Social Networking Opens Job Doors

The face of the employee recruiting process has changed considerably when compared to a mere five years ago. The days of pouring over resumes to learn of an individual’s work history and level of education are quickly disappearing.

Since I handle recruiting for an online marketing company, I am frequently on the prowl for talented graphic designers. These days however, I no longer have to meet in person with a candidate for an initial glimpse of their creative design and artwork. By placing a hyper-link within their resume, a talented graphic designer has the ability to “woo” even the most experienced recruiter within a few short seconds.

Also, with the ability to “Google” an individual’s name and e-mail address, it’s possible to open a window to his or her personal and professional background.

However, the most interesting new technology impacting the hunt for job candidates is the arrival of social networking websites, similar to MySpace and Facebook.

One such site, LinkedIn, includes an online network of 8 million professionals spread across the world, including executives from all of the Fortune 500 companies.

A LinkedIn press release states that more than 3.3 million professionals find jobs, people and service providers through this existing network of business relationships. By simply typing keywords into LinkedIn’s search function, recruiters can graze the entire network to find high quality candidates for any desired position.

For job seekers, this site provides a great venue to market yourself. Simply setup your own profile that includes work history, educational level and specific skills and experience. Again, keywords are the key. Loading your profile with the right keywords makes it a relatively easy process for recruiters to find you. In addition, privacy controls allow you to maintain, control and revise your profile.

Being new to the possibilities of LinkedIn, I am excited to find out more about this new recruiting tool. It won’t replace my past hiring practices but will help to enhance them by allowing me to search the Rolodexes of working professionals online.

The long and short of it is face to face interviews will never become obsolete but the ability to tap into a professional pool with a simple click will make my job a whole lot easier. Just don’t tell my boss, deal?