Facebook is now allowing companies to post jobs on its platform in the U.S. and Canada. Page administrators will also be able to receive applications through Messenger. Even though Facebook is not the first place you look for a new job, it could give competition to LinkedIn, considering its much larger user base.
Facebook may cater different target audience than LinkedIn
The world’s largest social network could score over LinkedIn with this move, as job opportunities posted by companies have been its core for a long time. However, Facebook might cater to different audiences compared to LinkedIn, says VentureBeat.
Facebook has more than 65 million businesses using its Pages to advertise their services and products. These companies claim that it is cheaper to use a Facebook Page compared to creating their own website. The main purpose of creating a Page is to interact with customers. However, when it comes to hiring people, the social networking giant does not offer any such facility.
Job postings on Facebook are not something new, as they were added last fall as beta testing. The company might have had some success in its experiment, and therefore, it is releasing it.
Andrew Bosworth, Facebook’s vice president of business and platform, told VentureBeat, “Today we’re taking the work out of hiring by enabling job applications direction on Facebook. It’s early days but we’re excited to see how people use this simple tool to get the job they want and for businesses to get the help they need.”
How the new feature works
Businesses can use their Facebook Page whenever they have an open position. Page administrators will be able to create postings with the help of a Page composer, which will include details like the title and nature of the job, such as a full-time or part-time job.
Once the job is posted, it will appear as a standard post within the Page feed and also in the special “jobs” section. For those who like or follow the page, just like any other Page, the job listing will appear in their general Facebook News Feed. However, the posting will expire in 30 days, notes VentureBeat.
Facebook stated that the application will be pre-populated with a user’s Facebook data and will be sent to the employer via Messenger. The social networking company expects employers and prospective employees to communicate with each other throughout the hiring process.
