Today’s post is a guest post from my friend, Mike Larsen. Mike is a former Director of Monster.com and the Founder & CEO of job search and reviews website InsideTrak based in Sydney, Australia. Mike helped me with a project I was working on a couple of years ago related to what’s new/what’s next in the world of recruiting, so when he offered to share some of his insights related to social recruiting, I gladly accepted!

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Last year, there was a lot of hysteria in the press about companies and recruiters using social media to ‘snoop’ on candidates, with more than 90% admitting to having researched potential hires using social media, according to social media monitoring service Reppler.

Surprised? Me neither.

As the human backbone of the Internet, social media has for quite some time provided recruiters with access to an incredible amount of free and publicly available information (check your Facebook privacy settings folks) that should assist in making a great employment match.

I’m all for it.

What might surprise some companies and some recruiters is that candidates are using these same tools (and more) to accessing detailed information about YOU. While Glassdoor certainly pioneered this space, they have been quickly followed by others in the US such as CareerBliss, and in Australia my site InsideTrak.

While some employers might find this a little confronting I believe the majority are seeing this trend as an opportunity to receive real time feedback from current staff, while increasing their number of new hire success stories with eyes-wide-open recruits.

Just as social media has transformed the consumer branding space, so now follow employment brands. As recruitment professionals, it’s quite simply our new reality.

Consider the playing field leveled.

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Unbridled Talent LLC is a consulting and advisory firm providing services to clients in the areas of recruiting & human resources strategy, employment branding and leadership/career development. We offer keynotes, workshops and training that inspire and teach business leaders to be more effective in their careers and as leaders of their organization’s most valuable resource – people. Contact us to schedule an event or to discuss our strategic consulting and advisory services.