Recruitment in the initial days was through the recruitment agencies and placement agencies. Then with the online boom, now we have naukri, monster, shine, firstnaukri and other online recruitment websites where the recruitment does not pay nor does the employee. The revenues are from the advertisements and thus a win-win situation for all.

Thus how can social networking agencies be far away? The leader of the pack seems to be linkedin which is for social networking but for professional people. There has been a lot written about how companies are using social networks sites like Facebook and MySpace to screen prospective candidates even before the interview process begins. There has been a lot less written about how companies can use social media to recruit new employees.

As the online recruitment and social networking space evolve and it makes for some interesting reading, there are interesting takeaways that are worth noting.

One is that job boards are going away. The proliferation of job boards has created confusion and frustration among job seekers and diminishing returns for employers. As a result employers waste valuable resources at a time when their staffing needs are most dire. So what will replace the giant job sites like Monster.com? How about social networking sites?

The future of online recruiting is not just in sites like LinkedIn, but in more closed sites (closed except to professional society or college alumni memberships). Some widely respected recruiting technology services and consulting firms, predict that “the growth of thousands of closed social networks will increase in the next 18 months.”

Thus if you are a college sophomore getting ready to graduate in 2 years or an alum looking for a new job then stop focusing on the job boards and instead look for professional sites in your industry or college alumni sites.