"Do I really need a LinkedIn profile", you ask?  Definitively, yes!  And you don't just need a profile, you need a good profile that helps you stand out from the rest of your peers in the field.  According to Jobvite, a leading recruiting software company that conducts annual recruiting surveys, LinkedIn is cited as the dominant social media site for professional networking.  87% of recruiters use it to vet candidates during the hiring process.  

Not only does LinkedIn help recruiters find you as a jobseeker, it has amazing capabilities to assist you in connecting with people at the next company where you want to work.  Building a strong professional network on this platform will make finding your next job far easier and more efficient than submitting dozens of applications and waiting for a response.  On LinkedIn, you can start taking your search into your own hands.  So, let's get started. 

Before you start making...

Have you noticed it's becoming increasingly more difficult to get noticed in our highly competitive job market?  Not to mention how hard it is to get past a company's applicant tracking system or ATS? (If you have no idea what that is, keep reading!)  

You know you're ready to make a change, so you sit down to formulate a plan of attack for your job search.  It takes most of your Saturday, but you do your homework and you research several companies for which you might like to work.  You check their job sites, read many job descriptions, find some you really like, and you think, "Yes! That's me."  You send your resume out to dozens of application sites, excited about the prospects of a new career.  By the time you finish, your eyes hurt and you're exhausted, but you think, "I can't wait to see who responds this week".  Then, days, or maybe even weeks go by and …. crickets… no responses.  What happened?  

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