While I was fortunate enough to land a job at a Raleigh PR agency prior to graduation, many of my friends and classmates are still searching for full-time employment. The job market is tough right now, and job openings don’t necessarily match up with the timing of graduation.

With so many recent graduates unemployed, looking for jobs is extremely competitive. So, what can you do to make yourself stand out from the crowd? According to my Hubspot e-book, Learning LinkedIn from the Experts, “LinkedIn is one of the most powerful resources online to market yourself.”

Whether you are trying to become more influential in your industry, get more leads or clients, build your brand, drive traffic to your website or find your dream job, LinkedIn is one the most influential tools you can use. Here are just some of Hubspot’s top tips on how to use LinkedIn to market yourself.

1. Give before asking for favors. One of the best ways to give back to others on LinkedIn is by making recommendations. The more you recommend others, the more they will want to be helpful in return, especially if you weren’t asking for a favor. Introducing two connections you think would benefit from each other is another great way to give back.

2. Connect with everyone. Don’t limit yourself to only having a “small trusted network.” You never know where an opportunity will come from, so don’t limit your connections. Add a link to your LinkedIn profile to your email signature, business cards and other social networking profiles to encourage people to connect with you.

3. Use advanced applications to promote your own content. Add advanced applications to create a full profile that showcases your abilities. If you wrote a book, add the Amazon application to display a picture of your book and a link that takes anyone interested directly to the Amazon page selling it. Or, add the WordPress application to your profile to link your connections directly to your blog.

LinkedIn is a powerful asset for building a strong professional presence and standing out from the crowd. But, just having a LinkedIn account isn’t enough. Staying active on the site and employing some of the suggestions listed above is essential. Does anyone else have any tips on how to improve your LinkedIn profile? I’m going to take one of Hubspot’s suggestions and start adding my personal LinkedIn link to my different sites. You can connect with me here at: http://www.linkedin.com/in/margothorgan.