Watchers of the hugely popular networking site MySpace will have noticed that barely a week goes by without someone else using the site for some clever commercial end. Pop careers have been born on it, viral marketing campaigns unleashed and products launched. Now, organisations are waking up to to the site's potential as a recruiting tool.

The reason MySpace - along with other social networking technologies - has proved so useful for recruiters is not simply that it gives companies access to a desired demographic group. It also allows businesses to reach out to people who would not necessarily be looking for a job or who may be unable to use traditional internet recruitment sites to find one.