Ever since Paramount Recruiting Partners, LLC began exploring the potential benefits of joining the Web 2.0 world we’ve been simply amazed by the sheer innovation and endless possibilities that exist for the Recruiting industry.

Even So, it’s so true what Ryan Loken had to say in a recent piece published on Recruiting Trends…

“Over the past few months, I have been involved in building a brand new recruiting department. This has been an interesting project and has provided its share of opportunities. However, it has given me the opportunity to reflect on a few things. Mostly, when are recruiters supposed to recruit?”

The point that caught my attention is the mere fact that trying to understand and best utilize the many online tools that are in existence - - such as the various social networking sites - - can become a full time job in itself.

There’s just so much to see and do and so little time in a day to do it all!

He went on to suggest that both customer and candidate feedback is the single most critical timesavers and the best indication of “what’s working” compared to “what’s not.”

That line of thinking prompted me to take a second look at a Tech Crunch article I came across today to consider its implications for Recruiting.

The article reports on a company called Gigya, which offers widget creators tools that help distribute, track and monetize widgets. Their distribution platform aims to help creators increase posting and sharing of widgets across social networks and blogs. Simply put, they have decided to push push “branded widgets” (think: widgets as advertisements).

When users install regular, non-branded widgets on their profile pages, they will sometimes be offered branded widgets as they wait for their selected widget to install. Advertisers pay a “cost per install” that ranges between $2-5 every time a user decides to install a branded widget in addition to their original selection. The CPI is justified by the number of impressions the widget receives once spread virally over the internet.

Advertisers can track the distribution of their branded widgets with the same sort of analytic tools you’d find to gauge blog traffic. They can view the number of installs and impressions (how many and where on the web), see where in the world the impressions are being made, and distinguish between original widget installations and those that have spread virally.

I may be new to the Web 2.0 world, but my limited experience in Marketing tells me that this might be where our industry will see the most growth in 2008 and beyond.

To me, it seems that the ease with which you can create a branded widget (to advertise your company and/or available positions) and publish as well as distribute them online is unparalleled.

Employers and Recruiters would be wise to give widgets some love and take a closer look at them in 2008. I know PRP will!