5. Using LinkedIn Networking  ...to find former co-workers who know your work.

Steps: 1. LinkedIn tips and traps  2. Check account settings  3. Optimize profile  4. Optimize positions  5. Use networking features  6. Get the emails you want  

Reconnect with people who know you and your work. Be found by hiring managers, recruiters, and recruiting bots. You can promote your specialized expertise.

Accepting invitations to connect. Unless you are seeking sales leads -- and willing to accept the privacy issues -- only accept invitations from people you really know. If not immediately recognized, check their profile.

Lots of fake members on LinkedIn -- often posing as recruiters. Cut-and-pasted profiles are usually obvious if you scroll down. Go to "See all" at the very bottom and click "Groups" -- if a random list of unrelated groups, probably a fake. Fakes often have glamour photos copied from the web -- there she is, Miss Louisiana!

LinkedIn suggests "People you may know" -- based on where and when you worked and your connections in common. The suggestions are uncanny -- and actually fun.

Try joining the LinkedIn professional networking groups related to each former employer that fit your location and career. (Groups are operated by informal teams of alumni around the world.)

For example, HPAA's LinkedIn group. "HP/HPE: Limited to current and former direct employees of Hewlett-Packard or HPE. Unofficial group." https://www.linkedin.com/groups/84543/

Try joining the LinkedIn groups related to your interests. Click the LinkedIn logo in the upper left corner. Enter the topic in the search window. Click the magnifying glass. Select "Groups" from the row of links below the window. Note that recruiters and your connections can see your groups.

Note: LinkedIn is not private. What you join, follow, post, comment on, or "like" is potentially available to recruiters, hiring managers, prospective business partners, and your connections -- but also potentially available to rivals, competing companies, scammers, and identity thieves. In addition, LinkedIn has been breached in the past.

Review the companies you are following.

Adjust the notifications in your "LinkedIn Updates" emails. Some of the "Updates about your network" settings can bury the information you want.

If you send a message via LinkedIn, be sure to substitute your own wording for the default wording. If a connection changes their profile to indicate that they are looking -- the canned suggestion is: "Congratulations on your new position!"

Return to first article in this series: "LinkedIn Tips and Traps - How LinkedIn Really Works."