It’s no secret to the HR industry that the internet has rapidly eclipsed want ads and classifieds as primary recruiting sources. As much as the internet has shaken the role of traditional advertising, so too has the job seeker/recruiter relationship become more search/find than push/pull. While nearly every business has at least started advertising positions on their website and online job boards, social networks open up yet another avenue for recruiters to find quality talent.

So how to take advantage of these networks for your business?

1 – Make Yourself Found

Before you even look for job seekers, you should be sure job seekers can find you. This includes, of course, the first step of creating and maintaining an up-to-date career center on your company’s website. Standard features now, are search functions, positions by department, and varying degrees of detail on the position. Most sites, especially if they are integrated with an HRIS, have an online application process that facilitates the first step for job seekers.

But, that “careers” page is just the beginning. Your company should have active accounts on LinkedIn, MySpace, Facebook and niche job boards and networks such as Vault.com, Dice.com and CrunchBoard.com. By being available where qualified candidates can find you, you will be able to passively recruit motivated people.

2 – Fish Where the Fish Are

By finding sites to market your business in the step above, you should be able to identify the top sites where your hiring demographic is. Once that portal for your company is built, don’t bounce from those sites! Take some time to look at other companies, other people, and read what’s on their mind, look at what they link to, and try building “friends” or links, depending on social aspects available with the service. By being actively part of the communities where you’re searching for candidates, you’re more likely to make the right connections and get in front of the right people for your organization.

3 – Network Online… But Offline

Once your organization has firmly established an online reputation, it only makes sense to carry-on that campaign to offline efforts — have your social media contacts splashed on the literature you hand out at career days, for instance. And what could be cooler than a LinkedIn-ready key job?

Social media permeates the language of the existing and up-and-coming top job seekers and your corporate culture should too. While there are invariably stumbling blocks as networks shoot to popularity and then crash into obscurity, riding the wave as best you can and being available on the “latest and greatest” will keep your company in front of the best candidates out there for a lower overall cost than traditional media ever was.