When you think of social networking you probably think of a college-age dominated industry which people mainly utilize to update others about the everyday details of their lives. What you may not know is that social networking sites, are now also serving as a databases of potential employees. In an article written by Joe Light of the Wall Street Journal, he investigates the shift which has occurred from traditional employee recruiting methods to more aggressive methods which utilize social networking#. According to experts in the field of recruiting, companies are leaning more and more towards utilizing sites like LinkedIn, or even Facebook to seek out and research potential employees. Often, traditional online job boards don’t yield the results companies desire. Experts argue that this is due to the fact that many of the sites’ lack the ability to consider the specific details, which, are ultimately required to conduct an effective employee search. As the job market continues to grow more and more specialized, so too do the resume search engines companies require. This is lack of specificity is not the only cause of the move towards social networking.

In the employee heavy job market which prevails in the United States today, employers are especially likely to seek out specific technical and social characteristics in potential hires. Often, however, the most qualified candidates aren’t actively searching for a new position on popular job sites. The best candidates may be those who are relatively satisfied with their current positions. As the best recruiters know, this in no way means that these candidates may not be interested in exploring other opportunities. It is in the quest of these highly desirable candidates which has led companies to utilize social networking sites. How do these sites help? Social networking sites such as Facebook or LinkedIn allow companies to reach out to candidates before they are contacted by potential competitors.

In response to the sudden influx of competition brought forth by social networking sites, online resume sites are being forced to update their websites in order to improve search results. The popular job and resume searching website Monster Corp. is soon to launch new technology which will better inform recruiters as to how well a resume fits the specific details of their conducted search. To deal with this sudden increase in new technologies and new mediums, companies are turning towards employing proactive executive recruiting firms.

Executive recruiting firms, such as Reaction Search International, are able to develop a proven method for sifting through candidates. Reaction Search International utilizes both ever-improving traditional online job sites, and social networking sites. Because executive recruiters are able to develop the technical skills necessary to conduct a highly effective resume search, they are able to present only the most qualified candidates to hiring managers for further interviewing. This greatly minimizes the amount of unnecessary footwork being done by the company itself and results in a more effective and better placed hire. Companies such as Reaction Search International, are able to reach out to candidates who may otherwise be overlooked, as opposed to waiting for candidates to place themselves on the job market. The most successful executive recruiting firms have embraced the social networking boom and have developed effective tactics for pulling highly-qualified candidates from these sites. Social networking is no longer all fun and games, it has become an industry which has had a great impact on the hiring process. It has made the employee search process much more active and technical, and has subsequently created a greater need for executive recruiting firms such as Reaction Search International.

Before you deem social networking sites only a tool for the young, consider utilizing a few, either in your company’s hiring process or in your quest for a new job.