ARE BUSINESS-ORIENTED SOCIAL NETWORKING WEB SITES USEFUL RESOURCES FOR LOCATING PASSIVE JOBSEEKERS? RESULTS OF A RECENT STUDY

摘要

A small percentage of individuals registered with LinkedIn evince interests that may be associated with a truly passive jobseeker. These persons indicate that they wish to be contacted only to exchange "expertise requests" or 'to stay in touch." However, a majority of sampled members explicitly state that they may be contacted for reasons concerning new career opportunities. Several of these individuals, in their Linkedln profiles, also include detailed descriptions ofrnpresent and past, work experience, summaries of their areas of expertise, and links to references made available by former supervisors and co-workers. These members, it seems, cannot accurately be described as passive jobseekers. Rather, their stated contact interests, and the detailed resume-like profiles that often accompany these interests, indicate that the majority of individuals registered with LinkedIn are concerned to locate opportunities that may advance their careers. Although other business-oriented social networking sites were not included within the scope of this study, it is conceivable that members of these sites (who may also include many Linkedln registrants) are similarly concerned.