Lots of folks are using LinkedIn to look for a job these days.

And lots of folks are failing.

Why?

Here’s the answer, short and sweet, from a blog posting by Dan Schwabel:

The problem is that most job seekers don’t optimize their profile, cultivate their network, join and participate in groups, use applications and exchange endorsements. That is basically everything you should be doing in a nutshell.

Let’s break those LinkedIn essentials down, in checklist format …

( ) Optimize your profile. It should be chock full of keywords that represent the job title you want, your skills, and any other words that will help your name pop up when hiring managers and recruiters search on LinkedIn.

Tip: Pretend you’re a recruiter, looking for someone who does what you do. Search LinkedIn. Did your profile pop up on the first page of search results? If not, which profiles did? What keywords are in those profiles? Copy and paste as many into your profile as will fit and apply to you.

( ) Build your network to at least 50 people. You did? Good. Build it to 100 people, then 250.

( ) Join and participate in at least 3 groups. Examples: your university alumni group (duh), industry groups, city/state groups, etc.

( ) Put applications on your profile. They allow you to show off what you’re reading or PowerPoint presentations you’ve created. Very nice. Find applications here.

( ) Exchange recommendations with others. This is ESSENTIAL. Do this now, today! The best way to get good ones is to first give them. Learn how here.

Tip: Just get this recommendation thing done. I recently counseled an unemployed manager who has failed to get a single recommendation on his LinkedIn profile after 6 months of “trying.” He isn’t really trying, of course. But his job search really does suck.

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Normally, I write about job-search tactics and steer clear of theory — economic, political, or otherwise.

These are not normal times, however.

Today, submitted for your approval, are excerpts from and explications on two op-ed pieces you ought to read in their entirety if you want to understand how America and the world can return to prosperity.

In a word, the key to real prosperity is entrepreneurs.

And here’s why entrepreneurs matter: You’ll probably end up working for one (or servicing one, or selling to one), because the bulk of new jobs are created by small businesses.

According to the Small Business Administration, 60% to 80% of jobs are created at companies with fewer than 500 employees, almost always run by entrepreneurial-minded business owners.

Now.

According to an opinion piece by William McGurn in today’s WSJ:

These [entrepreneurs] are the men and women who max out their credit cards, or take out a second mortgage, and use that money to finance a bet on the future. They range from the Stanford geeks who turn an idea for a search engine into Google, to the single mom who starts up a catering business to support her family, to the owners of a family business trying to adapt to new times and new competition. They do it all with no guarantees. And when they succeed, they create jobs and opportunity for the rest of us.

Yet, when’s the last time you heard our president — Obama or Bush — or any leader of any Western government talk up the entrepreneurial spirit that’s so crucial for economic growth and prosperity?

Regarding our current president and his views on entrepreneurialism:

Tonight we’ll get another measure of the president’s ideas about the way forward, when he travels to Capitol Hill to deliver a prime-time address to Congress. Most of this address will focus on the economy. And one good gauge of its prospects for success will be how he treats a group of Americans who have been largely absent from the president’s most important economic statements and speeches: our entrepreneurs and small business owners. 

And here’s a second, similarly sobering view from today’s paper:

The passage of the $787 billion stimulus bill has so far failed to stimulate anything but greater market pessimism. This suggests to us that the strategy behind the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act is wrong — and worse, that the weapons it is using to fight the recession are obsolete.

Just as generals are notorious for fighting the last war, Congress and the White House seem intent on fixing an economy of hidebound and obsolete companies and industries, while ignoring the innovative ones rising before us and those waiting to be born.

Missing from this legislation is anything more than token support for the long-proven source of most new jobs and new growth in America: entrepreneurs. These are the people who gave us everything — from Wal-Mart to iPhones, from microprocessors to Twitter — that is still strong in our economy. Without entrepreneurs, we will never get out of our current predicament. 

Got that?

Entrepreneurs are the people who gave us everything that is still strong in our economy. Without entrepreneurs, we will never get out of our current predicament.

Government will not and cannot save us.

Government can tax, control, spend, regulate – in short, do almost anything to us and for us …

… except the only things essential to prosperity: dream up new ways to make things better in the world; risk their own money and security to make those dreams happen; and grow those ideas into thriving businesses, which need employees to keep them growing.

Only entrepreneurs can do that.

So, if you find yourself in the job market today, take an entrepreneur to lunch. Ask her or him three questions:

1. What are their problems? You’ll get a long list.

2. What are their  opportunities? You’ll likely get an even longer list (if you’re talking to a true entrepreneur).

3. How could you help solve their problems and/or capitalize on their opportunities? Listen very carefully here. The answers will be your shortcut to a new job.

Know this: The success of your career is inextricably linked to the success of entrepreneurs, who will employ you, your customers, your vendors, or a combination of the three. 

And every entrepreneur I’ve ever met is willing to listen to the person who offers smart, well-researched ways to solve problems and capitalize on opportunities. In fact, if you approach 10-20 entrepreneurs this way, you’re almost certain to have a job created for you.  That’s just what happened here, here, and here.

We ignore and stifle entrepreneurs at our peril.

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Ever been to one of those “cattle call” job fairs at a hotel or event center?

If so, you likely left without a job. Like many folks did here.

That’s the bad news.

The good news?

You can stand out and impress employers at a job fair — and get hired — if you do just 3 things differently.

And, no, I am NOT going to tell you to wear a suit, gargle, or do any of that typical crap.

This is the story of one of our Guerrilla Job Search clients, Tom from Minneapolis, who found a great job by attending a job fair and impressing the hiring manager with how much he knew about the company’s plans to expand.

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The “American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan” is now law, aimed at creating or saving more than three million jobs at a cost of $787 billion.

My business partner, David Perry, and I would like to offer 5 ways for Americans to find work …

For a Total Cost of About $15.42.

What are they?

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I’ve written before here and elsewhere about how “funnel vision” get you hired faster by making you instantly more creative.

Funnel Vision (which I learned from Jay Abraham) is diametrically opposed to Tunnel Vision, which is how most job seekers (and people) go through life.

Let’s define tunnel vision first: it’s doing what everyone else is doing because … that’s how everybody does it. 

It’s why most job searches drag on for 19.7 weeks, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Because everybody waits for jobs to be advertised before applying to employers … everybody spends 50% or more of their day surfing employment web sites like Monster … everybody networks by calling the same 5 people once a month.

And how’s that working for everybody in general and you in particular? Pretty shitty, I’ll bet.

So, stop doing what everybody is doing.

Start using Funnel Vision to open your eyes to successful ideas that others have used to stand out, successful ideas that you can adapt to your job search with a modest amount of effort.

Example: I first got the idea for including a P.S. in cover letters from the sales letters I used to write 13 years ago. Using a direct-mail technique in a job search is Funnel Vision, pure and simple. (Resource: The Guerrilla Job Search Home Study Course).

Which brings us to today’s topic: Twitter.

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