You’ve spent thousands of dollars (in some cases hundreds of thousands of dollars) to finally receive a piece of framed paper, otherwise known as your college diploma. Such an expensive piece of paper in fact, you will probably be paying off your loans until you are somewhere in your 40s.

Was all the money, effort and time really worth it in the end? While some say no and others give a definite yes, it’s something you’ll ultimately need to determine for yourself.

However, something that will most likely help you make your decision is how long it takes you to finally clinch that first job that will launch you like a rocket into the career field of your choice.

With so many people graduating with their Bachelor’s Degree these days, what will help you stand out from the pack of thirsty, blood sucking, just graduated young adults? The perfect outfit, a repertoire of amazing, life altering internships or that fine tuned resume you pined over for days and printed out on colored, scented paper?

Maybe none of the above will help you get your foot into the door, but something that will help is social media.

As different websites continuously launch, allowing the social media industry to expand at an extremely rapid pace or comparably to how many Real Housewives shows of whatever city are created, online social sites are proving to be that added ‘umpf’ those who just walked down the grad aisle are desperately seeking. In fact, according to a recent piece, all the way from major Fortune 500 CEOs to entry-level employees, people are using sites like LinkedIn.com to make connections and search for jobs.

“These websites open you up to a diverse world of companies and professional contacts,” Christina Paxman, a graduate teaching assistant in the communication school at the University of Iowa said in a statement. “This new technology is shaping the way people get hired.”

Currently, LinkedIn boasts around 150 million members in over 200 countries, allowing the site to claim the title of being ranked as the world’s largest professional networking site.

Through enabling professionals, college students and colleagues to interact, in essence this site is a modern day face-to-face conversation that requires a person to first send a request to connect to another person and once the other person accepts, they are then considered virtual friends.

Although this concept is similar to Facebook, LinkedIn differs as it has been created specifically for furthering professional networking as opposed to just socializing and catching up with an old classmate.

 “Messaging is just one of many tools LinkedIn and Twitter offer. It’s a great way to ask for advice or tips from someone who is already doing the job you want,” Paxman advised.

Still not convinced to join this free website? Take a gander at this example. Paul Spooner graduated just last year from the University of Iowa school of Journalism and Mass Communications and leveraged LinkedIn to search for jobs and make connections in the public relations industry.

 “LinkedIn was a gateway to many companies and professionals I was interested in. It let me connect to them in a way no other resource could-directly,” he concluded.

Get involved in LinkedIn to get the leg up on your competition and if not, listen closely to Vitamin C, as she says, “As we go on, we remember, all the times we had together and as our lives change come whatever we will still be friends forever” – virtually, at least.