Employee recruitment for all levels of an organization has become more complicated at the same time that the market for qualified job applicants is shrinking. Advertising in major newspapers and on Internet-based job boards is expensive.

And often, when you are recruiting for difficult-to-fill specialty positions or for experienced professionals, you may wonder whether you are targeting the narrowly defined candidate types that you must communicate with through mass advertising.

According to three speakers at a recent webinar hosted by Pinstripe and Taleo Business Edition, Web 2.0, and specifically social networks, may help you fill in the missing links to your employee recruitment strategies, particularly when you need to reach out to people with highly specialized skills.

Ann Nimke, cofounder of Pinstripe, described how Web 2.0, the latest generation of the "World Wide Web" websites that encourage personal interaction, began with message boards, instant messaging, Wikipedia, YouTube and, finally, virtual networking.  

Next came the social networks, and as Jason Blessing from Taleo explained, "This is a classic case of the World Wide Web making something old new again. [Just as with traditional networking events and meetings], social networks online keep you connected with colleagues and can be a source of referral for passive jobseekers."

Who Uses Online Social Networks?

Nimke defined Web 2.0 and social network users:

• Generation X (born 1964 to 1980). Reach this group through more interactive media such as Internet banner advertising, job boards, e-cards, text messaging, cinema advertising, mobile media, billboards, public transportation, radio, and cable television.
• Generation Y/Millennial (born 1980 to 1995). Use mostly interactive and alternative media to reach this group: job boards, Internet banner ads, networking sites, RSS feeds, blogging, text messaging, streaming video, flash e-cards, e-mail marketing, splash pages, mobile media, radio, cable, coffee cup sleeves, and sporting event and/or program advertising.

Editor's note: The information above should not imply that Baby Boomers are not involved in social networks. This generation is slowly gravitating to the use of online communities, but the majority of users to date are Generation X and Generation Y.

Some of the social networks often used for business networking that were listed by the presenters are Plaxo, Ryze, LinkedIn, and Spoke. All of these are possibilities for searching out passive jobseekers. 

However, Robin McMahon, CPC CIR, senior recruiter at Pinstripe, highlighted LinkedIn (www.linkedin .com) as a popular network. According to LinkedIn's website, there are more than 20 million registered users around the world in over 150 industries. 

LinkedIn Good Place to Start

McMahon suggested that building a personal profile on LinkedIn that includes past employers is a good way for employment recruiters to begin using LinkedIn as a recruitment tool.  You must become a member and have a profile on LinkedIn to begin to build a network with other professionals and search for prospective passive jobseekers. 

There are different levels of membership, beginning with a free membership level. To post your organization's open employment positions on LinkedIn, you can purchase individual postings or groups of 5 or 10. 

If you limit your recruiting efforts on LinkedIn to searching for passive jobseekers, you may encounter frustration because you may not be provided the opportunity to contact a potential candidate if and when you find one. 

Once you sign up on LinkedIn and create your profile, you will understand the logic behind this. You build your networks by inviting people to become linked to you. If they agree, you will have access to view their networks as well. 

In order to connect with people you don't know through this website, you need to be introduced by the link/person that you do know. It sounds a bit complicated, but it's not really all that difficult to secure an introduction from someone you do know.

Be a Detective

McMahon said that the introduction requirement should not deter a recruiter from searching the LinkedIn database for prospective candidates, because once you find an individual's name (and often an employer's name), you can use Google or another search engine to find telephone numbers and e-mail addresses. 

This process may seem tedious; however, you are reaching out to individuals (the passive jobseekers) who will not be found surfing online job boards or searching your company's job postings because they are not actively looking for new jobs.  

As the labor market continues to tighten, making it more difficult to find professionals with significant expertise in their fields, it will become increasingly necessary to use alternate or nontraditional methods such as social networks.

For more information, visit www.pinstripetalent.com and www.taleo.com.