LinkedIn: Please help me find a job

LinkedIn great application and I do confess that I am a user but I have not utilize LinkedIn for all it's grandness. Nonetheless for all those who are not aware of what LinkedIn is or does here is some brief information on this web application. According to Crunchbase.com:

LinkedIn is a free business social networking site that allows users who register to create a professional profile visible to others. Through the site, individuals can then maintain a list of known business contacts, known as Connections. LinkedIn users can also invite anyone to join their list of connections. LinkedIn offers an effective way by which people can develop an extensive list of contacts, as your network consists of your own connections, your connections’ connections (2nd degree connections), as well as your 2nd degree’s connections (called your 3rd degree connections). From this network, individuals can learn of and search for jobs, business opportunities, and people. LinkedIn also serves as an effective medium by which both employers and job seekers can review listed professional information about one another.

Now, that we all know what LinkeIn really does, I ran across a great blog posting written by Guy Kawasaki called "Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn to Find a Job." According to Guy Kawasaki blog posting, he listed several ways in which LinkedIn can help you on find a job, in these tough economic times. After reading he's opinion on what LinkedIn can do for you as a resource for employment, I picked several different one's that most students can use.

• First, on my list but #3 on Guy's list is to search for people with similar backgrounds and to narrow down your searches to more local, skills oriented searches. This is important because it allows you to apply to a company with the same elements or criteria you are looking for in a job and position.
• Second, #6 on Guy's list is to see if companies are still hiring. This allows you to search within LinkedIn for new hires and figure out what a company is looking for in a new hire or potential employee.
• Third, and #9 on Guy's list, is to find out the secret job requirements. Basically what this allows you to do is search for a connection who works for a company and to try to get insider information you would need to get that advantage over other applicants. This to me seems very important, actually probably the most relevant.
• Finally, the last one on my list and #10 on Guy's list is to seek or look for a company that is start up because it is sometimes easier to get a job with a new emerging company because in hard times these companies seem to be the right fit for you. Plus, getting that experience you need in case the start up fails is just as important.

Overall, Guy Kawasaki provides great tips on how to maximize the usefulness of LinkedIn. These opinions that Guy gives will allow you to be more competitive and aggressive in the connections you make on LinkedIn. Sometimes networking might be the right idea and provides you with endless possibilities, because approaching the problem from the inside out provide you with better results than traditional job searches.