This is a shameless advertisement to help you help yourself and your friends.  It's all about the powers of social media.  And a good recruiter.

Vanessa is a recruiter.  She's really good; it's not just about throwing bodies at the reqs.  She looks beyond the obvious, and cares about making the right fit. She'll also tell you if it's not a good match for you.  If not for her, I'd have been without a paycheck for the summer of 2007, in a job I'd've never thought of otherwise.  I'm eternally grateful, as it was a very tough year. 

Now she's gone on to impress me even further.  She's following the spirit of Web2.0; thinking outside of conventional paradigms.  Social media shouldn't be limited to the personal, but can easily be expanded to professional. Her twitter account is more than just a personal one. She's tweeting about open reqs she's trying to fill.

That means you can see if she's got something for you.  And more importantly, it means you can reach out to her quickly if you fit the need.  Fortune favors the prepared, folks. And in these uncertain times, you really need to be prepared.

In other words, you can have another tool to take advantage of opportunities as they become available. No waiting on phone calls, no searching job boards... it's as instantaneous as the 'net can be. It means those who are actively looking and following her get the instant news, and those who aren't can forward to their friends who are. 

For those of you not familiar with twitter, it's a microblogging tool. You "tweet" a short something, which your followers can view. They may reply or retweet. Your tweets can link to Facebook, be updated and viewed from mobile device, and anywhere you can access the internet.  This very blog has a bubble for current tweets.  It's a grapevine at the speed of bytes.

So check her out on twitter under AustinRecruiter.  If you see an alert about a position you want to know more about, her profile has a link to her LinkedIn account, where you can email her.  Which is also smart, because she retains some privacy, and can view the profiles of those who are interested in the positions she posts, making it even more efficient.

Brava, Vanessa.