In spring 2010, Gayle Howell began believing in Linkedin.

Howell, the manager for the Career Center Satellite of the College of Engineering, said that was when she saw the professional social network work to beat one man’s unemployment.

“I worked with a gentleman who found himself laid off from work,” Howell said. “He was 50 years old and had two daughters who were students on campus, for whom he was paying tuition and he lost his job. He came to me because we serve our alumni here at the career center. He was pretty afraid of what was going to happen to his family.”

Howell said they worked together to update his resume and polish it up. The man had just started using Linkedin.

“He said he thought Linkedin has potential for a job seeker,” Howell said. “He worked his job search very hard, very strategically, eight hours a day. At the end of two months, he had nine offers, and he gave all the credit to Linkedin. And then kept getting offers after he accepted a job. That was the turning point for me.”

At the beginning of this year, Howell was approached by a student with a Linkedin success story, shoring up her love for the network.

“He said he wanted to tell me what happened to him,” she said. “He updated his Linkedin file with the skills that he acquired with his summer internship and within two days of doing that, he got a call from Apple Computers. They asked him if he wanted to fly out to California for a job interview.”

Linkedin is the world’s largest professional network on the Internet, with more than 187 million members in more than 200 countries. It’s free to create an account and what is basically an online resume.

“I am seeing more and more employers using Linkedin,” Howell said. “In fact, I participated in a webinar and one of the corporate recruiters said she doesn’t even post job openings anymore. She just uses Linkedin, the free part of Linkedin, to find people with the skill sets she is looking for and filling positions for her company.”

Howell said according to the National Association of Colleges and Employees, 80 percent of all jobs are filled through networking.

Students can join now and begin networking while they are still in school. Within Linkedin, there are groups a person can join. One can join up to 50 at a time.

“I belong to Capstone Engineering Societies group, and that is the alumni chapter for this college, so there are a lot of alumni who have membership in that group,” Howell said. “When I learn of a job that is for an alum, I post it in that group and only members of that group can see it.”

Howell said students can join the CES group for the alumni now if it is clear in their profile that he or she is a student at The University of Alabama. There is also a group for the Alabama International relations club on campus and other interest groups.

Even if Linkedin doesn’t land OVERSET FOLLOWS:a person an interview, it can still be an asset as employers research potential employees.

Josh Andrews, a lawyer and owner of his own firm in the Birmingham area, The Outsourced Associate, said he used Linkedin to make hiring choices more in the past than he does now. Recently, he said, he uses it more as a networking tool and as a way to get to know potential employees.

“I check it every once and a while as a way to meet people, and it is something I look for in potential employees,” he said. “I can see what [potential employees] are doing and if they are trying to make a name for themselves.”

Andrews said it was also good to go on Linkedin and learn about someone from the business standpoint before meeting them.

“You know I don’t want to see your Facebook page and what you did on the weekend, but Linkedin is a good way to get to know other people and businesses,” he said. “I can see what you are doing to put yourself out there and network and also see who you are networking with,” he said. “As a lawyer, I have to be able to see that you can bring business in.”

Lauren Lassiter, a senior majoring in marketing and Spanish, said she got a Linkedin account because some of her friends started getting them.

“I didn’t really get it at first, but my sorority, Pi Phi, did a couple of workshops on it, and that helped a lot,” she said. “It is basically Facebook for the professional world.”

Lassiter said she could see Linkedin becoming useful to her during job interviews, because it allows her to follow companies and current news in her potential job market.

“I follow Children’s Miracle Network and other hospitals because I am doing healthcare,” she said. “It will probably be useful when going to interviews because they sometimes ask you about current events and Linkedin helps me keep up with that kind of stuff. It’s all in one place, which is nice.”

For Linkedin to be effective, Lassiter believes one has to know how to use it properly.

“One thing that helped me was looking at people’s profiles,” she said.

Lassiter would look at people on Linkedin who she knew already had a job and see what kinds of things they put in their profile to help model hers.

Howell recommends picking a professional photo. Linkedin only allows one photo, so it should be a professional one, and preferably a headshot.

“It’s not used for letting the world know what you are doing,” she said. “It’s all very professional. I advise everyone to really read the rules. If you don’t follow the rules, they will send you an email and freeze your account.”

When working with students in a job search, Howell welcomes students to connect with her to help them network. Anyone who connects with her can then connect with anyone she is connected to.

“If a person takes the time to build their profile, and I call it a rich profile, you know you put a lot of skill sets in there, I feel they can be successful,” Howell said. “Don’t exaggerate. You have to be truthful just like on a resume, and that is what it is, an online resume.”