Computerworld UK — Only one third of IT professionals are using social and professional networking sites to find their next IT positions.

The survey of 620 IT workers, carried out by recruitment firm the IT Job Board, found more than half of those surveyed (57.4 percent) do not see networking sites as being helpful to the development of their career.

Nearly two thirds of techies (62.5 percent) have not used these channels to find an IT job, according to the research. Despite this, half of these respondents, 51.2 percent, would not rule out using these channels in the future.

Of those 37.5 percent of respondents that had used social networking sites, most 91.4 percent stated that this was in addition to other job-hunting methods. And 86.2 percent of them said they expect to increase their use of social networking sites to find a job in the future.

When it came to the 37.5 percent of respondents who have used social networking sites to find IT vacancies, 91.4 percent stated that this was in addition to other job-hunting methods. And, 86.2 percent of them did think their use of social networking sites to find an IT job would increase in the future.

Alex Farrell, managing director of The IT Job Board, commented: "Online job boards have changed the face of recruitment in the UK, and taken the emphasis away from offline. This is a sector that will continue to evolve, as candidates begin to supplement their job search with new tactics, such as social and professional networking sites—particularly in the IT space.

"The job boards market is essentially a faceless one, it is therefore imperative for the online recruitment world to embrace Web 2.0, identify the trends coming through and work out new ways to engage with target audiences. We are continually adapting our business and marketing models to ensure we interact regularly with our candidates—for example, implementing content generation campaigns and using the social web."