"When engineer Zarik Boghossian felt tapped out at his job, he turned to an employment firm to help him find a new one. But after paying $5,000, he says he got little more than outdated contacts, job leads that were widely available on the Internet and a 300-page "customized" document with standard career advice.

So when a colleague invited him to join LinkedIn.com, an online social network where professionals can meet peers and make career contacts, he gave it a try. Within a month of joining in April, Mr. Boghossian spotted an intriguing profile -- Afshin Behnia, chief executive of Mitratech Inc. He met with this new contact and landed a job as vice president of engineering at the Los Angeles technology and services company....."

"LinkedIn.com is changing the way we recruit," says anne de Kerckhove, chief operating officer at Inspired Broadcast Networks, a two-year-old London-based broadband entertainment and services firm with about 100 employees. "People who come recommended are often much better than through a headhunter."