LinkedIn is an amazing professional career tool and perhaps an even more amazing job search and prospecting tool. With over 70,000,000 members (and adding thousands of new members daily), this social networking service is your ticket to a world of career connections that would have been possible to achieve in years past. LinkedIn sets you up to unbelievably leverage your experience, your skills, and your time during the job search.

Are you aware of LinkedIn has to offer? Are you a member?

If not, sign up for LinkedIn now! That's right. Open a spare window while you are reading this article. Go to the LinkedIn site - www.LinkedIn.com. You'll see the box to sign up now. You don't need much. Have your name, email, title, and company ready to go. Submit your new membership. Confirm from your email inbox. There--you are a member.

But don't stop there.  Your LinkedIn profile is a critical component of your job search.  It's going to be the first impression that your new contacts will have of you.  After your membership is confirmed, begin building a complete profile,  with a professional picture, that showcases your experience and includes a fantastic summary that will compel readers to find out more about you.  Much more than a resume, you should build a very complete profile. Professional information, interests, books you find most useful, your website, your blog, recommendations from key contacts and much more can all be added here.  If you're not sure that your profile will attract the hiring managers and recruiters you need, invest in the Career Confidential LinkedIn Profile Tutorial.  It will walk you through, step-by-step, how to create a profile that rocks.

Once you've gotten your profile set, LinkedIn offers a number of good tools for getting your job search kicked to a higher gear including:

• Join professional groups related to your field and / or your industry. Also, you can join alumni groups, past employer groups, and interest groups. Keep in mind, to some extent you are what you pick. If you are involved in a job search and if you value your professional reputation, make choices that support that concept. Joining the "tree hugger haters group" might not be a wise idea.
• Q&A - Q&A offers you an opportunity to find out important information about specific concepts, ideas, etc. that may turn out to be important to your search. Also, you can work at making a reputation for yourself by participating in Q&A that may be of interest to folks in your career field.
• Discussions - After you join the groups, you'll be able to start and participate in business area or career field with other professionals in your industry. This is a great opportunity to build your reputation, meet other active industry folks, and find leads on positions, etc.
• LinkedIn offers a jobs area too! Look for positions that fit. See if you can't find opportunities that are a good fit now. Get introduced to the hiring authorities directly--and so much more.  One of the most exciting opportunities for you is the chance to use LinkedIn to contact hiring managers directly.  Making those kinds of connections opens up a "hidden" job market that increases your odds of landing a great job.

This is just scratching the surface.  As you can see, LinkedIn is a window into a whole new universe of job finding tools, activities, and connections.

Good luck and good hunting!