While I've never sought to find work through IRC, I do find it to be the most enjoyable form of communication. There's so many small communities that are out there that you can join and be a part of. For the most part, it doesn't matter who you are. You're just judged on how you act and present yourself.
For communities where irc is integral part of their communication I have found this to be true. However as soon as it is used as a extra (get in touch with the mods, developers, etc) IRC becomes frustrating very soon and often resembles a empty echoing chamber or a classroom where all students are talking and no one is listening (mostly seen in #help like channels). So IRC as a means of communication is in my experience very much context dependent.