Many of the clans do the competitive scene in GOIO and not all of them hire from public postings. We ourselves gain all our members via in game. We play with them, see if they're cool, see if they listen and learn well or are exceptional. Then we bring them on. All friend based, in fact we haven't gained a member from the docks here for probably almost a year now. And now we're a multigaming clan that brings in members from other games too.
I've run guilds in MMOs too and public postings or those who would respond to recruitment messages would tend to not be the committed players. They'd be the guild hoppers. So most of my guilds would rarely do it. We'd rely on word of mouth or friending people first before inviting. Generally would get more stable and committed players, less drama/etc. The highest drama guilds in my experience, have always been the ones who invite everyone and anyone into guild via huge advert spams/etc. Their guilds would sky rocket to 500+ people and then within a short time they'd completely implode or fracture. A core group would be formed which would then seal themselves off from the rest of the community. Community would feel unable to ever rise to be in that group so they'd split. Form new guilds, realize its more hassle than it's worth, then end sub or just bounce around to another guild.
So, if you want a clan to show interest in you in GOIO, then it would be good to try and run with them in game. Clans are recruiting but if they're like us, we just aren't inviting everyone which cries out "I need a clan!" You are already showing a major advantage over other people who have no idea there are forums. I forward a lot of people to the Docks and none of them have any clue the game is so deep that there is a clan community as well as competitive leagues.
