Not exactly. In today’s economic climate, there’s a laundry list of factors affecting a student’s ability to find that much-needed job or internship. Unfortunately, most of these are external factors out of their control.

The best way to get a handle on the situation is to start building a professional network well before it’s needed – before graduation and by using social networking tools like LinkedIn. With that said, here are eight reasons students need to graduate to LinkedIn:

1. Economic forecast for 2011: cloudy – It may seem like the economy is improving, but it’s important to remember – the job market is usually the last thing to bounce back after a recession. A recent survey showed that leading economic experts foresee weaker growth and higher unemployment. They predict an unemployment rate of 8.7 percent for December 2011. This may be down from 10.1 percent in October 2009 but will we ever come back to the pre-recession rate of  4.9 percent? This CPER study indicates that it could take up to an entire decade to reach this level again.
2. Campus recruiting budgets have been reduced – When I was in college, it was refreshing to know that some of the country’s top companies would actually come to my campus for job fairs and interviews. Thanks to the recession, many companies will not have enough money in their budgets to recruit on college campuses. What does this mean? According to a Michigan State University survey, college campuses can expect to see 42 percent of employers reducing the number of schools they visit (the typical company only visits five campuses a year), 46 percent decreasing the number of career fairs they attend, and 36 percent holding fewer on-campus interviews. Students, it looks like the ball is in your court now.
3. College grads are competing with experienced professionals, even for internships – Competition for post-graduate jobs is fierce enough as it is, but now college students are forced to go up against people twice their age and with over ten years of experience in the field. Job sites like CareerBuilder are seeing a significant increase in the number of employers with experienced applicants. While internships have traditionally been seen as a way for college students and entry-level workers to get established, mature candidates now need this as well to re-enter the workforce.
4. The number of companies using social media for recruiting is on the rise – Eighty percent of companies are using social media for recruitment. An astonishing 95 percent of those companies are using – you guessed it – LinkedIn. At this rate, it’s not unrealistic to think that social media and other online tools are changing the way we look for talent and do business. (If you think this is crazy, check out Erik Qualman’s Social Media Revolution 2 for more mind-boggling statistics about social media)
5. The best and largest companies are using LinkedIn for recruitment – Not only are a lot of companies using LinkedIn to spot talent, these companies are among the top in their industries. As of August 2009, 40 percent of Fortune 100 companies were using LinkedIn’s services to source and hire candidates. Adoption by companies like Kraft, Allstate, and ConAgra shows that they fully recognize LinkedIn’s unmatched ability to help them find top talent while saving boatloads of money on third-party staffing firms and traditional job boards. Keep your profiles sharp and up-to-date, your next employer may be looking for you!
6. Many companies do not advertise their jobs to the public – Have you ever been on a company website looking for the “careers” link and it’s nowhere to be found? That’s because more and more companies are only looking at candidates who have tapped into their network, especially in the recent economy. Instead of posting positions on CareerBuilder or Monster, employers are giving first dibs to internal candidates, employee referrals, and those savvy enough to network their way to recruiters and hiring managers. And depending on the industry (i.e. marketing, staffing), some companies will not even consider you if you don’t have an online presence on sites like LinkedIn. Remember, 80 percent jobs are hidden from the public.
7. The people who can help you get a job are exactly the ones on LinkedIn – As we mentioned in our previous blog post, LinkedIn’s membership is completely dominated by experienced, successful, and influential professionals. Many of these people are business executives and industry experts with the potential to help you find or even be your next mentor or employer, and they are just mouse clicks away. Your future is in your laptop.
8. Why not? It’s simply the best networking tool available – With 70+ million members and growing strong, LinkedIn is the world’s largest business network providing endless potential for students and young professionals to build professional relationships and establish successful and fulfilling careers. Need we say more?

So what happened with Lyndi? Well, graduation passed, and the search continued. But this time around, she decided to leverage her professional network on LinkedIn. Now Lyndi is happily working as a recruiter in Austin because of an opportunity she learned about through one of her LinkedIn connections. When we asked her to comment, here’s what she said:

“Without LinkedIn, I wouldn’t have known about this job, especially since my new employer doesn’t post recruiting jobs on their website. They recruit people through social media and networks instead.”

You can read more compelling success stories about how students and recent graduates have used LinkedIn in our upcoming book Graduate to LinkedIn: Jump-start Your Career Support Network Now. We’re confident that this resource will give students an edge on the competition as they look for their next internship or career opportunity during this sluggish economic recovery.

While the Net Generation makes up about 27% of the U.S. population, Generation X and the Baby Boomers combine for a significant 38%. They are well-established in their careers and hold positions of power and authority. They are hard-working, independent, goal-oriented, and competitive. But most importantly, this group dominates the world’s largest web-based business network – LinkedIn.

LinkedIn’s membership is what Neilson Online is calling “The world’s largest audience of affluent, influential professionals.” Not only is the LinkedIn population highly educated (over 80% have bachelor or graduate degrees), but it’s also wealthy and successful. The average household income of the LinkedIn user is about $108,000 per year, and over 20% of LinkedIn users are senior level executives and managers. What’s more, over 60% are either decision makers in their companies or have direct influence over key decisions related to product or service purchases.

At this point, it’s apparent that LinkedIn has an older audience compared to sites like Facebook and MySpace (although Facebook’s audience is growing larger and older as we speak). As of summer 2009, the average LinkedIn user was 43 years of age.

While LinkedIn has proven its ability to help experienced professionals exchange knowledge, ideas, and opportunities, its potential in helping the Net Generation is clearly untapped. We found that, of the 70 million+ with profiles on LinkedIn, only a mere 4% are categorized as students. Best-selling author and publisher Melissa Giovagnoli wants to change that.

Teaming up with co-author and professional development consultant John Fowler, Melissa wrote Graduate to LinkedIn (@GradtoLinkedIn) specifically to educate college students and young professionals about the power of LinkedIn. The group that could benefit the most from this useful resource is the same one underutilizing it to the greatest degree. To John and Melissa, LinkedIn is the most powerful networking tool available, so why aren’t students capitalizing on this opportunity, especially before they complete their degrees and enter the world of work?

John and Melissa harmonize with Don Tapscott’s perspectives. The Net Generation should be embraced; not labeled as entitled, lazy, or disrespectful. This group is filled with technology-savvy, collaborative, and innovative people – they are social networking mavens with a passion for making a difference in the world. LinkedIn is an opportunity for these individuals to create access to the people who will play an integral role in their development as working professionals, leaders, and entrepreneurs. It will help bridge the gap between the sages of society and the leaders of tomorrow.

It’s time for college and graduate students to leverage existing social networking skills to find and connect with their future mentors and employers. It’s time to start building a career support network. It’s time to Graduate to LinkedIn.

The book Graduate to LinkedIn: Jump-start Your Careeer Support Network Now will be released in August 2010 by Networlding Publishing. You can also find authors Melissa Giovagnoli and John Fowler on Twitter via @networlding and @johnrayfowler.

* Information taken from: Tapscott, D. Grown Up Digital. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009.