One of the most powerful weapons of the career search in today’s job market is LinkedIn. There is so much you can do on LinkedIn, and while it is not the only effective tool available to you in your career search, it really deserves some of your time, attention and investment as it integrates all of your career search efforts and can really help you be more effective and productive in the other important areas. Here are five ways to use LinkedIn to optimize your career search and find your dream job.

LinkedIn is the leading “social networking” site for professionals. It’s not social networking like on Facebook or MySpace, but more business and career networking. There is so much you can do on LinkedIn, and while it is not the only effective tool available to you in your career search, it really deserves some of your time, attention and investment as it integrates all of your career search efforts and can really help you be more effective and productive in the other important areas.

Here are five ways to use LinkedIn to optimize your career search and find your dream job. If you know someone who is seeking a job or internship, please forward them these tips along with an invitation to connect on LinkedIn.

1. Profile

• Whether you’ve just created your profile or already have one, make sure to follow the suggested steps to complete your profile up to the 100% level.
  
• Make sure to fill in as much professional, academic and skill-based information from your resume as you feel comfortable providing, as this can optimize your profile in LinkedIn’s search engine results.
  
• Completing your profile 100% will require getting 3 recommendations. Ask for brief recommendations from as many past supervisors, co-workers, subordinates, key classmates, professors etc as possible. That’s the beauty of LinkedIn, you can request brief recommendations from people from whom you might not request longer, more comprehensive recommendations. Many brief high-quality recommendations are often just as valuable as a few long high-quality recommendations. If you feel comfortable doing so, offer to write one for them in return.
  
• Create an interesting, intriguing and memorable subtitle to be included with your name, something more than simply “MBA Student” and/or “Financial Analyst.”
  
• Update your status weekly to post your availability and career goals like “John is seeking full-time opportunities in brand management with food and beverage CPG firms.”

2. Groups

• Click on Groups link and search for LinkedIn groups related to your company, school and/or career-related interests and request to join (maximum limit is 50 groups). While quantity is not as important as quality, groups with more members allow for more potential contacts.
  
• Once confirmed by the group owner as a member, check to see what the group’s discussion board guidelines are, and if permitted, post a personal sales pitch for your job candidacy on each group’s discussion board (include your email address).
  
• Network with group members by offering insights and answers to questions in the discussion board and posting questions or discussion topics yourself.
  
• Check out the groups’ external websites for more networking opportunities.
  
• Consider joining open networking groups, such as TopLinked, Invites Welcome and many more. This will increase your number of personal connections, but the true value is that it puts you in second-degree contact with more professionals and increases your messaging access to them.

3. People

• With an increasing network of connections and fellow group members, search for current employees of your top-choice companies and if possible, message them requesting a brief informational interview.
  
• When successful, read their profiles to learn a little more about them prior to your conversation for reference and networking purposes.

4. Jobs

• LinkedIn is a great place to search for jobs on a daily basis. Its job board is similar to others, like Monster and CareerBuilder; however, many of the opportunities are exclusively available on LinkedIn, and many of the opportunities list the recruiters or employers who posted them, offering another level of networking and personal connection. In addition, this job board is where the profile recommendations really can make a difference, for after you apply, employers and recruiters can instantly refer to your recommendations as complimentary support to your resume, cover letter and profile.

5. Companies

• Here, you can search companies by industry category and geographic location and identify companies that you may not have previously considered, especially smaller companies and start-ups. LinkedIn shows whether the companies in your search results have posted job opportunities, a feature which is very helpful.
  
• Visit the companies’ corporate websites and check for their job opportunities or application processes.
  
• Use their company profiles to identify new people, especially the hiring managers or HR decision makers, to contact for information, information interviews etc.

Here are two more ways we can help you in your MBA job search. First of all, please visit MBA Highway as your source for MBA jobs and internships, as well as MBA-level career resources. Second, please join MBA Highway on LinkedIn to network and connect with thousands of fellow MBAs and MBA-seeking employers and recruiters.

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