If poring through job listings and hobnobbing at networking events is too 20th century for today’s job seeker, there’s a new way you can apply for a job—on Facebook.
“We’re taking the work out of hiring by enabling job applications directly on Facebook,” Andrew “Boz” Bosworth, Facebook’s Vice President of business and platform said in a statement. “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.”
The move comes at an interesting time as LinkedIn, the professional social network, appears to be languishing since its acquisition by Microsoft last year.
Here’s how Facebook’s job listing feature will work. Businesses in the U.S. and Canada can now post job openings on their Facebook Pages, and interested applicants can fill out an application right from the page. If you apply for a job, a business can only see the information you provide directly, along with what’s publicly available on your Facebook profile (in fact, Facebook will autofill your application with that information for you). On the business’ side, Facebook Page admins will be able to receive and review applications, and then reach out to promising candidates via Facebook Messenger.
With how much time we spend on social media, bringing job search right into Facebook does make sense. You’re already discovering news, videos, and businesses on the platform—why not be able to apply to interesting-looking companies, too?
In particular, Facebook thinks this could be useful to small businesses that may have trouble reaching a wide pool of applicants. In its blog post, Facebook says that 40 percent of U.S. small businesses report having more trouble hiring than expected. If small businesses are willing to put in the money for advertising on the social network, it could help get their job openings in front of more eyes. However, with many companies that ban social media use on company equipment or during work hours, there is some irony in the possibility of hiring someone on the social network, and then prohibiting them from using it.
Of course it can’t hurt to spruce up your profile before you start applying for jobs on Facebook: Swap out your profile photo for a nice headshot; go through your old profile photos and albums and either delete or mark private any incriminating (read: high school or college-era) images; and revisit your privacy settings to see exactly what is visible in your public profile.
You can find job listings in your Newsfeed, or in a new Facebook jobs hub at Facebook.com/jobs.