GLinkedIn Groups are communities of professionals seeking to share ideas and network around a specific industry or interest.  Group members can make business contacts, find answers, post and view jobs, share content, and establish themselves as industry experts.
Joining a Group has the following advantages:

• Many recruiters hang out in Groups, making you more likely to be found, especially if you post articles or make comments.  The recruiters are looking for potential candidates and consider reaching out to a member based on how they demonstrate expertise, professionalism, interest in the field, and cultural fit.
• Joining lots of Groups increases your ranking in the overall LinkedIn search formula.  Very typically, recruiters and employers seek candidates through LinkedIn.  Your name comes up before other similar candidates if you belong to Groups. 
• You might be able to directly contact someone who is not in your network, by joining a group they are in.  This can be a clever way to send a message to an individual you would otherwise not have access to.
• Each Group has a Jobs tab, which can help you learn about openings.  It’s also possible that group members disclose information about “hidden jobs,” in the same way you might learn of opportunities through other networking platforms.
• You can directly message up to 15 fellow members for free each month.  This becomes important if you are conducting a stealth campaign for a specific job target and want to reach out to a lot of contacts in a short time frame.    

To Find LinkedIn Groups to Join:

1. Go to your LinkedIn home page.
2. Click on the dialpad icon in the top right corner of the navigation bar labeled “Work.”
3. Click the Groups icon in the dropdown menu and you’ll see suggested Groups under the “Discover” tab (if you’re already in some LinkedIn Groups, you’ll see them listed and their latest highlights).

Since LinkedIn makes Group recommendations based on your profile, you might not always find what you’re looking for on the Discover page. In that case, search for other Groups by typing keywords or names of interest into the search bar at the top of your main LinkedIn homepage. Then, on the search results page, click the Groups tab to filter your results.  To join any of the groups that come up, just click on the Group name and you’ll see a “Join Group” option appear on the next page. 
 
Still not getting a picture of LinkedIn groups?
Here are just two examples to check out:
Finance Club
With close to 1 million active members, Finance Club focuses on helping finance professionals grow their industry network, enhance their career and close more deals.
80,000 Hours: The group for doing good with your career
In this active, 10,000-member group you’ll find job postings, career questions, discussion, advice and professional networking opportunities.

Recruiters look for candidates online.  They might write targeted search strings for Google, or they could pay for a LinkedIn recruiter account, to search for candidates based on their work history, job title, or college. It’s quicker, easier, and less expensive than in-person networking to find the right person with precisely the right qualifications.  If a position was posted, in many cases, they can also search their Applicant Tracking System (ATS) database of candidates who applied, but frankly the online databases are better. 
 
Of course there is a difference between the “passive” candidate found online who did not apply for a position and the “active” one who sent in an application for a posted job opening.  But depending on the job market and type of expertise the work calls for, the passive candidate might be an ideal find that they can convert to an active candidate – after all, they don’t call them “recruiters” for nothing! 
 
One of the easiest things you can do in a job search is to distribute your resume on several sites and increase your chances of finding your next opportunity.  The more places your resume can be found, the more exposure you will have, which will increase your chances of getting found by an employer or recruiter.  You may even be making yourself available for jobs that are never advertised, such as temporary or contract positions.   And isn’t it nice that they reach out to you! 
But should you post your resume online?  Potential concerns to consider carefully:

• Privacy risks.  Your identity could be stolen, given that you reveal so much information in a resume.
• Spam.  You may end up with people contacting you to say their manager wants to set you up for an interview after seeing your resume, when in actuality they are looking to sell you something.
• You don’t look like a winner.  It can make you look like you are not very selective, maybe even desperate or unfocused.  If recruiters and employers are looking for top quality candidates, and you seem to so badly need a job, then you are probably not top quality.
• Distraction.  You may be contacted about jobs that are not a fit for you at all, yet you take the time to review the email or answer the phone call about it.
• Hidden unknowns.  If recruiter from outside a company finds your resume online and submits it for an opening, even without your permission, that recruiter now has the "rights" to your candidacy.  If that company then hired you, it would need to pay the recruiter's fee. So it might just reject your application to avoid that charge.
• Lost chances to shine in person.  Recruiters can read your resume without ever contacting you and they can immediately dismiss you without ever talking to you. You want recruiters and hiring managers and HR people to talk to you so you can show them your stuff– make a great impression while engaging in human contact.
• Found out. Your current employer may be conducting their own candidate hunts, find your resume during their searches and realize that you are looking for a new position.
• Additional risk without reward.  If you already have a compelling profile on LinkedIn, then employers and recruiters can find you there, little risk.  Posting your resume elsewhere online may not give you that much more exposure for the added concerns. 

 Next time: I’ll share tips for where to post and how to post your resume online