The times of collecting CVs in databases are over. The times of traditional formatting of CVs are also over. Most recruiters serve their clients with CVs that they accumulate in their databases from year to year. But the CVs in such a database will inevitably be outdated and even the biggest recruitment firms cannot cover but a small portion of the market with this method.

One in five people around the world is active on social networks in 2012. In 2014, it is expected that more than 25 percent of the world’s population will be active on social networks (eMarketer).

 What does this mean for headhunting? How real headhunters find the best candidates?

Social networks are today’s CV databases. Now, headhunters use social networks to search for candidates simply by selecting key requirements for the successful candidates such as, for example, key words, location, title, company, school, industries, seniority level, language, function, interests, years of experience, company size, and others.

Headhunters may use social networks in the following manner:
1. Searching for candidates using the abovementioned criteria
2. Listing potential candidates with their profiles (CVs)
3. Contacting the potential candidates via social networks / phone
4. Reviewing recommendations / activity in social networks

This represents a great advantage since the pool of candidates is considerably greater than the ones made available in the past through databases.

It is therefore important for people interested in new career opportunities to have an up-to-date profile in the most relevant networking communities. Profile content and key words should therefore be selected with care as they will affect the profile ‘findability’, as well as the search engine optimization.

Social networking profiles also provide a track record of a person’s actions and views and can be used to determine a candidate’s personality and suitability to a open vacancy. What is published online and in social networks is a permanent record.