The following guest post is from 
Joshua Waldman, author of JOB SEARCHING WITH SOCIAL MEDIA FOR DUMMIES. Joshua is the founder of Career Enlightenment which offers professional LinkedIn profile writing services and career advice for the modern job seeker.
Before we get started, I would like to apologize to Derek Weeks for the quality of the video. This was my first time recording a Skype conversation, so the video and audio aren’t great. Actually, by the end the voices don’t quite sync up. (Yes, I am a cheapskate and used the free trial version of Call Record, and yes, I did eventually pay the $20 for a license.) 
But for my readers, don’t let that fool you. The information Derek reveals is POWERFUL.
Derek Weeks is a hiring manager as well as a LinkedIn power user for over 5 years.
- Over 750 REAL connections; he doesn’t play the numbers game
- Over 40 REAL recommendations
- Career success though connections made on LinkedIn
- Member of elite group of LinkedIn users
From the video, you will learn the importance of having a simple, clear and short profile summary. A company gives your entire profile about 90 seconds — the first 30 seconds are spent reading your profile. If the profile isn’t compelling, the hiring manager doesn’t even bother with the rest of it.
He discusses a hugely powerful technique that will allow you to get in touch with your target company’s customer base so that you can add real value to your conversations during an interview. Imagine being able to say, “Well, I’ve had several conversations with your customers and they love your product features….”
He tells how he averted disaster by finding the dirty laundry on a company that wanted to hire him — thus avoiding a potentially career-killing move. This illustrates how important it is to find out if your target company is actually a fit for you.