Tap into one of the most powerful business tools on the planet by joining the Center for Online Learning’s Career Services group on LinkedIn.

Social media use for hiring is at an all-time high.

According to Jobvite’s 2014 Job Seeker Nation Report, 93 percent of recruiters are likely to look at a candidate’s social profile.

Their social media channel of choice?

Hands down, recruiters prefer LinkedIn.

When searching for job candidates, 94 percent of recruiters use the business-oriented social networking service that has attracted more than 300 million members.

Are you preparing for a career in human resources or marketing and want to find out how to land that first job?

If you’re a student enrolled in either Saint Leo University’s online or on-ground human resources management or business-marketing degree programs, take note. You can get the inside track on careers if you register now for one of the upcoming sessions in the Leaders in the Industry webinar series.

Launched earlier this year by the Center for Online Learning’s Student Services Department, the webinar series offers students the opportunity to better understand what companies are looking for in new hires by hearing directly from professionals in the industry.

Here’s the schedule for these next two sessions:

“What are employers looking for in today’s college grads?”

“What’s it really like to work in human resources, law enforcement, health care, marketing, or any particular field?”

Chances are if you’re a college student with your sights set on gainful employment in the not-too-distant future, you won’t find the answers to common questions such as these in a textbook – or even online.

Sometimes you just need to consult an expert – someone with experience in your intended field.

Maybe you’re a traditional student at University Campus getting ready to graduate in the spring and you’re looking for your first job.

Or perhaps you’re an adult student studying online or at one of the university’s education centers. You already have a full-time job, but your goal is to change career fields as soon as you finish your degree program.

Whether you’re a first-year student or an alumnus, you can benefit from LionsLINK, the university’s new career services management system, specially tailored to serve the needs of the Saint Leo University community.

LionsLINK includes a host of services and capabilities such as employment postings for internships and permanent positions, customized job searches, alert notifications for job search matches, online storage of sensitive employment documents and access to a wide variety of career planning resources.

Saint Leo’s career services advisor dedicated to online students offers her best advice: Don’t wait until you’re ready to graduate to focus on career development.

Did Nik Wallenda just wake up one morning and say, “Hey, I think I’ll walk a quarter-mile across a 2-inch cable 1,500 feet above the Little Colorado River Gorge today.”

Of course not.

It was a feat he had been preparing for all of his life.

The same is true for any of the tightropes we walk in life – the job market tightrope included.