What percentage of your new hires come through social-media outlooks such as Facebook?

Zero! But I google all final-round candidates. It's not uncommon for us to find someone's facebook picture includes a pile of crushed beer cans and a bunch of friends in a drunken stupor. We've also found great samples of assignments they completed in college.

We are a smaller business and use social networking exclusively to build our network of facilitators but as for facebook, no, I use LinkedIn.

Social media conduits such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are in various stages of evolution.....

LinkedIn, by far, is THE professional conduit for business professionals and entrepreneurs. With relative ease; personal profiles, brands and services can be placed "out there" for global inspection and instantaneous connection.

Interestingly enough, LinkedIn may provide a more candid snapshot of a person than a resume. Afterall, it could be problematic to lie on one's LinkedIn Profile when colleagues, former bosses and "everyone else" can access it. With that said, LinkedIn is a valuable resource for the recruiter, job seeker and networker. Since each constituency is seeking "another perspective" on a potential candidate or networking prospect. The "recommendations" vehicle adds a peak at the person's style, integrity, work ethic, and strengths; providing a rapid 360 degree feedback loop. Hey, free stuff is good...

Conversely, Facebook is definitely THE personal conduit for about everyone to share about anything with anyone. Since some folks use limited discretion I almost feel like I am violating some privacy rights here. Anyway, Facebook has a lot of photos and gizmos for friends and family to connect. Not the place I go to "check up" on a person's personal life. Is nothing sacred anymore?

As for Twitter, definitely a communication vehicle in progress with less utilization than LinkedIn and Facebook. People are still texting...The shakers and the movers are probably sending the most tweets...

In conclusion, there is a whole lot of LinkingIn, Facebooking and Tweeting going on; however, at the end of the day, once candidates are identified; nothing substitutes for the in person interview, be it topgrading or behavioral to determine fit for a position.

Enough said....

I'd agree, my experience is that LinkedIn is the most useful tool available out there at the moment. I have worked with several recruiters who use it to devastating effect particularly for senior roles. You can follow a whole industry easily by searching through candidates, and you have a good idea from their information as to whether they might be any good or not.

I've also recieved a few decent leads in my current job search of Linkedin.

Facebook? No, it's not appropriate unless you know someone who may know a mate of a mate for a particular role. And I would happilly delete any recruiter from my Facebook the first time they asked, it's a social thing not a business thing.

Not sure about the relevance of Twitter to the conversation though, it's micro-blogging, though I suppose you could ask people to add themselves to your twitter group for details of new vacancies but I suspect that would drive people to distraction in the end. Sign up with 100 decent size employers? Time to buy a new mobile just to recieve the tweets....

I agree with Nik and Melinda. I don't have a lot of solid data yet. I know we have one or two hires through facebook, but that was a result of being friends with an old manager; not a direct recruitment effort. That being said, it worked well. L

Linkedin has generated some great leads for me. I have yet to see it develop into a hire, but the leads and networking have been excellent.

I think that when you are looking at Social Media tools you have to think about investing for the long haul. You have to be engaged and be engaging as opposed to just posting a position and hoping that someone will come out of the woodwork.

Overall, Linkedin is where I am investing most of my time, though we are experimenting with Facebook and Twitter.

I'm a huge advocate of social media for recruiting but a large percentage of my focus has been on LinkedIn, especially in it's last 3 years of exponential growth! Also, with the growth of specialized Groups and the "Jobs" tab within groups, it is much easier to target my job openings to relevant audiences. I can almost envision a not-too-distant future where resume/job banks like Monster, CareerBuilder, etc, are fully replaced by social media...!