Most of us use linkedin to check other people’s professional profile but linkedin is also a powerfool tool to search jobs.

Scenario 1. You have a target company in mind
Do a ‘Search Companies’ to see a list of current and past employees of this company. For ex, if you search microsoft, you will the list of current and past employees of microsoft and how you are connected to them. Now ask your friend who is your connection to a microsoft employee to introduce you to latter.

Scenario 2. You want to get introduced to somebody in senior management in a particular company
To do this, go to the company’s website. On the website you will see the list of senior management under ‘About us’ / ‘Corporate’ or similar link. From here note down the name of the person to whom you wish to be introduced. Now search the name of this person on linkedin under ‘Search people’. YOu will see a list of people with same or similar name coming up as search results. Click on the appropriate search result. Now you use the feature ‘get introduced through a connection’ (for free) or use ‘Inmail’ (if you have a paid linkedin account) to connect to this person

Scenario 3. You want to search job openings by job title
Basic job search allows you to search job by entering keyword. For example, entering ‘business development’ as keyword will give you all business development job openings. You can make your search more specific by using ‘Advanced Job Search’. In advanced job search you can specify location, experience level,industry etc together with the keyword.

Scenario 4. You want to connect to company’s employees before applying
Best way to achieve is to join groups related to that company. For ex, you want to apply to microsoft sometime in future do a ‘Search Group’ for microsoft and join the relevant groups. By active participation in these groups you can both learn and build a reputation for yourself.

These simple measures do not guarantee a job but definitely help to turn odds in your favor. All the best for your job hunt !