Professional networking sites are spinning the global downturn into membership gold as jobseekers and recruiters alike increasingly turn to them to find work, clients and candidates.

During the period of Q4 2008 to April 2009, LinkedIn reported that the average number of job applications per posting rose by 43%, and the number of job applications filed on the site increased by 41%. Users of the site’s recommendations function hiked the number of recommendations by 45%. The figures reflect UK usage, a LinkedIn spokeswoman told Recruiter.

“Certainly the vision for LinkedIn is that it becomes part of everyday life, for people to pursue professional goals,” Mike Pilcher, the site’s director-Europe, corporate solutions, said. European networking site

XING reported growth across the breadth of its network, having gained 1m new members since the beginning of the year. “The rise in paying members is also extremely promising,” a XING spokesman told Recruiter. “The Premium Member base increased by 35% over the same period in the previous year.”

Recruitment professionals agree that their own usage of online networking sites has risen since the downturn took hold.

“Absolutely,” said Charu Malhotra, global resourcing partner for BP. The downturn, she told Recruiter, has led her personally to “look at what’s my sourcing method, and building up the talent pipeline. Everyone’s exploring technology that doesn’t cost anything to use”.

Ben Osmond, resourcing consultant with Microsoft UK, told Recruiter that he has found joining various groups and subgroups on professional
networking sites “very useful for targeting when looking for a special skill or knowledge”. But he also expressed concern that professional networking sites are seen as “becoming more and more aligned with job boards”. He added there was a fear among some recruiters that the
sites will soon be viewed as little more than job boards.

In their eagerness to build an ever wider base of contacts on professional networking sites such as LinkedIn and XING, professionals should focus their attention on a single site, warned Glasgow-based consultant Adam Gordon of Gordon BDM, who advises recruitment companies on online networking, “I’ve yet to be convinced the others are going to give me anything LinkedIn doesn’t,” Gordon told Recruiter. “Stay with one site because if you dilute your efforts, you can look mediocre anywhere.”