UK recruiters will benefit from yet more business networking opportunities with the news that the German professional networking site XING.com is aiming to launch a marketing campaign to recruit more UK members, possibly rivalling the mighty LinkedIn in this country.

XING, which was launched in 2003, has around 5m members worldwide, having gained 3m new members last year. Of the new members, around 141,000 opted for its paid-for Premium membership. It also claims to be the only professional networking website in the world that is used in 16 languages, including Chinese, Russian and Japanese.

As well as helping employers find and connect with passive and active jobseekers through the network, last year XING launched the Marketplace, which has become a portal for job listings. XING members can receive relevant job listings matched to information entered on their profiles. Individuals posting jobs on the Marketplace are billed on the pay-per-click model.

Founder and chief executive Lars Hinrichs told Recruiter that he has noted some key differences between the German and UK markets which will make XING attractive to UK recruiters. He believes the network will especially appeal to the large number of temporary agencies in the UK. "For the large number of temp agencies, a network such as XING is extremely practical; you have the equivalent of a Rolodex that never has to be updated, because members themselves keep the data up-to-date," said Hinrichs.

He believes another selling point stems from the important part that references play in UK recruiting compared to Germany. "They're part of every CV [in the UK], and in comparison with German employers, people entered as referees are really contacted by potential employers," he says. "By making the connection between members transparent, XING simplifies the process of gathering resources."

XING has offices across Europe and in China. International companies already using its networks for recruitment include Gartner, Oracle and PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

"The person vying for my job isn't in London or Manchester anymore, but in Paris, Beijing or Mumbai," Hinrichs said. "It's globalisation for everyman." www.xing.com