For years I have been coaching sales professionals, discovering that they used to pay for similar information with less quality than the data that Linkedin is providing now at the free level.   More importantly, all sales professionals that I have personally coached have gained clear value and closed more sales when they began using Linkedin correctly.  However, I realize that there are many sales executives who are obviously not using Linkedin effectively, i.e., potentially leaving money on the table.  I hope this list of 5 Linkedin omissions gets the attention of all honest hardworking sales pros and spurs you into action.

If you're searching for a job, surely you've learned about the extensive amount of tools available online to help you land your perfect position. But did you know that Twitter is the hottest job search tool out there today? It's true -- employers, recruiters, and job search sites are flocking to the service. Check out this list to find tools and feeds on Twitter that can be a great help to your job search.

Someone I knew asked me to allow someone I didn’t know to “get introduced” through me on LinkedIn.  I was pleased to help, but when I looked at the job hunter’s profile it looked like they had spent no time on it, or maybe did not know the importance of a full profile. If you are asking people you know to help you job hunt with LinkedIn and people they know to help you, make sure to do the following:

In critically reviewing the more robust job markets in recent times and its then-prevailing job search successes, there are valuable lessons for today’s job seekers – mostly what not to do. 

Many job seekers relied on a couple of techniques that by themselves are simply not consistently successful in today’s much more challenging job market.   Searches commonly were disjointed internet-based flurries of activity to gain maximum exposure to known openings that centered on:

• A quick resume update to include the most recent role.
• Marathon online searches for job postings and then a blitz of resume submittals.
• A reach-out to multiple recruiters with a “more is better” mentality.
• Networking to the “first level” of close contacts to inquire about jobs. 

Ok, your job is like a home run: going, going, gone.

A bit of panic sets in- for good reason. Questions like: how will I tell my spouse/partner? What of this information do we share with our kids? How do I tell them? Will they understand? Will they panic?

Oh yeah, other stuff, like paying my mortgage, car payment, credit card bills…

It is a daunting task to just try and understand the financial impact of this news, never mind trying to logically- not emotionally- figure out your best course of action.

This article's content was gathered from a discussion on the Linking Raleigh, NC discussion board on LinkedIn.

Marc DeWalle made an interesting observation while attending the group's event on 11/3 to help job seekers improve their profile for a job search. Read it here: http://www.northcarolinastartups.com/2008/11/04/1740/ His observation was that there was no real interest shown from those attending to go out on their own to start their own business. What are your thoughts on starting your own business? What are your fears and can they be overcome? What kind of support do you need and do you know where to get it from?