About 50 percent of jobs are sourced through social networks, but instead of relying on haphazard pub or cafe meetings, RealContacts aims to build up online networks of like-minded people to cut out the hassle of searching for the best employee, he said.
"Hopefully we can get a whole lot of Southland employers trying it out."
Reflecting on why Globalbrain had worked so well, Mr Ryan realised it was the people involved – most of whom had been employed through word of mouth.
"The most important thing when working with people is being able to fit in. Skills are trainable, but people have to fit."
The group developing RealContacts included people who worked on Globalbrain and had been working on the idea for about 18 months.
The idea of translating the concept of a natural social process into a web-based tool for employers and potential employees was intriguing, he said.
Word of mouth was an almost totally unorganised way of realising opportunities. It usually centred around chance social meetings and coincidences, he said.
"At the moment it's really ad hoc and random." The network is driven by employers, who post jobs and seek invitations from like-minded people working in a similar field, he said.
"If there's one message that makes it clearer it is (the system's) only as good as your network of contacts."
Potential users log on and identify the area they work in, then take on either a job seeking, employing or helping contacts role. Job seekers can then view jobs and check details, including which of your contacts knows someone at the business advertising the job.
Mr
Ryan said his personal network expanded to about 1200 at the third degree,
which encompasses contacts of contacts of contacts.