We've talked about Twitter and other social networking sites; but LinkedIn is actually one of the most commonly used social networking sites that is used almost exclusively by professionals looking to make business connections. If you're a recruiter who wants to squeeze the most benefits out of the social networking tools available, using LinkedIn may be a great starting point.  Here a few tips for using the service to find job candidates:

1.    Use LinkedIn's search engine.  Go to the LinkedIn search field and select "Advanced" and "Search People."  You can enter specific keywords, job titles and even specify locations to locate candidates that best fit your parameters.   For example, if you're searching for a "Spanish speaking contract attorney," you may want to enter "Spanish" "contract attorney" into the search fields.  But beware some candidates may not have complete profiles or failed to use the keywords you're using.

2.    You can also search under certain companies and find current and former employees. Once you click on the company name, LinkedIn will list former and current employees who are connected to the company via LinkedIn. This search method may be effective in finding passive job seekers and those job seekers who have experience with a certain type of firm.

3.    When you receive your search results take a look at the candidate's work related experience (beware: LinkedIn info may be inaccurate or incomplete); but more importantly see if you can find any recommendations given by former employers or even colleagues.

4.    Once you have found good potential job candidates, it's time to reach out and connect to them.  Send them an email via LinkedIn or if you can, send them a non-LinkedIn email.  Remember, that many people do not check their LinkedIn accounts very often.  Also, never use any of the boilerplate messages that LinkedIn provides, always personalize your message.