You started off by being able to poke your friends, or look-up people you used to go to school with and add them to your account. Since then Facebook has introduced lots of different features for its users including adding filters to your photos, making voice and video calls, sharing pictures, and even changing your relationship status.
But now the social media site will allow you to post job adverts as well as being able to apply for them. It’s been testing it for a while but it’s now been rolled out for users in America and Canada.
Facebook’s VP of Ads and Business platform, Andrew Bosworth told Techcrunch that it was aimed primarily at small businesses who are struggling to hire and casual job seekers who want a part-time or flexible role. It also means it could give LinkedIn a run for its money by capitalising on areas they don’t really cater for: the lower-skilled and the non-job-seeker. While most people who are looking for a job or looking to hire will go to LinkedIn for their next opportunity, Facebook is taking a number of jobs to those who aren’t necessarily looking for one but may apply anyway.
Why this is good news?
The way it will work is that the new jobs feature will show up in some people’s news feed, inviting them to apply for the job. Avid users of Facebook tend to log in at least once a day, or if they’re already logged in, they will dip in and out of the site. This means employers have numerous opportunities to grab the attention of a potential employee when the job advert shows in their news feeds.
It’s a win-win for employers as they’ll be able to tap into an audience who may not have known that the company was hiring and when an applicant clicks on the “Apply Now” button, a form will appear with some of their information already completed with some of the details they used when signing up for Facebook, making it a simple process.
Why this is bad news?
If you thought no-one would ever see those embarrassing photos or that drunkenly written post full of expletives well now is the time to be afraid. Very afraid. Because this new jobs feature makes it easier than ever for employers to discover them. If you’re smart and quick enough then you can control what parts of your Facebook profile you choose to share with potential employers BEFORE you apply for that much-wanted job. But, it does mean that it’s more important than ever to make sure your public posts are something you’re happy to share with your future boss, because he or she is probably looking at them, even if they weren’t actively looking for them.
Wendy Grahn, co-owner of the Chicago-based Lakeview Kitchen and Market has already used Facebook’s new job ad feature. She said:
We only had one response and she came directly into the shop. We talked and we hired her and it’s working out great. I’m not sure if we had got more (applicants) but we didn’t need it, so we closed the position. We are planning to use it again to hire for the Farmers Markets.
Social media recruitment continues to evolve in 2017 so while it is nothing new it is definitely getting bigger and better. Facebook has over a billion users worldwide so it’s a great opportunity for the company to earn (even more) money and for businesses to get more exposure.
James Nathan of the James Nathan Experience:
Is Facebook jobs a credible way to recruit? – Well that all depends on the audience you are looking to appeal to. As with all online advertising, each media has its own target audience. Facebook has been a very successful platform for marketing many types of businesses, and follows that it should also be a helpful place to attract candidates for those types of businesses too.
While the new job ads feature is being rolled out in North America there are no plans yet to introduce it to global audiences, although it may just be a matter of time until it is.
