When we last left talent search engine TalentBin about six months ago, they were working on a variety of new projects including patent talent search and an iPhone app. They haven’t let up on new features, either.
The latest comes in the form of a Google Chrome plugin that will automatically link you to a dressed-down version of a person’s TalentBin profile when you bring up their account on social networks or even in some web-based applicant tracking systems. The plugin also works with Salesforce.com as well as on an ad hoc basis if you highlight and right click on any person’s name.
While the plugin is invaluable if you have an account with TalentBin (of course), it is also quite useful just as a standalone as I don’t have a TalentBin account.
As you can see, whenever you go to a social network profile page (it currently works with Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and AngelsList), this page will show up. And while I wasn’t able to personally test it, the plugin also works with LinkedIn Recruiter, Salesforce.com, Jobvite, COMPAS, Resumator, Jobscore, and ZipRecruiter profiles and leads according to TalentBin founder Peter Kazanjy.
The links included go through most of my web presence, including my writing on SourceCon, my own blog and a Flickr account I don’t share outside of my personal network. Clicking through to the TalentBin profile will prompt you for account credentials for much beyond what the plugin displays on its own so if you don’t have an account, you can just stick with the plugin.
I’ve actually used it a bit to see if people I’m connected with on LinkedIn have a Twitter account I’m unaware of (it beats manually typing “first name last name twitter”) as well as just serving to help my own curiosity about what else people spend their time on. Of course, it doesn’t pull up everything on everyone but it is generally quick and responsive to pull up profile info.
The features remind me of Rapportive (which is a must have if you use Gmail or Google Apps for email). Of course, the TalentBin plugin works on more sites. It’s a handy bit of search automation, even for those who don’t have an account.