I didn't take linkedin seriously until I lost my job. Having an upto date profile on LinkedIn does 2 things: * lets recruiters see everything about you in one place * suggests related jobs

Now, the story of how I got my current job: met guy at local Meetup, talked to him a bit and found out the company was hiring, and he would mention my name to recruiter. So, I add him on linkedIn, but get no call whatsoever from any recruiter. I see that there's a company recruiter on his connections and add her; explaining that I had met so and so at a meetup and there is an opening for a person with my skills so would she be kind enough to set me an interview? It takes some time, but I do get the interview, clear it, and all the other interviews as well.

I know of at least one blue chip firm that no longer pays headhunters, and now does all their recruiting via LinkedIn using the paid Recruiter features.

Yep. I got an interview day with Google partly because I had a bit of bait (not entirely untrue) on my LinkedIn profile.

Didn't get the job -- at least not yet :) But it was an interesting exercise.

Yup, all the time.