Last month, online resource the Recruiter published an article from entrepreneur and ex Dragons' Den star James Caan, who claims that LinkedIn has ‘absolutely transformed’ recruitment.

The growth in the number of recruiters and job seekers utilising the business-focussed social media site has soared, with reports from Link Humans reporting that it now has 15 million UK users – “a 50% increase from 10 million members in Sept 2012”.

With the economy on the upturn and more businesses starting to grow their in-house teams again, LinkedIn supports the strategies of businesses as well as job seekers. Finding jobs as well as talent can be time-consuming, and although LinkedIn makes this a little easier, recruiters are heavily relied upon to take the burden for all parties.

Caan also touches on the fact some recruiters are wary of LinkedIn and the affect of this on their industry, but as someone who has built his career from the sector he states in the Recruiter, “I would urge that rather than fighting change, embrace it”.

There is so much potential with online platforms to support recruitment that branching out to other channels offers the chance for expertise to be showcased, which will only enforce trust in candidates.

Clients and customers still require the services of agencies but social media brings them closer together – which can only benefit both parties.

Editorial originally featured on the Pertemps blog.