The advent of social networking has fundamentally changed the way search for work and exchange information about career opportunities. As in many sectors, the technology is re-shaping the job search landscape and throwing up intriguing challenges for employees and employers alike.

How did you find your most recent job? That’s the question posed to over 97,000 global respondents in the 2011 Kelly Global Workforce Index.

It was once said that a prospective job-seeker had to wear through several pairs of shoes in the search for work.

While there are still some who will beat a path to an employer’s door, the vast majority of activity is taking place in the digital neighborhood.

Online job boards have become the dominant way that people find work in virtually all parts of the world, outstripping other avenues such as direct hiring, referrals and traditional print advertising.

More than a quarter (26%) of global respondents gained their last job by using online job boards, the single largest source of jobs, followed by “word-of-mouth” referrals (22%), recruitment/staffing companies (17%), direct approach from employers (also 17%), “other” methods (10%), print advertisements (7%), and social media sites (1%).

Across each of the working-age generations - Gen Y (aged 18-29), Gen X (aged 30-47) and baby boomers (aged 48-65) – online job boards constituted the major means of securing work, or, in the case of the baby boomers, the second-most important. Overall, however, Gen Y is more likely to find a new position through online job boards than their older counterparts.

But was does that all means for candidates and employers?

Find out be downloading our free whitepaper on social media here.