Ten years ago, advertising for talent was a relatively straightforward affair. By placing an advert in a national newspaper or specialist title, you could be pretty confident of receiving a good response.

Those days are, of course, long gone. As well as print, there a now a huge proliferation of online job boards to choose from, and we’ve seen the widespread adoption of 'marketing-led' approaches to recruitment, from outdoor to pay per click. On top of all this, social media / networking has entered the mainstream. And, not surprisingly, recruitment has quickly woken up to the opportunity to use the likes of Facebook to engage with talent.

On the face of it, if you’ll excuse the pun, it sounds like a holy grail - passive candidates individually targeted with tailored job offers, outside of the “competitive noise” of a job board or newspaper. Employers and Recruiters get to build deeper, richer relationships with candidates. And candidates get job offers from companies who’ve taken the time to find out all about their career objectives and skills.

But what’s actually happening out there?

The first thing to note is that it’s not just a one way street. Just as employers can use these sites to present their employment proposition to potential candidates, so employees can of course use these same sites to describe their employers – often in less than glowing terms. Two headline cases recently include the Argos employee Tom Beech who was sacked for gross misconduct after setting up a Facebook group entitled I Work At Argos And Can’t Wait To Leave Because It’s Sh**. Meanwhile ex-employees of directory service 118 118 had created a group called I Survived 118 118 described by one of the group’s founders Simon Stranks, 22-year-old from Wales, as “a group created by a few mates to let off a little steam at a job that was plagued by abusive callers and “new age management”. These stories, which both received large amounts of media interest, don’t reflect well on either company or the disgruntled employees involved.

Secondly, do passive ( i.e. non-active ) candidates want to be contacted by potential employers in social environments? ‘Business Networking’ sites such as www.Linkedin.com and www.Xing.com have recruitment at their focus, but should ‘social ‘ sites like Facebook, Bebo and MySpace be targeted? How do employers ensure that approaches are relevant – and appropriate?

Finally, just what is – and isn’t – fair game in the war for talent? If it’s OK for organisations to source talent via the social networks, what about using them for background checks?

The story of the candidate refused a job because his Facebook page listed his interests as “smokin’ blunts with the homies” and “shooting caps into whitie” has become the stuff of internet legend. But, much closer to home, a recent Times survey of 600 British companies revealed that one in five had logged on to Facebook and other networking websites to vet potential employees.

So, should employers adopt a wait-and-see approach to recruiting talent via social networks? And how can they track and manage conversations about them posted by existing and past employees?

And from a candidate perspective, can these sites be used as a dynamic, career networking tool, a 21st century CV? Or, since you can’t necessarily control what your friends say about you, is the best advice for candidates to simply avoid social networking sites altogether?

As ever, your comments and experiences are welcomed.