by Jim Sutton

Created on: March 06, 2009

Creative use of linkedin.com as part of a comprehensive strategy can greatly improve your odds of landing the dream job. Rolodex power: Tom Peters says in his book The Pursuit of Wow!, "Your power is almost directly proportional to the thickness of your Rolodex, and the time you spend maintaining it." LinkedIn can be Rolodex power on steroids! This article will highlight four mistakes and present solutions and tips to integrate LinkedIn into your career strategy.

Mistake #1 No Strategy. Andy Lopata in an article titled "Connecting is Not Enough" (24 January 2009, www.thenationalnetworker.com says, "You must go and network is a common cry. The only problem is that it's rarely followed by the question, Why?'. People network blind, participating because others tell them that it's a good thing to do, losing faith because they don't know why they are there."

SOLUTION #1a Develop a comprehensive career strategy and be clear how LinkedIn is a part of that plan. A strength, weakness, opportunity and threat (SWOT) analysis will help you ensure your career strategy is comprehensive and focused on your dream job. LinkedIn networking, Q&A, and groups can help build on your strengths and minimize or eliminate your weaknesses.

SOLUTION #1b Brand. Brand. Brand. The following want add highlights the need for branding and basic competence in your field. "Wanted: Lifeguard. Must be able to swim." Use LinkedIn and all other tools at your disposal to consistently build a brand that demonstrates you are a perfect fit for your dream job. Brand. Brand. Brand. Don't be fake, but choose what you do and how you do it.

"I see the more formal LI (LinkedIn) as my online office, FB (FaceBook) as my online living room and Twitter as the front porch." (Rod Jurado CPT, The Profitable Group). MySpace- the basement? Online the office, living room and basement are all together and a search could find them all. If your MySpace is private, anything posted could be shared by a friend. Never put online anything that will undermine your brand.

Mistake #3 Misunderstanding the process. Many see networking as a list of names and wonder why networking does not work for them. If they tried to drive their car without the motor or plant seeds without watering them it would not work either. Names are important, but relationships and friendships are the gold.

SOLUTION #3. Here is the process: prospect contact connection relationship. Step one, you start prospecting on LinkedIn: this is looking for possible contacts,

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