Last week, Facebook announced the addition of its new, streamlined job posting and job application tool, Facebook Jobs. Now, similar to LinkedIn, employers and job seekers alike can use the Facebook Jobs component to easily post and apply to jobs, respectively. While the tool is still quite new, and adoption will take some time before we begin to see its true success, Facebook Jobs appears to be a promising addition to your staffing and recruiting arsenal.
It has long been known that businesses, and staffing agencies of all sizes, have already been using Facebook as a core component of their recruiting strategy. Having a strong social media presence cannot be overstated enough. With a reported 1 billion people viewing Facebook Pages each month, the need for an active, forward-facing company page has been, and continues to be critical for employers.
The new Facebook Jobs functionality will now enable you to maximize your exposure and interaction with candidates, taking your recruiting efforts on Facebook to the next level. With a more formal process in place, posting and managing job applications has never been easier on Facebook. When viewing your business’s page, logged in as an admin, you now have a handful of new post options that enable you to connect with your audience. The Create a Job Post icon, visible right on your company’s home page is one of the new options. Additionally, the Jobs tab of your business’s page features a Create Job button, taking you through to the same posting process.
Also worth noting, sharing job openings on your business’s Facebook page is free! Taking advantage of this new functionality is a no-brainer. If you are worried that your posts won’t reach the full audience you are targeting, the traditional boost options are still available as a way to maximize the exposure of your job posting.
The process of posting itself is also very simple. Once you fill out the form fields (introduction, job title, location, salary, job type, and details) along with uploading your featured photo, posting your job is as easy as clicking the Publish Job Post button! All submissions to your posted jobs get directly sent to your business through Facebook Messenger.
If you haven’t already started your social media facelift, you need to make that your top priority! Let’s dig a little deeper to better understand the what and why behind it. With the new streamlined Facebook Job component, searching and applying for jobs is a breeze. Seeing jobs posted in your news feed, searching for jobs directly within the bookmark for jobs tool, and directly viewing jobs posted on business pages, opens up an easily accessible new channel to search and find your next job within.
When something sounds of interest to you, applying is easy. Clicking on the Apply Now button opens up a pre-populated form, pulling in some of the basic information you previously set up on your Facebook profile. Name, phone number, city, email, previous experience (work history), and education will auto populate if applicable, and a text box asking you to explain “Why do you think you’re a good candidate for (Company Name)?” will require you to summarize a response in 1,000 words or less.
Concerned your job application will be visible or mentioned on your Facebook wall? Don’t worry, your application will be sent as a private message to the company, and your profile won’t reveal any activity related to your job searching or application submissions. Once you hit Send, your application will be submitted. Submitting your application (aka sending your application directly to the company via Messenger) will now enable the employer to see who you are, and have the ability to view your public profile. This is where your the importance of your social media facelift comes into play.
Before immediately thinking to go nuclear on your profile and delete everything, or even to make your profile complete private, consider how that could be detrimental. In an article on the topic of recruiting on Facebook, we found that 70 percent of recruiters believe that they connect better with job candidates through Facebook. Additionally, according to a CareerBuilder study, 41 percent of employers said they were less likely to interview job candidates if they weren’t able to find them on social media. So rather than hiding your social media persona, take this opportunity to show recruiters and employers an awesome job candidate they won’t be able to ignore.
Need more tips on how to overhaul your profile? Rest assured, AkkenCloud has you covered with a full length infographic outlining how your social accounts can impact your candidacy, and how to implement a social facelift.
