulse) you are mapping the real network around you, which makes LinkedIn work for you, often without any action from your end.  This occurs when through your homepage updates, you see that one of your connections posted an update that his company has an open position that’s a fit for you. It also happens when you are contacted by a recruiter who mentions she found your profile on LinkedIn and noticed that her college roommate is your cousin, who vouched for you as a great candidate. The fastest way to grow your network is to accept any outstanding connections you have from people you know. If you have none, or when you finish that, you can look below your invitations in the “People you may know” section. Both are located here:  http://www.linkedin.com/inbox/invitations/pending
4. Use the advanced job search: This feature allows you to search for jobs that are a good fit for you. Keep in mind, this search is much more valuable after you’ve grown your network to at least 100-200 connections (finding an open position on LinkedIn is helpful, but even more helpful is being able to realize that your old boss who still raves about you is a mutual connection with the hiring manager who posted that position). To conduct searches for the job you seek, go here: http://www.linkedin.com/jobs?search=&trk=tab_jobsrh
5. Thoughtfully request warm introductions: If you’ve read my book, you understand how important it is not just to find people you want to meet who might be able to give you your dream job, but to get introduced to them the right way.  This is the greatest value proposition for LinkedIn: the ability to ask for a warm introduction from a person you know well, to a person you want to meet.  Often, introductions are requested from sales-minded folks in a pushy, harassing, or less-than-thoughtful manner, when they find a “target” in LinkedIn.  Prior to LinkedIn, we didn’t have access to such a massive database of detailed professional profiles and, more importantly, the relationship maps of and to those professionals. LinkedIn now gives you the ability to directly stimulate word of mouth to your network and to their connections. The easiest way to do this is by searching for people you’d like to know (i.e. hiring managers or even CEOs), discovering how (and through whom) you are connected to those people, and coming up with a way of asking for introductions in which you are comfortable. To do these searches, go here: http://www.linkedin.com/search?trk=advsrch

Have a specific question about LinkedIn? Just ask, and I’ll be glad to help you where I can.