This is a guest post by @MarkLynch99.

LinkedIn has quickly become a driving force in helping executives and job seekers alike create an online presence that showcases your unique talents & skills (your personal brand)!

Most hiring managers (as many as 80%) will research candidates by searching the most common social platforms and if your on LinkedIn, you have only one chance to stand out! Just like Google, LinkedIn is also a search engine with every fortune 500 company (and more) represented. So if you have a profile on LinkedIn, here are 7 tips to ”Stand Out” and express your unique personal brand:

1. Remember that you are not a job title! You have 120 characters to describe your talents in the headline section of LinkedIn. Skip the generic title of ‘Sales’ or ‘Accounting’, rather take advantage of this space and get creative! Example: Early Adopter of Innovative Solutions for Business | Currently Seeking Opportunities | Lets Connect!

Hint: Feel free to change up your headline from time to time. Experiment until it feels right. The key is to create a headline that “Stands Out” and capture the attention of viewers. It is by far the most important and first place looked at on your profile. You have about 2 seconds to capture someone’s attention so make it your best!

2. You have 2,000 characters of ‘real estate’ for your summary section. This is where you can showcase your personal brand with examples of how you provide solutions, etc. Use keywords that are relevant to your industry. The summary section is often missed or underutilized, but this is a perfect place to create a commercial for the brand ‘YOU’.

Hint: Don’t squish all your words into one long paragraph. Space is good (think Google)! Make your summary easy to read and consider using symbols to draw even more attention. Copy & paste: ★ ► ◄ ■ ♦ ◆ ● ✔ ✘☑

3. Make it EASY to contact you! There is nothing worse than someone having interest in you after seeing what you have provided or displayed, only to find it difficult to contact you!

Hint: Put email address at top of summary section (phone # if comfortable).

4. Understand the 5 most important areas to describe your brand or expertise (keywords). These areas are: Your Headline | The Summary Section | Current Work Experience | Past Work Experience | Specialties

Hint: Search for people that are in the same or similar industry to get ideas on specific key words if you are stuck. The 5 areas above are key search engine optimization (SEO).

5. Don’t let your LinkedIn profile look like your resume! Your resume is a collection of words that describe what you have done, but LinkedIn can bring your personal brand to life! It’s a platform to showcase your talents and skills. Join relevant groups, engage, comment on discussions. Highlight certifications, publications and more.

Hint: Take advantage of all the new tools and ways you can express your talents on LinkedIn.

6. Be Active. LinkedIn is like joining the gym! You won’t see results if you don’t ‘go’ and work out (even a little). “Stand Out” by enaging in discussions, sharing relevant content, ‘liking’ comments others have made, etc.

Hint: Don’t let ‘unemployed’ get in your way. Even if you are unemployed, anyone looking will notice you are an active person and someone who contributes as well as share great ideas with others. Like the gym, make a goal to engage or share 3-5 times per week.

7. Pay it forward. Try to give 10X more than you ask. Don’t be a desperate job seeker! By making relevant & consistent comments, posts, etc, it will be noticed and you will soon attract like-minded connections!

Hint: When attempting to connect with a recruiter, personalize your invite message but resist asking for open jobs. Rather, ask to connect and offer the chance to look at your network as you may be able to ‘help’ them fill a role. I promise they will remember you when a job that fits your background is available!

What ways have you tried to stand out on LinkedIn?

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Today the blog features a guest post by @KellyDonovan.

If you’re looking for a new position this year, ask yourself how you can use LinkedIn more effectively as part of your job search.

LinkedIn has been rolling out new profiles and features, and there are also many existing features that are underutilized.

Here are five ways you can get the most out of LinkedIn this year:

1. Take advantage of new profile layouts and features.

   LinkedIn has revamped the design of profile pages, giving them more visual appeal. You can include links to videos, presentations, documents and images, with the thumbnail images displaying on your profile. For example, you could showcase a video of yourself or a slideshow outlining the value you bring to a company.

   Meanwhile, your employers’ company logos should display on your profile automatically if the employers have LinkedIn company pages. If the logos don’t display, check to make sure you’ve entered the company name correctly.

2. Search more effectively to pinpoint the right people.

   Did you know that even with a free account, the Advanced Search screen allows you to narrow down searches for other users with criteria like name, location, industry, current employer, past employer, title, and school?

   Whether you know the person you’re looking for or only know the type of person you’re interested in, Advanced Search is a great way to use LinkedIn in a proactive manner.

3. Send messages strategically.

   LinkedIn isn’t the place to be shy, so use it to reach out to people of interest; just don’t spam anyone.

   Send occasional notes to your connections inquiring about how they’re doing and updating them on your activities. Display a positive attitude in these interactions and make sure they understand what kind of positions you’re interested in.

   You can also send a short note to a corporate recruiter after applying for a position on the company’s website; this is what recruiting and social media expert Stacy Donovan Zapar has called “the new cover letter.” A brief message expressing your interest in the position can get the recruiter’s attention and help you stand out among hundreds of applicants.

4. Add optional sections to your profile.

   LinkedIn offers the opportunity to add optional sections to your profile, like “Volunteer Experience and Causes,” “Organizations” and “Projects.” Many users don’t take advantage of this opportunity.

   Consider adding one or more sections to your profile to showcase additional information and add more visual appeal. For example, the “Projects” feature can be a way to include more detail about what you did at a job, but with a reader-friendly format.

5. Give and receive skills endorsements.

   The much-talked-about skills endorsements feature on LinkedIn offers an opportunity to demonstrate how many people will vouch for your skills. This will likely start to become more important for search optimization of your profile in 2013.

   You should still have written recommendations; the skills endorsements should be in addition to written recommendations, not instead of them.

   Take the time to endorse your connections’ skills; doing small favors for others is always a good idea when you’re job hunting. Just make sure to only endorse people you know, of course!

These are just a few of the new and existing LinkedIn features you can take advantage of. I’d love to hear in the comments what other features you like or plan to use!

Thanks pratanti for the great photo via Flickr

Read more great blog posts at Tim's Strategy