Many people use the internet to communicate and to advertise their business, which is fine. Others use it for research, whether market research or for other sorts of background. Another area in which the net has much to recommend itself is in recruitment.

The net has a number of advantages, not least of which is the immediacy of it: you can have an advert up there within minutes of someone handing in their notice and if you're very lucky indeed, applicants can start coming in by the end of the same day. And finding the right person to fit a vacancy can become a great deal cheaper once the internet is deployed.

There are a few caveats to bear in mind before you go ahead, though. First, the web is another medium through which you can advertise, but it should never be your sole means of getting to candidates. Anyone with any ambitions of an equal opportunities policy will want to reach beyond the PC-owning, internet-surfing and (by extension) affluent type who'll see an online ad. Second, if you do place an advert online the onus can be on you to get the right people to look at it: it's a bit like walking into a pub and saying: "Anyone want a job?" The trick is to filter out the time wasters early on.

There are two basic methods of putting your vacancies online. The first, and certainly the cheapest if you have the requisite skills, is to put an "Employment with [company name]" page on your regular website. Ideally you'll update this regularly with details of any vacancies you might have coming up, plus an overview of the company and benefits available to employees.

Cheap though this might appear, however, it's not infallible. To begin with, you need to be sure people will see it if it's to be any use at all, and unless you have a well-viewed website attracting the right demographic already, this will mean a lot of advertising. That's not to say it can't be done, and there might well be long-term savings for recruiting and many other benefits from publicising your website to the world in general.

But if your aim is to recruit only occasionally you'll probably be better off looking at the places people already go to look for jobs. At this stage you're back with the ordinary media and the recruitment agencies, but it can be worth examining their online strategies as well as their more traditional offerings. Of course, the Guardian's dedicated recruitment sections are now online (see media.theguardian.com, education.theguardian.com, society.theguardian.com).

Some - student job placement specialist hotrecruit.com is one - have charges tailored to the internet: you buy a number of days' exposure on the website and if you recruit someone on day one, you can remove the ad and "bank" your remaining days for when you need them. Others offer support services for their job candidates: the Guardian Media Group's own Workthing.com includes not only jobs but training opportunities, and bits and pieces on lifestyle.

And, of course, it would be a huge mistake to neglect the traditional agencies who themselves are using the web to extend their reach. If you're recruiting through a large agency like Adecco, always ask whether your vacancy will be going online as well, and what the company is doing to get people to its site. The bigger names will attract job seekers simply by being there, the smaller ones will have to work somewhat harder at it. But if your chosen agency avowedly ignores the new medium then it might be an idea to look elsewhere.