Robert Scoble on Sourcing

SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- I confess, for the longest time I failed to see the value of Facebook.  Even after smart guys like Sam Decker extolled Facebook's virtues, I still struggled with it.

But tonight I read where Scoble finally got over the hump with Facebook, in part, by utilizing the click-to-call functionality it shares with the iPhone.  If someone is connected to Scoble and they list their phone number -- then >boom< ... instant access.

clipped from scobleizer.com Why do I say [Facebook] is my new business card collection?  Well, if I am looking for a contact, at, say, Yahoo, I troll through my Facebook collection.  Most Yahoo employees leave their phone numbers and email addresses on their Facebook profile.  Hint: They work on the iPhone.  So, I visit their profile and click on their phone number and I’m instantly connected.  Click here for more.

Can highly effective candidate sourcing Facebook applications be far behind?  Man.

And what's to become of executive search in ten years?  Think of the changes!  For example, think of what social networking apps like Facebook will do for diversity recruiting.

You can see from my profile that I'm a 43-year old, white, married, Catholic conservative.  Your basic Joe Sixpack.  A blessing or a curse -- depending on whether you want to do business with (or hire) that kind of person.  Perhaps I could remove (or falsify) those fields from my profile -- but I wouldn't if I were looking for a job and wanted to target companies that tended to hire and promote people of my persuasion.

What do you think about the future of social networks and recruiting?  Are recruiters TOAST?