Glassdoor is a well put-together site that aims to give an “inside look” into companies around the globe. With over 40,000 employees from 11,000 companies in 76 countries already on Glassdoor, this site is growing fast to show employee ratings, company reviews and salary information…all for free.

Glassdoor provides detailed company reviews so outsiders can get the good/bad and pros/cons about working for and working with each company listed, employee ratings so outsiders can get a pulse on what the morale is like inside each company, not to mention the benefits, perks and other inside information, and finally real-time salary and compensation details for employees at each company to include salary, bonuses and more.

This site can benefit employers, recruiters, sourcers and more in many ways. Sign-up for an account and put your take in their system. Recruiters and Sourcers can use information they put into Glassdoor as a huge selling piece for why a hot candidate should join your company over the next. Glassdoor can really make a solid employer and company stand out and help to attract top talent in the marketplace.

Secondbrain is a community online with a mission to “help people manage their content online and create the biggest library of user generated content in the world”.

Secondbrain opens up all sorts of avenues for recruiting, human resources and sourcing professionals. For starters, the site let’s users import content they find online from a wide variety of popular services such as Google, YouTube, Digg and Delicious to name a few. Users of Secondbrain can then search upon all of this content, share sites, pictures, videos and more with other users, in addition to finding users on Secondbrain and connecting with them. In a nutshell, recruiters and sourcers will discover new sites and new leads to pursue for finding available talent online, as well as connecting with new resources and people right in the Secondbrain community.

Here is an example of a user’s page on Secondbrain. Take notice of the red arrows. One arrow shows that each user gets to set-up his or her own profile, and another arrow shows that Secondbrain has search capabilities to search content (articles, sites, videos, pictures) as well as user profiles.

A nice site I recently discovered is called Grouply. Grouply is an online tool and networking community I noticed recruiters and sales professionals were starting to use. Grouply lets users manage all of their Yahoo Groups in one place, in addition to finding another place to do some solid networking.

Grouply currently only supports Yahoo Groups, but states they are moving to support Google Groups and other groups shortly. After signing up, I found that the site is a real time saver in that you can manage all of your groups from one site and see an overview of the activity of all your groups on one page, much like a dashboard. When you subscribe to hundreds of different Yahoo Groups this can really be a huge time saver, not to mention a very efficient way to recruit.

As for networking, Grouply has thousands of users who manage their groups from the site, so naturally, Grouply let’s you connect and network with all the users in the community. Add Grouply to your list of social and business networking sites you use for recruiting and sourcing. It is worth a look when you are trying to reach out to new people for positions or simply to market your job openings.

I wrote about Twitter in StaffBytes back in October of last year that I was “still trying to ‘get’ it”. I was a new user to Twitter at the time and was trying to get my arms around how Twitter could benefit recruiters and sourcers, not to mention what to do with it. After a few months of being on Twitter, I have turned into a Twitterholic. I love it!

I put together a short video recently on using Twitter and posted out on RecruitingBlogs. I wanted to extend this video to StaffBytes as well after receiving very positive feedback. Take time to check it out. There is lots of good Twitter coverage here. I think you will also “get” it after watching. In addition, check out Koka Sexton’s blog. I found a fantastic article there which runs through the in’s and out’s of Twitter and shows some very advanced techniques not covered in my video.

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Skype is per their site a “little piece of software that makes communicating with people around the world fun and easy.” I think of Skype as a great tool that downloads directly onto your computer and allows you instant access to a large database of over 12 million people. Skype essentially lets you make phone calls as well as video calls from one Skype user to another Skype user for free. If you want to make calls to someone outside of Skype, the rates are very low (but I’m not trying to pitch a phone service here). I just joined in on the whole “Skype Revolution” where alot of people are actually ditching their land lines, and have found that it is a great place for recruiters and sourcers to find passive candidates.

I remember last year Amybeth Hale put together a great post on “Skype Searching” and how to run searches out on Skype. Please check out her blog post for more. I think her article hits all the key points and shows step-by-step how recruiting can be done with Skype, and all for free.

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!

VideoJug is per their site “the world’s most comprehensive library of free factual video content online”. The site is basically a competitor to YouTube, but is geared specifically toward‚ ”How To” and “Ask The Expert” videos and content. After visiting the site, I discovered that there are several ways to uncover and source potential candidates and job seekers. Let me show you what I mean:

First I click “Technology” in the top toolbar.

Next, I click on “Computers” half way down the page on the left hand side.

I then click the first video titled “Computer Basics” under Hardware SOS.

Once the video starts, I note two things. First, I see the name, title and company are listed for the “expert” who has developed the video. Second, there is a “Meet the Expert” link at the top.

When clicking on “Meet the Expert”, I discover more information about this potential passive candidate, including details about his job duties, technical skills and work location. His current company is listed as well. All of this information gives me plenty of leads to go on to determine if he may be a fit for one of my open positions, and how to track him down if needed.

Another avenue to pursue on VideoJug‚ is to utilize the search feature at the top of the site. This‚ will allow you to locate videos based on key words and important skills sets.‚ 

One final way to take advantage of VideoJug is to ask a question in the Discussion Forum‚ and open dialog with experts and potential job seekers.

Were you aware that social and business networking sites are being used by Recruiters and Sourcers to find active as well as passive candidates? By asking that question, I’m really just joking, but if you honestly answered “NO”, then please check out the Networking Sites section of StaffBytes. You need to get caught up to speed fast.

With all the attention on networking sites, Ning is one site that stands apart, in that it not only let’s you join various networks but also let’s users build their own social network as well.

Per Ning, “the site offers a wide range‚ and diversity of social networks being used by everyone from students to artists to bloggers to alumni and more.” A quick search on the key word “software” pulled up dozens of networks. Here is a snapshot:

I clicked through to the Software Testing Club to show an example of a social network inside of Ning. Each network has different abilities, but most allow it’s members to create a profile and interact with that particular network whether it be by contributing to the forum, adding resources to share with others, or adding a blog post to the network. Other features include uploading videos, posting photos and conducting events. This is the general layout of most of the networks:

As a Recruiter or Sourcer, you can imagine the possibilities Ning presents. The first is to search Ning and join networks that seem to be inline with areas you are currently recruiting for and begin to network with others and post open opportunities in your company. The second would be to develop a social network that your company would approve (using their name, logo and brand) or start a hot topic of interest and welcome each job seeker and candidate you come in contact with to join it. As time goes by, you will be developing a warehouse of both active and passive job seekers who you can market job openings to. Best yet…it’s free. As far as getting the network set-up, it can be easy and hard depending on what you want on your network and what capabilities you want there. Visit the site and determine for yourself.

I have become a big fan recently of Plaxo and wanted to share‚ ideas on how recruiters and sourcers can get‚ the most‚ out of using it. I wrote about Plaxo back in December, and likened it to a “new LinkedIn“. I really believe it to be true.‚ My network is increasing by the dozens daily. Much like LinkedIn, the larger your network the more you can gain. Only, with Plaxo, you get more contact information and options for reaching out to your connections. This can include mobile, business and home numbers, email addresses, home and business addresses, blog and personal website links and more.

An especially valuable aspect to Plaxo is that each‚ member has a “Pulse Stream” on their home page. It‚ basically lets you know what your Plaxo network is up to.‚ The Plaxo Pulse Stream represents a great way for recruiters and sourcers to‚ spread the word about job openings and a unique way to attract top talent, find job seekers and to network with others. For example,‚ Plaxo “hooks up‚ feeds” to sites that you use, such as Blogs (WordPress/Twitter), Social Networks (Facebook/LinkedIn) and a lot more. When you post or use these sites, your activity is displayed out on the Plaxo Pulse Stream. So, if you wanted to get the word out about job openings in your company, this represents a nice option for you.

If you join specific groups within Plaxo, each group has it’s own “Pulse Stream” which helps recruiters and sourcers to target a specific audience and‚ also allows for another outlet‚ to gain potential job‚ seekers for your open‚ positions. Here are a few examples:

Here, you can see a job seeker reaching out to the group I joined called “Networking for Global Entrepreneurs”:

Here, you can see a manager or recruiter displaying a message about a job opportunity in the same group:

If‚ you currently use‚ Plaxo,‚ you may already‚ be seeing the benefits. For those who‚ have not joined yet, I‚ recommend it, and believe it to be‚ a nice compliment to your LinkedIn networks and a solid‚ place to gain some‚ extra traction for your recruiting and sourcing efforts.

As a follow up to a post on Facebook from late last year, I discovered that joining groups within Facebook is another great avenue for recruiters and sourcers to use daily. What I found‚ was that by joining groups in Facebook, you could network with other members, join in on discussions and promote yourself in the community. What I didn’t realize was‚ that many‚ recruiters and sourcers‚ were starting to utilize these groups in much the same way‚ they use Yahoo Groups, Google Groups and MSN Groups to advertise their current job openings and find‚ job seekers. Check out what I mean:

I joined a group called Web 2.0 (Entrepreneurs) inside of Facebook which currently‚ has 34K members.‚ I see two places‚ in the “Discussion Board” and “The Wall” where those members are posting up messages with full‚ details and links to job openings.‚ 

Here are a few examples of job postings that I found:

and…

Facebook has‚ numerous‚ groups to join, and lots that are very niche and specific to a certain subject, topic or theme. Take a look for yourself if you are a member of Facebook.‚ I suggest joining groups where you think that you may be able to attract talent that best fits your job requirements, and also groups that welcome and allow posts for job openings.