Why should you use LinkedIn for your job search?

It’s no secret that LinkedIn is the top professional social networking site with 133 million users in the U.S. alone and reaching 200 countries and territories around the world. As per Survey, 87 percent of recruiters use LinkedIn as part of their candidate search. As a professional or student, it’s the popular place to network and look for job opportunities; even former U.S. President Barack Obama once joked during a TV press conference that he would join LinkedIn to help him land a job after his term was up!

The issue is that if you’re only updating your profile now and then, you’re not fully utilizing all LinkedIn can do for you, which includes taking hours off of your job search. Below are some tactical tips on how you can leverage LinkedIn to its fullest to expand your professional network and land your next great job.

LinkedIn profile:

• Keep your profile up to date.
• Be comprehensive about current skills and objectives.
• Highlight your recent experience.

When asked what was most important about a candidate’s profile and how to make the best use of the platform, Weiner responded that first and foremost “authenticity” was important.

“Be yourself, represent who you are. It’s not just your experiences; this is not a resume … This is a more dynamic approach to representing your experiences, your skills, your objectives, what you know, what you’re interested in within a professional context,” Weiner explained. “It’s not just about the comprehensiveness; it’s also about freshness of the information, and the more complete and the more fresh, the more recent that that information has been updated, the more opportunities that are going to accrue to our members.”

1. Make yourself memorable with great stories.

Recruiters and hiring managers are like anyone else—they respond to story-telling rather than mind-numbing lists of facts. Plus, research shows that stories can aid memory. So telling a good story or two in your LinkedIn profile could make you more memorable to recruiters.

Example: For each job you post on your profile, don’t simply state your responsibilities. Weave an interesting tale about your successes in the job, Gresham recommends. Most important, explain the problems and how you solved them, especially if you came up with creative solutions to important challenges. Keep your narrative succinct; a lengthy yarn could be a turnoff to busy recruiters.

2. Focus on where you’re going versus where you’ve been.

Professionals at mid-career are often looking to reinvent themselves after years of working in a specific type of job or industry, Gresham says. But too often, their LinkedIn profiles only reflect where they’ve been. Instead, focus your profile on where you want to go.

Find your ideal jobs, then build your profile around those, Gresham advises. For example, while it’s tempting to list tons of skills from all your years of experience, keep your focus on what’s relevant to the job you’re seeking. And by all means, remove skills you no longer want to use in a job. Gresham says she once listed Facebook consultant among her skills on LinkedIn but deleted it when she decided she no longer wanted to do Facebook consulting.

3. Keep it fresh.

A LinkedIn profile should be a “living, breathing document” that clearly represents what makes you “unique and worth hiring,” Gresham says, not a static set-and-forget online resume. One way to keep your profile alive: regularly share updates on topics related to your field, just as you share updates on Facebook.

Posting long-form content, such as LinkedIn blog posts, is “another great way to catch a recruiter’s eye,” says LinkedIn’s Career Expert Catherine Fisher. You can “share thought leadership advice, insights on the day’s top stories or industry trends to reinforce your experience,” which helps position you as an expert in your chosen field.

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