RecruitingBlogs is a large networking site from Ning for recruiters and sourcers that just pushed past 6,000 members. I recently joined RecruitingBlogs and have found a number of ways to take advantage of it. Let me show you.

To start, you can create a profile to tell the community about yourself and what you do:

Next, you can connect with other recruiters and sourcers on the site and swap info, tips and positions you have with them:

You can post open recruiting related positions you have for the community and visitors of the site to see:

Also, resumes of recruiters and sourcers can be found laying around out here if you look under the “replies” to posted positions:

Other ways to use the site include blogging directly on the site, uploading videos, contributing to and reading the “forum”, and advertising or staying up to date on recruiting industry events. The one thing that really makes this site stand apart though is the participation of it’s members. An example of this is “Tutorial Tuesday” which is one of the weekly features out on RecruitingBlogs that it’s members can be apart of. It represents a nice way to share expertise, learn new techniques‚ and find new people in the field. Below is an example (you have to go to the site to watch the video). Check it out!

Jim Stroud posted recently on his blog, The Recruiters Lounge, about a new book he completed called “Resume Forensics” that is packed to the gills with tips, techniques and more for recruiters and sourcers. Jim is giving this new book away for FREE! The one catch is, you have to be subscribed to his blog by way of email.

If you are already subscribed to his blog by email, Jim is looking to reach a goal of 5,000 total subscribers before giving away the book for free.‚ Once he reaches this goal he will email the book to you directly. If you aren’t already subscribed, trust me, do it right away. It’s simple and not only do you get a great book (which you will no doubt learn from) but you will discover a true expert in the recruiting field, and gain solid insight into recruiting and sourcing in general. Honestly, you could read his blog for days and continue to pick new things up. The guy simply gets it!

Here’s an example of what you will find on his site:

Interested in recruiting and sourcing from companies that are just in the Web 2.0 space? Check out GO2Web20.net. This site claims to be the “The Complete Web 2.0 Directory” with‚ 1,807 companies currently listed along with‚ information on what‚ each company does and links to their sites. This is a great place to identify both small “under the radar” start-up companies to potentially pluck great talent from, and also show large “well known” companies that have already emerged on the scene.

There is a great blog attached to the site as well, Go2Web2.blogspot, which talks about the latest companies in this space and gives recruiters and sourcers many avenues to explore.

Sponsored by SmashFly Technologies, Provider of WildFire, The First Job Marketing Platform

A comprehensive, robust career site targeted to communications professionals in advertising, marketing, broadcasting, publishing and public relations, Talent Zoo nevertheless also features a wealth of industry content that can be leveraged by anyone in the recruitment industry.

It’s professional - but hip. That’s probably the first thing you’ll notice about Talent Zoo upon visiting its homepage. From the animated, bouncing star in the site’s logo to the cool pictures and relaxed writing style, this is clearly a site created for, well, creatives.

Talent Zoo features a job board for employers to post open positions, and the usual content valuable to‚ recruiters - which companies are hiring what kinds of employees - but there’s quite a bit more to be found here. Employment trends, salary information and guest articles are just three examples of communications industry-specific content that can be found on the site. There are also numerous links off-site to like-minded Internet destinations of value.

One example is the Hiring Revolution blog a Talent Zoo affiliate site which offers “¢‚¬¦advice, information, and insight into recruitment and retention¢‚¬¦” in the advertising and communications industries. It’s a very informal, sometimes raw, site, but it’s also a pretty rare and valuable find in the way that it speaks the recruitment language and tells stories from the trenches while still providing compelling industry information.

That’s just one example of unique content found at Talent Zoo. Job seekers can also find more blogs, Web comics, podcasts, tons of career advice and extensive resume and salary tools to assist in career development. And of course, there are plentiful and nationwide job listings to search through, including a “Rookie Directory” resource in which entry-level job seekers receive special consideration.

Ultimately, Talent Zoo might have a few offbeat quirks, but it also makes for a fairly natural environment for recruiters and job seekers alike.

WebbAlert is a video blog that gives it’s audience a “daily tech round up”. Much like TechCrunch, which I featured in a previous post, WebbAlert can give recruiters and sourcers new avenues to pursue such as new products and services in the market. Each episode is usually around 5-6 minutes and provides good quick “newscast style” overviews on everything from Skype to Google along with links to the articles and companies mentioned. Great resource to be tuned into the latest developments not only in technology but with current and emerging companies. I personally have found out about many new blogs, products, services and companies by watching every week. Check it out and let me know if you agree.

My favorite website by far is TechCrunch. It is a site started by Michael Arrington a few years ago, and is dedicated to reviewing new Internet products and services. I found this site last year and now read it daily. TechCrunch showcases new and existing companies along with their products or services. They have tackled everything from Google to LinkedIn (among the well known), to smaller startups and not so well known companies like Lingoz. Brutally honest opinions are given on each company and their offerings and where the folks at TechCrunch see them going, and what kind of value they bring to the table. Their site CrunchBase lists all of the companies they have profiled.

From a recruiting standpoint, I have found hundreds of new websites through TechCrunch to explore and new products and services to aid in sourcing specifically. While not a site specifically aimed at recruiters, you will see huge value if you take a few minutes and read through some posts.

Check out The Day In Recruting. Per the website: “A one-page guide to all the buzz in the recruitment industry: Blogs, Jobs, Podcast and News.” The site was started by Jim Stroud. Check out his blog, which is one of my personal favorites for recruiters and sourcers.

This site is very useful because you can see a ton of sites that are all specific to recruiting and sourcing. I suggest checking each one out, and subscribe to a Google Reader as well. With this tool, you won’t have to check the sites individually, but rather will get all the posts to each site delivered to your reader each day.