Next time there’s a mail in your in-box offering you your “Dream Job”, don’t be surprised. Just thank the social networking site, where you posted details of your dream job, skills, qualifications, and then your friend’s testimonials and communities. Social networking sites have now become a razzmatazz tool for headhunting and recruitment companies, that are using these sites left and right to hunt for deserving candidates and check references. Unlike other job portals, these networking sites enable companies to spread their tentacles across the whole network. Members of these sites enable recruiters to pass on suitable job offers to their friends or back from friends to recruiters. It is an endless chain. This process gives an edge to recruiters, as they are able to access a very large pool of potential candidates through networking and mutual friends. Studies show employers are leveraging social networks for their business expansion and use. According to a survey conducted by the Institute for Corporate Productivity, Inc. (i4cp – formerly HRI), 65% of business professionals who log on to social networking sites do it not only to connect with friends, but actually with customers. About 52% organisations are using social networking sites to keep internal staff connected and to promote SoHo (small office home office). A social networking site LinkedIn hosts over 350 corporate customers, who use the portal to advertise their new openings, at a price of $250,000 per advertisement. Some companies are also hunting for freelancers by browsing through communities, interest centres and blogs. From ideations, debating, discussion to brainstorming and developing business plans – all possible avenues are being explored among the members of these sites. IBM recently launched a social-software platform called Lotus Connections, which enables company employees to post their detailed profiles, centralise the projects and resources. It makes a whole lot of sense for companies to stay connected to and exploit this addiction, especially in an age where more and more employees are changing jobs at the drop of a hat.