From Innovations, a website published by Ziff-Davis Enterprise from mid-2006 to mid-2009. Reprinted by permission.

The arrival of the Web 2.0-style publishing and networking tools gives managers more options than ever to find, screen and hire the right people. Here are some ideas for using online tools to improve the recruitment process. Disclaimer: always stay within the law and the ethical guidelines of your firm. Using online aids to make discriminatory employment decisions can land you in hot water.

Finding candidates

Most job descriptions and recruitment ads are dry and boring, so why not start a personal blog or get a slot in your company blog to tell your story? Write enthusiastically about the opportunities in your group and make sure you register your blog with search engines like Technorati and IceRocket so you’ll turn up in search results. You can find a great list of social media search engines on Robin Good’s site.

I’ve never used professional networking services like Linked In or VisiblePath for recruiting, but I know people who swear by them. These sites enable people to find each other through mutual acquaintances. There are hundreds of other social networking sites organized around special interests. Wikipedia.org has a good list. Become involved in a professional online network and post your opportunities there.

If you’re looking for young employees, consider hanging out a shingle on MySpace or Facebook. These services are incredibly popular with the under-25 set, nearly 70% of whom have created an online profile somewhere, according to one recent survey. If you think you’re too old for MySpace, think again. More than half of MySpace visitors are over 35. You’ll need a college e-mail address to get on Facebook.

You can also search social media for candidates. Technorati, IceRocket, Google Blog Search and Feedster are popular blog search engines. Look for people who are talking about your industry or company. You can find a longer list of blog search engines here.

Screening

If you have a lot of resumes to sort through, consider asking candidates to answer some questions online. Services like Pre-valuate ask focused questions that can help filter out candidates who lack the knowledge you need.

You can also create your own survey form at one of the hundreds of sites that provide free or paid online surveys. SurveyMonkey.com, Zoomerang.com and WebSurveyor.com are some popular options. Be sure to ask more than just technical questions. Have candidates write about their experiences and attitudes so you can get an idea of whether they’d be a good fit for your organization.

It’s a no-brainer to Google a prospective employee’s name and nearly three quarters of employers already do, according to ExecuNet, a Norwalk, Conn.-based job search and recruiting network. The firm also reports that 35% of recruiters who do online searches have deep-sixed a candidate because of something they found online.

Always query the employee’s name in quotes to get a better match and don’t forget to try searching with middle initials and nicknames (Edward, Ed, Ted). There’s more to the world than Google, though. Ask.com’s revamped search engine is a powerful alternative to Google and includes blog search. Amazon’s A9 is also worth a try. These engines may find something Google overlooked or interpret your query differently enough to yield you a better result.

Blog search engines will show you what a candidate has been writing about lately and they can yield some interesting insights. The Boston Globe wrote of one woman who lost a job opportunity after she blogged that the job didn’t interest her all that much. A review of her server logs revealed that the employer had seen the post.

People leave a lot of digital footprints these days and searches can turn up after-hours activities or past indiscretions that may make you think twice about a candidate. While you should always give people the benefit of the doubt, it doesn’t hurt to be armed with information. At the very least, ask for an explanation for whatever you found. The Wall Street Journal recently wrote about the problems that online archives can create for candidates. If it’s online, it’s fair game.

Zoominfo is an intriguing new service that assembles a kind of ad hoc resume of people you search for using information on the Web. You can also find people with common interests or at other companies (a great resource for informal reference checks). You can also dig into hard-to-find public records with paid services like Peoplefinder. It may be well worth the $20 to $40 fee to check out the finalist for a job.

I’m sure I’ve only scratched the surface of possibilities. Share your own tools and tips by commenting below.