I hate the word, “Networking.” It’s one of the most overused words in the English language. It gets thrown at you by every person you ask for advice during a job search. I’m as guilty as anyone of overusing it; it’s one of the most frequently found words in a search of my previous Managing Your Career columns.

But there is no getting around the fact that it’s the single most important activity for any job seeker. Done right, networking means the difference between a job search lasting 10-15 months (or more) and one that produces job offers in half that time.

For years, I’ve been a proponent of the hands-on job search instead of an Internet-based job search. Rather than hiding behind a computer screen, I advocate getting out there, talking to others about their transition to industry, and learning from other people’s experiences.

In the last year, however, I’ve seen one Internet networking site, LinkedIn, begin to show some lasting value. I’ve used it myself to develop contacts for client-company assignments. Things change quickly in the online world, but for now the site appears to have the professional market sewn up. I still believe there’s nothing more valuable than developing quality in-person relationships, but I think that a strong LinkedIn presence can and should be a part of your overall job-seeking plan.

This issue, I’ll delve further into how you can use LinkedIn in your job search, how recruiters use it to advance client company searches, and how you can optimize your chances of being “found.”

A Few Degrees of Separation

As you probably know, the philosophy at work behind LinkedIn is that everyone is connected via just a few degrees of separation. Each one of your contacts has his or her own contacts that you can tap into via LinkedIn, allowing you to advance your career by transforming those online leads into assets. That’s the key thing to remember about success on LinkedIn: what may begin as Internet contacts should end up benefiting you both in the real world.

Very likely, someone you’d love to meet – who could prove very important in the job hunt – could be one or two degrees away from you, connected to people you already know. If you want to get the most out of other people’s connections, the first step is to ensure that your connections are meaningful.

The best connections are with people you know well in the real world, people who can provide a positive reference about you when they receive a connection request. Remember: it isn’t the total number of connections you show on your LinkedIn profile that advances your job search – it’s the quality of those connections. Once you are connected to labmates and close friends, branch out from there – but do it methodically.

The overriding rule of the LinkedIn world is that both parties must sense some kind of real connection. If you’ve met, even briefly, or share a common interest that you can call upon in a well-written introductory e-mail, I think it’s OK to approach that person for a connection (though, to repeat an important point, a stronger connection is better). When you approach your new colleague, don’t use the site’s boilerplate, “I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn,” as many people consider that spam. Instead, send a personal note explaining your connection or common interest.

Use LinkedIn the Same Way Headhunters Do

You may have just 30 people on your list, but that gives you access to many more who are one, two, or three degrees of separation away from you. I’m a relatively cautious LinkedIn user and have fewer than two hundred contacts. But those contacts yield more than 300,000 connections.

For a recruiter like me it’s a great resource, but an employer would be crazy to pay me a recruiter’s fee if all I did was search an Internet site. I like LinkedIn because it allows me to ask those “Who do you know?” questions that headhunters are known for. You – the job seeker – can use the site in the exact same way, by seeking people who can share their experiences on the type of job you are interested in, or for recommendations on contacts you can make in your job search.

Just as with real-world networking, the focus of a contact at LinkedIn is to find mutual areas of interest, not to overtly seek job leads. Those leads will come once you start growing your field of contacts, so don’t ask your LinkedIn contacts, “Do you have any openings?” right out of the chute. It’s Rule #1 for in-person networking and for Internet networking as well: you are on a search for information and for the experiences of others. You are not going around asking people if they have open positions on their teams – let that come to you.

Here are some ways I sort through the data that is available to me through my LinkedIn connections. You can do the same once you’ve built up a small network:

Keyword Search: Search by keyword (using “advanced search” parameters) to find those in your network you have something in common with. You can use technical skills as keywords, or scientific areas of interest, or business terms.

Company Search: Search by company to identify employees of a particular firm. You may only know one person at Merck, but when you look at the network available to you through three levels of separation, you may find dozens of people to connect with there.

Combination: Looking for contacts in protein chemistry at Genentech? Start with a keyword search and then refine the results to show only employees of the firm you are interested in.

Help the Search Engines Find You

When you set up your LinkedIn profile, do so in a way that increases your likelihood of being found. Set up your public profile so that it is available to anyone who comes across it via a search engine, and use your real name for the public-profile URL.

Avoid any “chat room” style abbreviations as you write up your LinkedIn profile, and write in your best “business English.” As Eric Butow and Kathleen Taylor advise in their excellent book How to Succeed In Business Using LinkedIn (AMACOM, 2008), use as much detail as possible in the profile. While most profiles simply list the current affiliation, it is far better for you to show all your relevant prior work experiences (yes, you can leave out that McDonalds stint during high school). A wider world of networking opportunities will arise when you list each of the locations at which you’ve worked or trained professionally.

Finally, remember how important the LinkedIn “Recommendations” feature is. When recruiters or hiring managers with open positions start sorting through their LinkedIn contacts, they generally look for people with strong experience in a given area. If you have recommendations from others you know that mention your strength in that area, you are more likely to receive a contact.

An Environment Well-Suited To Job Seekers

LinkedIn differs from social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, where considerable damage can be done to one’s career if you aren’t careful. Just like the job applicant who has an X-rated Snoop Dogg track on a home answering machine, social networking sites with photos of beer bongs and bachelorette parties actually turn off hiring managers.

But will LinkedIn or any other Internet networking land you a job? I can’t promise you that, but I can tell you without a doubt that it will introduce you to more hiring managers and recruiters. I wouldn’t have said this a year ago, but there’s fertile job-seeking turf on the Internet after all. Just don’t let the Net get out of balance with real, live networking!

David G. Jensen is the founder and chief executive officer of CTI Executive Search, a unit of CareerTrax Inc. (Sedona, AZ). CTI is a leading recruiting firm in the biosciences. You can reach Dave at (928) 282-5366.