Blog Post: What You Don't Know About LinkedIn That Can Hurt Your Job Search

Many job hunters sign onto LinkedIn, look around, find others they know, add a few connections, and then... nothing. When questioned later, they'll admit that they didn't think the site had value, and remain confused enough that they don't accept connection invitations.

When my executive clients have went through this routine, I find that they often didn't realize that LinkedIn is a hot tool for job search--and failed to make the connection between personal Internet promotion and their success.

LinkedIn by itself is a fantastic resource for a job hunt. Within the site, you can find company insiders, tap into a new group of professionals and recruiters, stake a presence on the LinkedIn forums, and use internal industry memberships to your advantage.

However, the best reason get familiar with LinkedIn and maintain it REGULARLY during an professional job search is that it replaces older information about you on the Web--and makes it easy for others to see your qualifications.

I'll elaborate further by describing 3 key concepts and tips in detail.

1) Keeping Your Online Information Relevant is Key.

Suppose you've been at a disadvantage in the job hunt for some time. After performing an online search on your name, you find out that an old lawsuit against your homeowner's association is coming up online. Now, your name is connected to negative information.

Since most recruiters WILL look for you online before they contacting you for an interview, what will they see first? That's right, and what they find may NOT support your leadership goals.

When "digital dirt" catches up with you, it can bring your job hunt to a standstill. Irrelevant or damaging information--with YOUR valuable name on it--can float around the Internet for years.

2) Controlling Negative Information Can Take Time and Effort.

Once you find something like this with your name on it, can you get rid of it? Not really, especially if it's contained in a news release.

Can you focus attention on another aspect of your professional life? Certainly, and the BEST way to do this is to grab every chance you can to publish positive, professional information about your career, starting with LinkedIn.

Search engines love fresh data, and will quickly pick up anything that is continually updated.

So, the key is to update your LinkedIn profile regularly, thereby giving Google, Yahoo, and others more interesting information that pushes down older data about you, and makes your profile front-page news.

3) Think Fresh Data, Instead of Stagnant Information.

Keeping in mind the habits of search engines, any activity is golden. This means that even if you just add LinkedIn connections on a regular basis, the profile relevance will rise considerably.

The best part? By not only writing the information yourself, but keeping it on top, you will nearly guarantee that anyone who searches for your name will find the data that YOU wrote and disseminated-making it a PR message of sorts about your qualifications.

And who doesn't need a little more promotion during a job hunt right about now?

The takeaway here is that LinkedIn, and other social/business networking sites, really are a source of references for anyone who is interested in hiring you.

Your best bet is to take a proactive approach, and regularly publish information to the Internet that can get others to see the value in your professional background.