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It’s who you know: New sites let you ‘work the room’ online

Sometimes, getting a position comes down to who you know.

But now, you can “work the room” even if your connections and contacts are spread out around the world.

Professional networking through Web sites such as LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) are gaining popularity as a means for recruiting job applicants.

It’s also a route for those hoping to get a foot in the door at the company of their choice.

LinkedIn Chairman and President, Products, Reid Hoffman, created LinkedIn in 2003, said Orly Keren, LinkedIn’s marketing manager. Hoffman previously served as executive vice president of PayPal.

The site serves as a professional counterpart to social networking sites. Where young people talk music and movies on sites such as Facebook and MySpace.com, people talk shop on LinkedIn.

Now about 9 million people in 130 industries worldwide are members of LinkedIn. People most often become part of LinkedIn because they’re invited to join an existing member’s network, Keren said.

But there’s nothing stopping industrious job-seekers from signing up and starting networks of their own. It takes only a few minutes to complete LinkedIn’s initial profile.

To take true advantage of the power of networking, though, you can’t sit back and wait for contacts to come to you — you still have to build your virtual contacts like you would network at a cocktail reception.

“If you have at least 20 connections, you’re 34 times more likely to find a connection that will lead you to a new career move,” Keren said. The average Google employee — a Silicon Valley benchmark — has 63 connections.

One thing to keep in mind: Other LinkedIn members may consider your connection with a person an endorsement, so it’s important to build connections with people you know and trust.