Reading Time: 3 minutes

Facebook now has a new ‘Jobs’ feature that allows businesses to post job vacancies on their FB page.

The jobs will be visible to anyone who visits the page, and also appear on the news feeds of users who have ‘liked’ the page. Candidates can kick-start the application process directly from the page using the ‘Apply Now’ button. An auto-fill feature extracts personal information from their Facebook profiles, with the option to edit the information they would like added in their application.

Getting started is easy. Just click ‘Create a Job Post’ and fill out the details. Once you’re done, the post will appear alongside other posts on the business page, in the new bookmark for jobs, and as mentioned above, in the news feed.

You can track and manage applications from Facebook Business Manager. All applications are also exported to your business page through Messenger. Needless to say, you can also easily review candidates’ social media profiles. You will be able to boost the visibility of your job postings on the world’s most popular social network, screen applicants more thoroughly on a single platform, and respond to them via Messenger. That being said, privacy settings currently in force will remain : you will be able to view only the information candidates have made public.

Businesses already post job listings on their pages; Facebook expects to add more structure to the activity and greater efficiency to the recruitment process. The social networking giant has also claimed that the feature is a solution to the common problem of matching the right candidate for the job, faced by all businesses.

Facebook versus LinkedIn

Reach or reputation?

.

Facebook’s feature is so far free to use, but could be monetized in the future. This poises the company favorably against LinkedIn, which charges businesses to post jobs and access CVs. That being said, LinkedIn is one of the most effective and trusted recruitment tools that businesses rely on, and will continue leveraging. Sure, LinkedIn’s 467 million user base does not match up to Facebook’s 1.8 billion monthly active user base, but its bellwether status as a professional networking site and recruiting network is unlikely to be greatly affected by Facebook’s new strategy – at the least in the near future.

Does LinkedIn have a capacity problem?

While it may seem counter-intuitive, LinkedIn’s one-stop database of recruitment consultants and talent acquisition teams has a ‘push’ effect where a candidate may be contacted by multiple recruiters for the same vacancy. This may dissuade top talent and motivate them to explore job listings that are not saturated with large, comparable candidate pools.

Facebook ‘s data and insights are a huge advantage

As Facebook makes enhancements to its job listing feature, LinkedIn may feel the pressure to make useful additions and counter some of the strengths of its rival. Facebook’s excellent ad targeting feature is already allowing businesses to serve recruitment ads to people with specific interests and apply for jobs that match their skill and passion. The new feature can build on this existing capability for more fine-targeting, at a lower cost than what you would pay for posting on LinkedIn, which does not offer any pre-qualification checks.

Facebook has a ‘business casual’ appeal

Today’s workplace has a bit of casual sprinkled into a professional atmosphere. Some go the whole nine yards to make candidates feel comfortable and get a taste of their trendy, informal work culture. For instance, Zappos uses its ball pit to interview employees, and among other things, also questions them on their favorite curse word. Facebook is already well-positioned to leverage this kind of appeal with 360 degree photos and live streaming. If you want to inject fun into the recruitment process in your quest to identify the most creative and ingenious candidates, Facebook could be the more suitable option.

Dissonance between professional and personal values

Are candidates willing to blur the lines between their professional and personal values, beliefs, likes and preferences? Is it better to keep the two separate and far apart, and will candidates need to be more proactive in ensuring metered responses and showcases of personality on Facebook? It will mostly boil down to personal comfort level; while some will readily take up the offer to leverage Facebook as yet another way to connect with employers and seek out a new interview experience, others may choose the status quo and prefer to use LinkedIn exclusively for professional interactions and reserve the fun for Facebook.

Save time managing your social media accounts

---

Are you still managing your social media accounts directly from Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn? Make your life easier by managing all your social media in one place, schedule posts, repeat posts, curate content and more. Try DrumUp now, it's free, forever.

Reaching out to low-skilled workers

LinkedIn has traditionally held the most appeal for medium and highly skilled workers marketing their educational qualifications and professional experience. Those who are not actively looking for a job may not have a strong reason to keep visiting the website. Facebook’s job posting feature integrates the search and/or a new job opportunity with regular socializing, and opens up users to better jobs.

Ride the first wave of a new opportunity

Facebook is still an untapped job market, and the new feature is an opportunity to build a powerful employer brand NOW, before businesses move to this recruitment platform on a large scale. If you have the DrumUp employee advocacy platform, your employees can start highlighting your work culture and market your business on their social media pages. In tandem with the Facebook’s job feature, DrumUp can take employer branding and social recruitment to the next level.

Image credit : Pexels.com