[INFOGRAPHIC] How social media changed the search for jobs & talent

The internet and social media have completely changed the way people find jobs and recruiters find talent.

Pre-social media, and even pre-technology, the word "search" had an entirely different meaning. For job hunters, searching for your dream job was a difficult, time-consuming, and often times luck-dependent process. Those who found their dream job just happened to be in the right place, at the right time. For recruiters, searching for qualified talent depended entirely on personal relationships. If you didn't know the person, or know someone who knew someone, you couldn't shake their hand.

Then Google (and Yahoo) changed everything -- and searching was instantly easier. Technology redefined "the search."

Today, technology has made it easier than ever to find what you're looking for. And with social media, you often find things you're not looking for. With everything your friends and follows are sharing you can't avoid it. Every time you check into your feeds and timelines your presented with new opinions, research, and opportunities. And if you're online, you can be found.

Today, everyone is a passively-seeking candidate, whether they know it or not. 

The internet and social media have completely changed the way people find jobs and recruiters find talent. The following infographic from TalentBin shows how these emerging technologies have contributed to improvements in the passive and active search for both the recruiters and the candidates:

Gossip vs Enlightenment

There are two types of information in this world: gossip and enlightenment.

Much of the world's communication surrounds the first, gossip. This information is pointless, useless, and entirely unenlightening.

Everything else, is enlightening. This information is valuable, educational, and thought provoking. It can be in the form of fictional entertainment or scientific nonfiction. It can be historical or hypothetical. But enlightening information is, and always be, exactly that -- enlightening.

Enlightening information is based on facts. Gossip is opinionated.

Enlightening information is helpful. Gossip is often harmful.

Enlightening information is freeing. Gossip is binding.

Enlightening information is the key to your -- our future. It's what moves us forward. Gossip is just a reflection of the past.

So remember, there are two types of information in this world: gossip and enlightenment. Be careful which one you choose to spend your time with.