I get the impression that LinkedIn is increasingly how people get jobs. A few people joined my team recently with very in-demand skills and it seems they were mostly hired through LinkedIn.

One guy in particular has a very long and detailed CV on his profile that he always keeps up to date. He also claims to have coached several friends to do the same, and they all started receiving better quality job offers almost immediately (he claims). He's a smart guy who seems genuinely interested in helping people so I have no particular reason to doubt him.

I think LinkedIn's value as a general business networking tool is pretty low, but for finding jobs it seems to be becoming more and more important.

Maybe the answer is only to activate your profile when job hunting.