Denver Business Journal - by Nicole Queen Denver Business Journal

Some local head-hunters are taking their pursuit online — and not just to the job boards.

People have used the Internet for all sorts of things. Some sell and buy products, get news and other information, while others use it to connect and share with one another. However, the line between what is considered public and private information on the Internet has become increasingly thin, especially with social networking sites.

Myspace and Facebook are social-network leaders. Myspace was founded in 2003, Facebook in 2004.

A social network allows a person to create a profile, usually for free, under any name they choose. They’re also given an URL domain they can customize, posting photos, music and information about themselves. After a profile is created, the user can connect other profiles on the network. Usually these social platforms include an internal search engine where people can type in someone’s name to find them — if they’ve posted a profile. These profiles also can be set to “private” if the user doesn’t want their information to be public.

Sometimes people connect and share a bit too much and it’s costing them their jobs, or has come close to it. Local case in point: Rob Smoke, chairman of the Boulder Human Relations Committee, almost lost his seat due to his notorious profile quote: “I’m tired, I’m hungry, I’m horny, I’m stoned … and I’m a city official,” and also because of other postings on his page in 2006, according to a published report in February 2007.

Despite the negative attention social networks have received, people willing to share information about themselves online isn’t always a bad thing, especially for those who are hiring. Myspace and Facebook’s registered users are growing daily, with Myspace claiming 160 million users and Facebook claiming more than 70 million.

However, the numbers may be inflated because one person can create multiple accounts. Still, having access to millions of people with the click of a button is becoming more attractive to human resource and recruiting companies as a way to learn more about job candidates.

Just ask Michelle Parker, an executive recruiter for Ajilon Finance in Denver. Parker recently placed a candidate she found on Facebook with a large oil and gas company. A keyword search in Facebook for oil or gas-related work history produced 30 candidates. She narrowed them down and conducted face-to-face interviews.

“I think Facebook has been very useful,” Parker said. “And I think it’s a credible source for companies if they’re looking for a candidate who isn’t necessarily looking.”

They’re called “passive candidates,” according to Dan Robitaille, president of a nonprofit trade association, the Rocky Mountain Recruiting Association (RMRA) and owner of Denver recruiting company Xstaff.

He said there are more than 500 recruiting and staffing companies registered with RMRA; plus, there are many recruiters who work as independent contractors. Robitaille and other recruiters in Denver are joining the social networking trend.

Sue Kunimune, owner and executive recruiter of Kunimune & Associates in Littleton, said, “It almost gets to the point where I don’t even need to request a resumé. If I go to Facebook, LinkedIn and Myspace, I can get a pretty well-rounded view of who they are.”

Kunimune searches Myspace, Facebook and LinkedIn for job candidates.

Other recruiters use social networks to screen prospective candidates.

“It’s kind of a new era and we can [now] learn about these candidates,” said GG Johnston, president and COO of Denver-based JohnstonWells Public Relations. “On the positive side, we can get some insight into what they like to do and who they are as a person. On the not-so-positive side, we can get some red flags about the candidate.”

However, Johnston and Parker said they’ve never come across any compromising content while looking at candidates’ profiles.

Recruiting companies tell people to be wary of the things they post online.

Frank Wagner, vice president of Excel Personnel in Englewood, said the ambiguous nature of social networks is why his company doesn’t rely on them to place or screen employees for his clients.

“The information on those kind of social networking sites is fairly unreliable,” Wagner said. “There are no controls for accuracy … the content has to be taken with a huge grain of salt. It doesn’t necessarily discount them as being an excellent employee during work time. Right now, as we sit, a very small percentage of our employees have come through these networking boards.”

Recruiters also still rely on traditional techniques, such as face-to-face interviews and online job boards such as Monster.com or Jobing.com.

“You do a disservice to yourself if you stop face-to-face communication and networking and if you rely too heavily on the Internet for networking,” said Sue Wyman, president of the Jivaro Group, a national executive search firm in Denver.

“I don’t think [social networks] are a replacement to job boards,” said Joe Cockrell, director of public relations for Jobing.com in Denver. “I’ve never had anyone say, ‘I’m going to use LinkedIn because it’s free.’ They’ll use as many resources as they can.”

Mike McManara, regional permanent placement director for Ajilon Finance’s Denver office, said many of his recruiters use the free social networks to find candidates, which can save them money, but they still use more traditional methods, such as posting positions on job boards.

He said recruiting costs for an accounting or financing position can be anywhere from 25 percent to 35 percent of the first year’s salary. And it can cost one to two times the annual salary to place a C-level employee.

Jobing.com is an online job board that caters specifically to Colorado employers and employees. It charges employers $389 to post one position for 28 days. On Monster.com, the cost to post one position for 60 days is $395; the rate improves to $135 each for each job listed when posting 100 to 249 positions for 60 days. Also on Monster.com, it costs employers $650 over a two-week period to view 400 resumés of candidates within a 100-mile radius. It’s $975 for 500 national views.

“[Recruiters] aren’t ignoring the job boards, but [social networks] are an effective tool and a lower price,” Robitaille said. “But the real key is that [social networks] provide us with a better source of people who aren’t actively looking, as opposed to those on the job boards.”

Recruiters say executive and C-level candidates won’t be found on the social network sites.

Enter LinkedIn, a business networking site designed so business professionals can network, recruit and find jobs by connecting with one another. It has more than 21 million unique users, according to LinkedIn.

It’s free for basic use. People post resumés, work experience and contact information on their profiles and can purchase packages, for between $60 and $2,000, for access to more networks and services. Recruiters say it’s a good deal because recruiting can be expensive.

Because the LinkedIn platform is getting so popular, Mike O’Neil, CEO of Integrated Alliances, a professional networking company in Denver, has created workshops specific to LinkedIn. They focus on how to build a company’s networks and recruit candidates, how to make a LinkedIn profile, how to build a network within the platform and how to use LinkedIn for company growth, to recruit possible candidates or find another job.

The courses cost between $39 and $149. Qwest, Time Warner Telecom and the Jivaro Group are among the companies that have sent employees to the workshops.

“What recruiters are looking for is to eliminate someone [from the application process] as quickly as possible,” O’Neil said. “We train people on how to use LinkedIn for business purposes, sales and marketing, recruiting, executive-level marketing and being visible to the world of marketing. It really becomes a strategy session.”

Facebook shows more promise in integrating its social platform into a more professional business platform than Myspace, he said. “I think Myspace will stay mainly social.”

The Internet opens up new possibilities to find people who wouldn’t otherwise be found. From Internet job boards and other community sites such as Craigslist, Myspace, Facebook and LinkedIn, recruiters and companies are catching on quickly to the benefits on logging on and connecting.