Linked In can be a terrific place to identify and engage with recruiters and hiring managers within your field of expertise.

The question we are typically asked, is after someone does identify a recruiter with an industry specific focus, or a  hiring manager that works for a company of interest, what comes next?

Linked In offers a variety of ways to engage with your targeted audience.

• Follow companies, so you can be notified of newsworthy announcements
• Follow individuals, and also send them an invitation to connect.
• When sending  out invitations, be sure to customize your invite, adding a note to let them know that you are indeed interested in sharing networks and have done some homework, rather than using the standard boilerplate invite that Linked In provides.
• Check out the persons profile, and look at their previous posts. By adding insightful commentary, you can easily communicate with them, getting on their radar screen. While it is virtually impossible to have the opportunity to have a live conversation with a hiring manager or many recruiters for that matter at the onset of your search, by corresponding with them on Linked In you can start to build a dialog that can then put you at the front of the line when applying for a role.

Utilizing social media, primarily Linked In and twitter,  job seekers now have  an unprecedented opportunity to engage with persons of influence.

Invest the time in researching who you want to be connecting with, and then set aside some time every day to check out the activity in your news-feed, and respond appropriately.

By consistently commenting on posts, and sharing your thoughts and insights, you can easily position yourself in front of your peers.