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!

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: