By Richard McMunn

Recruitment has changed over the last decade. The process is mostly web-based and with recruitment agencies popping up all over the internet, it has become a new phenomenon for job-seekers and employers alike. However, will pay services still abound, recruiters have new ‘free to use’ options online; consider the following social media networking sites where employers can hand-pick prospective employers.

Gumtree
Gumtree is the granddaddy of all the social media sites in terms of buying, selling and recruiting. Originally set up for the purpose of people arriving in new cities, Gumtree was the leader in what we see today in terms of other online connecting vehicles. They set the stock for others to follow and the site operates in over sixty countries. Employers remain faithful to Gumtree and it is a place where many people are recruited from. Employers use the site to actively seek employees and it’s hard to argue what Gumtree have achieved in the years they have been in operation.

Employers can use Gumtree in a number of ways. They can either look for people who are advertising skills directly and hand pick individuals who advertise on the site or they can for a few pennies list their vacancies and await their applications. It saves on recruitment costs and that all too-dreaded invoice coming from recruitment agencies who have forwarded candidates to them.

LinkedIn
The professional media network which is the polar opposite of that other well-known site, Facebook. LinkedIn enables employers to send out messages to job-seekers and in July 2011 launched a button whereby people can apply for vacancies directly through the website. LinkedIn has over two hundred million members to date. It’s the in-place to be for employers who use LinkedIn to recruit and why not? It’s the vehicle which enables them to seek their next candidates. Eager job-seekers flock to the site in the hope that an employer will be bowled-over by their profiles. By far, LinkedIn is the most advantageous for employers who are on recruitment drives.

Facebook
It’s a hard one this. Facebook is more of a social enterprise than a way of seeking employees. That said, it’s still a good vehicle in terms of companies who advertise on the site their services. Internet footprints will lead employers to perspective candidate’s pages and this is where it can sometimes fall down in terms of success. However, not to be sniffed at, Facebook is not going anywhere anytime soon. It can be used in terms of it has an audience, but the set-up of Facebook means it would surely have to rely on people a link along to people who may well be interested in looking for a job.

Pinterest
Pinterest operates a more subtle media vehicle. It’s a pin board where people post their hobbies, business ideas and pictures. Its genre is widely female-based and has people posting their business links and ideas. Employers can use Pinterest to seek for people who are working home-based businesses and with a wide female base; it’s a haven for finding prospective employees. Pinterest broke records in terms of the fastest growing website to break through the ten-million membership mark and males are sniffing around the den seeing what’s going on.

These are just a few examples of sites which employers can use as part of their recruitment process and it’s easy to see why social media sites have and continue to be a great tool for recruitment purposes. Undoubtedly, there are rich pickings for employers and Human Resources departments to seek out potential candidates in their hunt for dynamic individuals.

The current trend can only increase. With niche areas such as education, law and health, once considered to be very closed areas when it came to recruitment, now fully open to recruiting from social media platforms, it is becoming a huge attraction for organizations to hand-pick new employees to fit vacant roles.

Recruitment agencies and job boards may well be in decline; nothing is clear as of yet in terms of numbers to date at least. However, they must surely be a little concerned about the services they offer, as their bread and butter clients are actively using these free sites for recruitment.

Traditional recruitment drives are not cheap. Using the tools now available to any recruiter with an online connection, there’s no invoice at the end of the journey.

Richard McMunn is a writer for How2become.com a leading career and recruitment specialist for public sector careers. For the last 8 years How2become has helped numerous people prepare for and pass tough recruitment processes and assessment centres in order to secure their dream job. You can also connect with How2become on Google Plus.