My Favourite Online Tools (as a Recruiter)

OK, so I'm not the most online literate recruiter but neither am I the worst. I am a successful recruiter though; so I must be doing something right non? For what it's worth here are my top 7 must-use online tools that I use day-in-day-out. I'd love people to suggest others that I might use instead or as well and I think my habits could probably be transferable to other professions; so I hope it has some resonance beyond recruiting:

Linkedin (the big blue obvious one): If there's a recruiter out there that isn't one of the 150m members of Linkedin I'd be surprised (in fact sometimes I think there are probably 149m recruiters on there and just 1m "real" professionals but that's for another blog). There is loads of advice on how recruiters should use the site to maximum effect so I won't repeat here (Undercover Recruiter and Bill Boorman are good places to start) but I would advise any recruiters on there to be 1) Courteous 2) Reciprocal 3) Interesting otherwise you're just using it like a large online database and missing its real power and influence (and you're a recruitment bore)
Twitter (because it's fast and fun): I've not yet used Twitter to source for talent but I know some do and that day may come. Instead I use my tweets to add to my personal brand. So this means a mixture of interesting news items that are worth sharing to show that I'm in touch with my sectors; some banter and interaction with my recruiting community so that I can keep up to date with industry changes, new methods and tools etc; a job posting now and then to show what I do and attract the talent my clients need; and lastly a bit of personal stuff to prove I've got a life (I hope)
Buffer (because I have a day job): I'm sorry if you think that I'm continually searching for great stuff to share and updating you in real-time. The truth is I fill up this great tool called Buffer at the start of the day (or the night before) and sometimes at lunchtime and it very helpfully tweets for me on a programmed schedule. This allows me to get on with important stuff like doing my actual job which pays the bills: business development, meeting people, sourcing, sifting etc. Of course I don't leave all my tweets up to Buffer and dip in to twitter now and then so I can interact with others otherwise life would be too boring and besides no one listens to monologues for long
Google Reader (because I don't have all day to read the news): Like Buffer, Google Reader lets me save time (and somewhere I heard time is money). I use this news aggregator to feed me interesting stuff which keeps informed and can be shared with followers and connections. I have 4 distinct news categories that I follow: 1) Sector news from the industries I recruit in 2) Recruitment community news 3) Local and national news 4) Blogs and sites I like and find interesting
Google (other search engines are available I know): I can't begin to remember what it was like before Google. How did we find info on companies? Discover email addresses? X-ray Linkedin? Find Jamie Oliver recipes? I think if Kubrick and Clarke were still around then after the black monolith appears and the man-apes in 2001 Space Odyssey pick up the first bone tools to chase their rivals off there would be a sequence where the bone is thrown into the air and becomes the "L" in Google rather than the revolving space station (....I'm such a nerd and that is such a tenuous and awful image I know)
Flipboard (because I have an Iphone and don't stop work at 5.30 pm): I'm a fairly new convert to Flipboard but apparently it's been around for a while and used by many many people who were clearly holding out on me. Flipboard allows me to feed Linkedin, Twitter, Google Reader, news sites and blogs etc into one easy to use Iphone app that I can flip through like a magazine. As Sinatra once said, "'Cause Nice and Easy Does it, Does it Everytime", and who would argue with Frank? No one unless they wanted to be visited by a couple of good fellas in pin stripe (allegedly)
Blogging: You're here aren't you? You're reading this yes? You know a bit more about me now don't you? I'm a guy you might want to connect with on Linkedin or follow on Twitter (@robmwright) maybe? Job done then!

I'm sure there are tonnes of other sites, search engines, apps, aggregators and social media networks that I could or perhaps even should be using. And probably better habits, tips and tricks that could give me an edge in my industry. So I'd be happy to receive suggestions, recommendations and criticisms.

Comment by Darryl Dioso on February 20, 2012 at 10:33am: Great list. I'd add Dropbox to that list for resume and file sharing.

Comment by Ben Tovar on February 20, 2012 at 11:57am: Hi Robert, thanks for sharing! I agree, LinkedIn by far has helped us complete a number of searches at our firm. I just need to pick up the slack on networking!

I use Hootsuite for scheduled tweets (such as posting our current assignments, occasional reminder for followers to check out our blog or FB page, etc), among other things.

Flipboard's great, I started using it on the iPad, and have used it on the iPhone since it was released. Sorry to hold out on ya!

For tracking down old colleagues or friends you relied on as sources or even leads in past search assignments, I recommend trying out Spokeo. For a few bucks a month, it's worth it (not sure if it works for folks across the pond though). Pipl.com is another great tool.

Jigsaw, ZoomInfo and Netprospex round out my list of other useful tools to use in the trade.

Comment by Tracy TC on February 20, 2012 at 6:29pm: Big thumbs up on all of these, including dropbox and hootsuite (monitors all my twitter accounts and my linkedin and FB streams on one dashboard). Rounding out my personal list is Google Voice. It allows me to give out one phone number that rings to multiple phones and if I miss the call, I get a text. I'm liking Pinboard, too, for tagging and keeping track of my web bookmarks.

Comment by Robert Wright on February 21, 2012 at 7:01am: Thanks everyone for comments. Out of interest how do you use Dropbox as a recruitment tool? I usually just email CVs over. Is Dropbox a better method?

Comment by Tracy TC on February 21, 2012 at 1:51pm: Mostly at this point, I'm using Dropbox internally to access my own docs no matter what desk I'm working at. I can't remember off the top of my head if you can invite people to private folders, but it occurs to me that version control on docs that change (CV's, fee agreements come to mind) might be efficiently shared through Dropbox.

Comment by Tracy TC on February 21, 2012 at 1:55pm: Just to clarify, I meant that C's sometimes go through a draft or two with the candidate. Also, I would only consider this if privacy is in place. I haven't confirmed this because this is not yet how I'm using the tool.