Linkedin Blog

Ed. Note: With Valentine’s Day around the corner, Nicole Williams captures some ways to put your search skills to good use  in finding your dream job instead!

It’s been a few years since I’ve been on the dating scene, but I never departed for a date without the essential precursor to heading out with any new beau: doing the Google check. It hasn’t taken long for this stealth, inexpensive and revealing trend to hit the job market, and while the predominant talk on the street has been about what not to do (those pictures of the holiday party shenanigans). The good news is that I have a few years of online dating techniques to lean on and YES, they work for your career!

We’re gonna start 2012 strong with Nicole Williams‘ column on career tips. Check out similar posts here. Wishing our members and readers a Happy New Year! – Ed.

The Labor Department just announced that 200,000 new jobs were created just last month alone. If your New Year’s resolutions have lagged along with the employment rate over the last few years, then get ready to tackle your career with all the momentum that this latest announcement inspires.

This winter, LinkedIn is teaming up with Dr. Drew’s Lifechangers for a joint effort called, “Putting America Back to Work.” Twelve companies (from 1-800-FLOWERS to Warner Brothers) have already joined LinkedIn and Lifechangers to offer close to 300 jobs to professionals who live in the Los Angeles / Southern California area.

The companies will scour the applicants’ resumes in search of viable candidates to fill their vacant positions. Employers will contact job seekers to conduct pre-interviews (and in some cases, run reference checks) with the goal of setting up face-to -face interviews, which will take place in Los Angeles on November 30th.

This is a guest post on best practices around social networking from Nicole Williams. For similar posts check out our series on networking tips and tricks here. – Ed.

Despite the global economic crisis and what feels like an endless cycle of doom and gloom in the world of work, we seem to have found a bright spot. In a recent survey conducted of more than 12,000 professionals from around the globe the vast majority indicated they are actually happy with their current job.