Jobs and Money: CNBC and LinkedIn Team Up

If you've been serious about moving your career forward in this Internet Age, you've probably visited Linkedin.com at some point. Most likely you registered, set up a profile, and started building your professional network. And since you are reading CNBC.com, you are probably equally serious about your investments and the business news that may affect them.

Now CNBC and LinkedIn are teaming up to make it easier for users to keep an eye on what's important for both their careers and investments.

I'm a big fan of LinkedIn — and I was BEFORE the business department here told me about this deal (by the way, the press release is here). I've used it to maintain contact with past colleagues and get in touch with old classmates and friends. But let's be real ... I've used it for job searches, just like everybody else. Heck, a buddy of mine bounced right back into his career after being laid off thanks mainly to LinkedIn.

So what if you could keep tabs on the industries and companies important to you and your career at the same time you are chatting up professional connections and putting feelers out for a possible job jump?

Now you'll be able to.

Beginning this week LinkedIn users are going to start seeing more and more CNBC business news and finance advice throughout the LinkedIn community. The information and events influencing the business world — and perhaps more importantly the personal job market — will be right there to immediately share with their professional contacts.

"Everyone I know is on LinkedIn ... it just makes perfect sense," the senior vice president of CNBC's TV operations, Jonathan Wald, pointed out to me recently.

This partnership will also let us work together to do some in-depth polling of LinkedIn working professionals. Sure, any site can throw up a poll. But polls on LinkedIn can slice and dice the results so you can see how things like salary or profession changed the voting. Face it ... you wouldn't think much about a poll telling you most people think you should avoid stocks. But if that same poll noted that all the professional economists answering voted to BUY stocks, that's a little different. We'll be reporting on the results on the Web site and on TV. And for easier reference down the road, we'll be compiling all those polls and results into a "LinkedIn On CNBC" section.

Over the months as the partnership grows, CNBC will also get the chance to interact with the LinkedIn community to discuss various workplace, business and investment issues. In fact, we'd love to hear any suggestions you have for topics or discussions. You can read what LinkedIn CEO Dan Nye has to say about it here.

Think about it. The saying typically goes "It's not always what you know, but who you know." With this partnership you get both, plus "What they're thinking."