By Daniela Aroche

Social media is transforming the way we communicate and thus revolutionising how we look for work, but it is also changing how work finds us.

Whilst previously a career change meant actively seeking and sending out CV's, a new strategy - passive job hunting - is now gaining momentum as an effective way to job seek and keep your options open.

"As more employers create strategies to engage the passive job seeker, so it is in your best interests to make sure that they can find you," says Nat Cagilaba of Daemon Group. "Even if you're not actively looking for a new job, you might consider a change if your dream job found you. It's important to think of the internet and social media as your online CV. 45% of hiring managers admit to looking up candidates on Google, so in the same way that you want your digital footprint to corroborate what you have said in your CV, it is your digital footprint which will help your dream job find you."

Passive job hunting is not just for Gen Y and graduates entering the market. According to Cagilaba, ensuring your digital footprint is up-to-date and impressive becomes even more important as you move up the career ladder.

"The more career highs you have the more you would expect to see these highlights in a Google search," he says. "It is the mid to senior positions and difficult-to-find skill sets where social media strategies are proving most successful."

In this day and age where technology has been integrated into almost every industry and activity, it makes sense for employers to use Twitter, Google and various social networking programs to advertise vacancies and seek and scope out possible candidates, so investing in passive job hunting is likely to both boost your career profile and render a significant number of opportunities.

Top tips for passive job-hunting success:

1. Get your CV on a leading legal job website like www.legaljobscentre.com

2. Linked In - if you do nothing else open a linked in account and connect to people you know. Linked In allows you to build a professional network from work colleagues, clients and people you have met doing business. Recruiters and employers use it as a CV database. Remember it's not only your online CV that will differentiate you from the competition, it's your contacts too. Who you know is as important as what you have done. 

3. Do a Google search on your name. It might sound narcissistic but it's important to find out what does or does not come up about you or someone with the same name. You can then work out if you want it to say something more about yourself professionally and less about you personally.

4. Be active in putting your ideas out there for others to find. The more there is on the internet about you the easier you will be to find. This can include:
a. joining special interest groups on Facebook or Linked In
b. writing your own blogs or commenting on others
c. uploading presentations you have given on to slideshare.com
d. sharing documents you have written on scribd.com