Get the most out of LinkedIn for your job search.

First of all I want to re-emphasize that LinkedIn, social networking and regular networking are not just for job search! Having said that I realize that it is often true that most people don’t pay much attention to LinkedIn until they are unemployed. The title of Harvey Mackey’s book “Dig your well before you’re thirsty” should tell you all you need to know about the necessity of networking throughout your career, not just when unemployed. Here are a few tips to help you use LinkedIn well.

• Having a half-baked LinkedIn profile does not serve much of a purpose at all, so make sure you spend some time to get a robust profile developed. It doesn’t have to be perfect, and should continually be tweaked, updated, re-branded and improved as needed. It is an ongoing process.

• Your Professional Headline doesn’t have to be your Current Job Title. It can highlight the important stuff you want people to know about you. But remember it is confusing to potential employers if they see “seeking new opportunities” in your headline, while you still have a job listed under current employment. Delete your “current job” if you are unemployed. Otherwise it looks like you are a disloyal employee.

• Get a few really, really good recommendations that highlight your strengths. You don’t need hundreds (nobody will read more than a few anyway), but some good ones can bring attention to your value.

• Include a picture unless you have a pretty good reason not to. And make it a photogenic one. Digital photography is cheap and easy these days. If it takes 200 tries to get your smile just right, who cares? It needs to be in focus, good resolution and well lit. A bad photo is worse than none at all. It’s like a typo on your resume. Speaking of typos, LinkedIn doesn't provide a spellchecker yet, so be sure to either use the spellchecker that comes with Firefox, Safari, or Chrome. If you use Internet Explorer you can add a free spellchecker. Here's how:

     1.Go to the Tools menu in Internet Explorer and select Manage Add-ons.
     2.Click the "Find more toolbars and extensions…" link in the lower left of the popup window that appears. You'll land on the "Internet Explorer Gallery" website. Click the "add-ons" icon (a puzzle piece) at the top of the page.
     3.Type "spell check" in the search box on the right and then hit Enter.
     4.Select the spell check product and click the "Add to Internet Explorer" button. Follow the instructions provided to complete the process.
     5. When you go back to your profile, you'll see any misspellings underlined in red.

• Use the Status Updates to let your network know what you are up to and to feed them some links and articles and events they might be interested in. I am always appreciative when someone clues me in to a great article I might have missed otherwise.

• Reach out to your contacts when you notice they got a promotion or switched companies or completed a degree, or did something notable. It always feels nice to be noticed and appreciated.

• Select some targeted companies to “follow.” Following a company will trigger an email to you whenever something notable happens inside that company. You will hear when someone has left the company (this is a peak into the hidden job market), or when someone is promoted or when they have a new group of new hires. This can be useful information.

• Join some LinkedIn Groups in order to be visible in your industry/occupation, and to your network. It also gives you a link to people who are not directly among your contacts, but who may be a useful contact.

• Keep building your list of connections. It is best if you have connections that you actually know and who can come to your rescue if you have a need. But don’t be overly strict, since part of the power of networking is in the unknown. You never know how a connection can become important.

• Help others in your network when you can. What goes around, comes around.

• Don’t ever lie or misrepresent yourself. This should go without saying, but sometimes the temptation is strong to give yourself a better title at a previous job or to amplify your status in some way. Your connections will know. I know a fellow who was a V.P. of IT who now claims he was the CIO. There’s a difference, and people know.

• And don’t waste people’s time with cute videos of puppies and other non-professional items. LinkedIn is different from Facebook and Twitter for this very reason. It is more like a water-cooler at work than a bar. The conversation is mostly professional and work related.