How can a student learn more about career options while expanding a professional network? They can build a free online profile to connect with jobs, people and organizations in their chosen fields with LinkedIn.com.

LinkedIn currently has more than 110 million users worldwide, with 44 million in the U.S. The site, launched in May 2003 and headquartered in Mountain View, is not your traditional social networking site.

Online trade publication TechRepublic wrote “LinkedIn has become the de facto tool for professional networking.”

LinkedIn includes more than 871,000 interest groups, most of which are job related.

Other groups focus on professional and career issues. More than 128,000 groups are academic and corporate alumni related. De Anza College has an alumni group on LinkedIn with 522 members. It is open to all De Anza students, alumni, staff and recruiters.

“LinkedIn makes networking efficient and easy,” said Kerri Nash, a De Anza alumna and group member. Nash is currently using LinkedIn to help manage a career change. “It makes finding a job easier by allowing you to research companies you are interested in and lets you know who you know at those target companies,” she said.

Users start by building a free professional network profile on LinkedIn, including credentials, resume, awards, activities, work experience, ambitions and interests. The idea is to build a professional profile that gets you connected.

You can also link blogs and websites and ask users to join as a connection, follow companies or join groups. LinkedIn also gives users suggestions for connections, groups to join, and job leads based on their profiles.

“It helps me market my personal brand, me,” Nash said.