Organisations are waking up to the idea of targeting jobseekers as they browse their favourite websites, writes Rhymer Rigby

Watchers of the 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 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.

With MySpace, users create profiles to talk about themselves. While it is largely individuals who do this, there is no reason why companies, products and services cannot set up a profile. If it is interesting enough, MySpace users will add it to their "friends" list. The number of friends you have acts as a measure of your popularity.

MySpace boasts 93 million profiles and, according to the internet analysis company Alexa, is the third-most popular site in the US (after Yahoo and Google) and the seventh most popular in the world.

One of the latest employers turning to MySpace for new recruits has been the US Marine Corps. In February, the marines began advertising on MySpace with banner advertisements. Then in April they created a profile that features videos of drill sergeants and amphibious landings.

This is perhaps the most interesting part of the campaign: at the time of going to press, the marines had almost 15,000 "friends".

"Since the start of the MySpace.com advertising initiative, more than 50,000 visitors have clicked from MySpace.com to marines.com," explains Sgt Brian Griffin of the Marine Corps recruiting command. "The Marine Corps and [ the advertising agency] JWT continually evaluate opportunities and mediums to spread our message of opportunity to young men and women. MySpace came out of this process as an appropriate medium to reach our target market."

Other US government organisations have been quick to follow suit. The army also has a profile and the Federal Bureau of Investigation has set up a page to publicise a recruitment evening at the University of California at Berkeley.

But MySpace is not the only website businesses are using in the hunt for new employees. If you look on the enormously popular video site, YouTube, you will find, among others, a recruitment advertisement for Google.

A lot of this makes very good sense, says Alastair Cartwright, marketing director of Enhance Media, an online recruitment communications agency.

"A recent survey showed that only 15 per cent of people are actually looking for a job at any given time.

"They'll go to the jobs boards. But how do you target the other 85 per cent? You go to the sites that most people look at.

"I think in terms of developing an online strategy, sites like MySpace will become more of a central plank, especially as they have a loyal community where people have really bought into the brand."

In Europe, where mobile phones tend to be the communication tool of choice for the under-30s, recruitment agencies have been texting jobseekers for some time.

"It is very easy to send out a mass text to temporary workers, and companies like Total Jobs have been doing it for three to four years," says Cartwright.

"It used to be seen as a bit intrusive, but now it's normal."

Jobserve recently took the next logical step. With its Wap-enabled site, you can now apply for a job using only your mobile phone.

"If you're already registered and have your CV uploaded to our site, you can apply using only your phone," says Ian Frost, Jobserve marketing manager.

Interestingly, Frost does not see this particular channel as one that necessarily aims at a certain demographic group. Rather, he regards it as a matter of convenience.

"For us, it's recognition that people can't always apply for a job from their place of work," he says.

"Some companies block or blacklist sites like ours so it gives people flexibility while at work."

What is also notable, he adds, is that many of the applications are coming from abroad.

Some are from eastern Europe, but a lot come from places such as Spain and Italy, which he suggests means Britons are applying for new jobs while they are even further from the office, on holiday.