The big job search engines can put you in touch with thousands of possible jobs in any city, state, or country—but thousands of job seekers have access to those same possibilities. To get your foot in the door (and even take a step or two closer to getting a job) you need to take advantage of the number 1 most trusted resource of hiring managers: personal referrals.

In case you aren’t a regular on the site, that’s pretty much what LinkedIn http://linkedin.com/really is. It’s a massive network for personal referrals. The strength of the social network’s foundation of trust gives it real potential for connecting you with a job opening where you aren’t just a strong candidate; you could be the leading candidate. Here are 10 ways you can use LinkedIn (and the people you know) to find the job you really want.

1. Be Prepared To Work Your Butt Off

A lot of people think a social media site like LinkedIn will make everything easy—not true. It will make things easier and your efforts more effective, but LinkedIn is for professionals. You don’t just take a few quizzes like on Facebook and watch the job offers roll in. To make LinkedIn work for you, you have to put in the effort of reaching out to contacts, updating your profile, and making smart decisions that put you in the best positive light.

2. Don’t Just Look For a Job —Take a Look at Yourself

Your LinkedIn profile is the resume every potential employer will see. And they’ll see it with or without a link provided by you. Doubt it? Google yourself. Google anyone you’ve ever worked with or gone to school with. Unless they have a name like Britney Spears, their LinkedIn profile will be in the top 10 results—probably the top 5. Even if you don’t use LinkedIn on a regular basis, the people looking to hire you will. Evaluate your profile through the eyes of an employer—would you hire you?

3. Update Your Profile Like Your Job Depended On It

It does. The first step—the one you need to do today—is to make your profile shine like your resume does. And if your resume doesn’t shine, start with your LinkedIn profile and work backward from that. Use a professional-looking photo of yourself. Use professional language. Make the best first impression you could possibly make. Remember, you’re not trying to win friends here—you’re trying to land a job.

Also, don’t forget the most important update of all—make it clear on your profile and in your status that you are looking for a job.

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Manter o linkedin atualizado é uma forma de ficar em evidência para os seus contatos. Mas isso não é uma tarefa simples pois, em geral, temos vários perfis para atualizar. Uma maneira de se fazer isso é associar a atualização do linkedin com twitter. O artigo dá uma dica de como utilizar bem este recurso, pois nem tudo o que twitamos deve aparecer no perfil profissional do linkedin.

Comentado por Natasha Geraldo

An underused–yet valuable–feature on LinkedIn is the “Network Updates” element, says Eve Mayer Orsburn, CEO of Social Media Delivered, a social media consultancy. The Network Updates box, located on your homepage below your Inbox updates, is the area that you can use as your “professional billboard,” using 140 characters or less, Orsburn says.

*Why “Network Updates” Is Important:*

When you log in to LinkedIn, your homepage pops up and it shows status updates from your connections. “If you haven’t updated your status that day, you’ll be invisible to your connections,” Orsburn says. To make yourself more visible, Orsburn recommends updating your status once a day. “This gives you the opportunity to make a pitch, announce something special or talk about an event, so you stay top of mind with your connections,” she says.

*One Warning:*

Remember that your LinkedIn status updates should not be used in the same way that you use Twitter. “LinkedIn updates should almost always be professional, whereas Twitter updates can be personal and professional,” Orsburn says. If you do choose to take advantage of the option to cross-post your updateswith Twitter and vice versa, do so sparingly, she says. “You don’t want to send all your tweets to LinkedIn.” To send certain tweets to your LinkedIn profile, visit your “Twitter Settings” page. You’ll see an option to share only tweets that contain the hashtags #in or #li, or not to share tweets at all. Using these hashtags in Twitter will allow your tweets to auto-update on LinkedIn.

*Staff Writer* Kristin Burnham *covers consumer Web and social technologies for CIO.com. She writes frequently on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google. You can follow her on Twitter:* @kmburnham .

Fonte: IDG News Service