(Originally published on SLNN.COM)

Several agencies and employers, including state and federal agencies turn to Second Life to help them find applicants and use a variety of approaches.

In May, 2007, TMP Worldwide held its first in world job fair. Today recruiting is expanding in several different ways, including a job fair run by the State of Missouri and virtual recruiting arranged by CareerBuilders.

At TMP’s first in world job fair, companies like Sodhexo, eBay and HP participated. TMP created two-story buildings with rooms for interviews for each company. They created Tshirts for the company employees and other material to promote the companies’ brands. They set up screens so the companies could show PowerPoint slide shows or videos and they spent time training the recruiting staff.

To make sure that the recruiters received qualified leads, TMP set up a microsite where job applicants could upload their resumes and request a time slot for an interview. The recruiters could then determine whom to see when and sent out the time and the SLURL to the applicant.

TMP’s first job fair drew over 60,000 unique visitors and was so successful that they scheduled another job fair in August and are working on plans for job fairs in 2008. Various companies have liked their corporate offices so much that they have continued to use them for other events and Sodhexo is holding its third in world job fair today.

Recently, TMP held webinar aimed particularly at Federal agencies encouraging them to think about TMP’s services in arranging job fairs and especially to consider a job fair that would help Federal agencies hire disabled employees.

In the webinar, TMP noted what a wonderful environment Second Life can be for people with some sorts of disabilities and highlighted The Heron Sanctuary and Wheelies as groups already in Second Life reaching out to people with disabilities.

Issues about section 508 compliance, which requires that information technology be accessible to the disabled community, were discussed. Second Life is not 508 compliant but there are ways of providing similar access to people who cannot use Second Life.

CareerBuilder has a different approach to recruiting in Second Life. Instead of organizing job fairs, they have a center in Second Life where you can find virtual jobs. A stroll around TMP Island can be fairly lonely if there isn’t a job fair going on, but there always seems to be some hustle and bustle going on at CareerBuilders place in Second Life and CareerBuilders is consistently one of the most visited brands within Second Life, based on statistics gathered by The Project Factory.

Yet recruiting in Second Life isn’t something done only companies like TMP Worldwide and CareerBuilder. Jedadiah Juran works for the State of Missouri. They will be having a Information Technology job fair in Second Life, Friday, Feb 15 from 9:30 to 11:30 SLT on Eduisland 3. It will start of with introductory comments by the CIO for the State of Missouri. Then the Deputy CIO will talk about various job opportunities available for people wishing to work for the state.

Most of the jobs are in Jefferson City and more details can be found at Missouri State Government IT Community website. While this event is not focused on economic development, Jedadiah Juran, IT Director for the Missouri Departments of Education and chair the IT recruiting initiatives group, has hopes for future activities such as getting K-12 teachers looking more closely at what can be done with Second Life or getting people interested in using Second Life as a tool to promote Jefferson City as a great place to live and work.

Whether you are looking for a job or looking to hire someone new, various groups are exploring new methods of recruiting in Second Life. As people learn from these experiences more recruiting and innovative new approaches are bound to be pursued.