This is a Guest Post written by Lisa Mason, a content marketing specialist with her own company, Social Media Satisfied.
We all know that Facebook is popular but it’s about more than reconnecting with old school buds or seeing photos of your long-distance cousin’s kids. According to the 2012 Social Job Seeker Survey by Jobvite, it is also emerging as a job-hunting network. Find a job on Facebook- are we serious?
Yep, we absolutely are.
There are a few reasons why Facebook is a good place to aid your job hunt process:
- Graph Search- This new Facebook feature makes it easier for recruiters to find you. Make sure you fill out your FB profile completely and accurately and you will be found.
- It’s where the people are- Seriously, there are just so many people on Facebook today (Facebook has 1.06 billion monthly active users, 680 million mobile users, more than 42 million pages and 9 million apps).
- There are apps to help- Yet another reason to use FB for your job hunt is the apps that have been created to help facilitate this process.
According to the 2012 Social Job Seeker Survey, 86% of recruiters use social media profiles to help determine if a candidate is right for a job.
Here are some apps for job hunting on Facebook designed to make the process a bit smoother for you.
This is the one I have used the most and quite honestly, it’s simple and easy. I find it’s a lot like LinkedIn built into Facebook. This application, launched in 2010, has over 30 million members and it uses your existing FB network to help you connect on a professional level. This app allows you to upload your resume, search for new job opportunities, expand your professional network with people in your niche and even advertise positions you are looking for. It also has a unique way of allowing you to highlight your skills and send and receive messages.
This app is from Monster.com and using Monster’s database to help you see how you are connected to different companies with job openings. It opens within Facebook’s browser rather than taking you to an external site and it helps you fill your professional profile with your basic FB information so the more your FB profile is filled out, the less you will need to do for BeKnown. This app lets you claim a custom URL and add personal achievements and more.
- Be noticed – A BeKnown profile helps you stand out from the crowd.
- Be connected – Discover inside connections to jobs and companies.
- Be successful – More opportunities to grow your business and career.
Facebook’s Social Jobs Partnership
Another app for job hunting is Facebook’s own Social Jobs Partnership. Facebook collaborated with the U.S. Department of Labor, the National Association of Colleges and Employers, the DirectEmployers Association and the National Association of State Workforce Agencies to create this app to help people find and share job opps on Facebook. Features allow you to narrow your search according to the type of job you want by inputting keywords, categories and other data.
Jobvite also has a Facebook app that allows you to find users, refer others for or to jobs and match jobs to friends. You can connect and apply to jobs all from within Facebook and you can view the status of the hiring process any time you want. This gives a positive hiring experience for businesses and it gives job hunters ease of finding positions to apply for. Another thing about Jobvite is that all of your actions are private so your employees and FB friends won’t see your actions on Jobvite.
Keep in mind if you are on the job hunt that even if you don’t use any of these apps, potential recruiters may search your Facebook profile for information before hiring you or calling you for an interview. Be aware of your settings and the pictures you post. Avoid anything that can tarnish your image or reflect poorly in your professional life. Keep your profile private if you don’t want outsiders seeing it but as a final word of caution, remember that just because your profile is private does not mean that no one will ever see what you post. First, Facebook has unfortunately been known to glitch out and secondly, someone who does have access to your profile could share private information. If you really want to play it safe, assume that anything you post might be seen now or in the future by a potential employer.
Your turn: Have you ever used Facebook to search for a job?
