Searching For A Job With LinkedIn

Konstantin Guericke, Co-Founder and Vice President of LinkedIn, posted the following job search suggestions to My LinkedIn Power Forum:

1. Connect with former bosses, people who worked for you, fellow co-workers and other people who know your work (could be donors in your case or people who have attended events you have organized).
2. Get endorsements from all past bosses.
3. Make sure your profile on LinkedIn highlights your accomplishments and not just what you were responsible for. Make sure you turn on the checkbox unter your contact settings that you are open to career opportunities. Think about what search terms recruiters or hiring managers may enter to look for people like you. Make sure those terms are in your profile.
4. Make it easy for people to find and contact you. Sign up for a Personal Plus account (http://www.linkedin.com/personalplus) and turn on OpenLink.
5. Be sure to connect with everyone who knows you and is likely to be willing to recommend you. Go to "Find Contacts"
   (http://www.linkedin.com/findContacts) or download the Outlook Toolbar
   (http://www.linkedin.com/static?key=outlook_toolbar_download) if you use Outlook.
6. Search for jobs on LinkedIn. Don't forget to look at the second tab of results called "The Web". There are over 5 million jobs listed.
7. In addition to applying for a job listed on LinkedIn, request a referral to the poster. Research the poster, so your cover letter can be as personalized and targeted as possible.
8. Download the LinkedIn JobsInsider if you are also looking on Monster, HotJobs, CareerBuilder, Craigslist, etc.: http://www.linkedin.com/static?key=jobsinsider_download
9. Type the names of the 10 organizations you most would like to work for and see which of your contacts know people there or know people who know people there
10. Search for people in your region that work in the industry you are targeting. http://www.linkedin.com/search. Under "interested In" select hiring managers. Contact people in your second degree. Instead of asking for a job, offer them something of value and ask to meet.
11. Search for people like you and see where they are working. This may give you an idea of who is hiring people like you.
12. See what your former classmates are up to (http://www.linkedin.com/edurec?display=). Some may be in a position to hire you and may give preference to someone from the same alma mater.

For more ideas from myself and Liz Ryan, see Using LinkedIn To Get A Specific Position.

LinkedIn Public Directory and Nicknames

In my LinkedIn profile, my name was listed as Richard (Rick) Upton, which was useful when LinkedIn didn't know that Rick is a nickname for Richard: Users could search for either Rick Upton or Richard Upton and find me either way.

LinkedIn has since implemented an enhancement to enable its search engine to know that Rick is a nickname of Richard. More recently, LinkedIn has begun publishing a publicly accessible directory of LinkedIn users for those users who have agreed to having their profile shown on the Internet. Here are two examples:

• http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/rick/upton
• http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/richard/upton

When my profile name was Richard (Rick) Upton, my name didn't show up on either of the lists above. Now that I have changed my profile name to Richard Upton, I show up on both lists.
Maybe you are in a situation similar to the one that I was in?

UPDATE April 27, 2015: My profile name on LinkedIn is now Rick Upton.