This article accompanies It's Personal

While rapidly expanding as a strategy, social media is still in its early stages as relates to hiring, according to CareerXroads' 9th Annual Source of Hire Study, which was released in February 2010.

"Direct sourcing activities are increasingly adopting social-media tools and tactics, but 2009 also saw a decrease in 'sourcers' (who are the most specialized at using social media to track prospects). This suggests that social media has not been leveraged as much as was intended. Corporate staffing is poised to expand social-media initiatives rapidly in 2010 as the recession ends," according to the study.

This excerpt of the study includes the executive summary, details on external sources of hire, and information on the survey respondents.