A recruiter's profile page on Microsoft's pilot Entertainment & Devices jobs site.

Microsoft's job cuts aren't keeping the company from experimenting with new approaches in online recruiting. The company is piloting a new Web 2.0-style jobs site for its Entertainment & Devices Division -- with features including recruiter profile pages, live chat and built-in connections to the top social-networking sites.

The company launched the site without fanfare a few weeks ago. Microsoft says it's part of an effort to engage "passive" job candidates -- people who may not be ready for a new job at the moment, but who want to keep track of available positions in case something interesting comes up. For example, people can subscribe via RSS to be alerted to job openings in their areas of interest.

The recruiters' profile pages feature their pictures, a favorite video, the available positions for which they're recruiting, and links to their profiles or feeds on such sites as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. The Microsoft site also has a built-in feature that people can use to tell their friends about available jobs using social-networking sites and other online tools.

Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices Division was hit particularly hard by recent layoffs, but overall the company has said it will continue filling some positions, to support its strategy, even as it cuts up to 5,000 jobs over the next 18 months to reduce costs.

Although the economy has taken much of the steam out of the job market, Microsoft has been competing intensely for top engineering talent against Google and others in recent years.

The Redmond company says it's hoping the new E&D site will help maintain a good pool of candidates and reduce the amount of time it takes to fill jobs. Asked if the same approach could be applied to recruiting in other parts of Microsoft, a spokeswoman described the E&D site as a pilot. It's designed to see what's possible, but it's still early in the process.

Reaction so far has been positive.

"Candidates feel so disconnected to corporations and large companies when they come to dull, non-interactive careers sites that base the relationship with the user entirely on current openings," wrote Ryan Chartrand in a post praising the Microsoft site on RecruitingBlogs.com ."The Web allows you to send a different message: we are approachable, we'd love to meet you."

Microsoft still has a centralized site for job listings, but the company has also been experimenting with supplemental sites such as ViewMyWorld, the Microsoft JobsBlog, Microspotting and the Workin' It at Microsoft Facebook page.