Is the Facebook Job area any good and how do I work it?
The world’s largest social platform is at it again. As of February 13th, Facebook has introduced its new “Jobs” section to the fold. At this time the posting and viewing of jobs is only available in the United States and Canada and can only be found on the desktop version at this time.
A bold move by Facebook to say the least, the likes of Monster, Glassdoor,, Indeed, and LinkedIn may be facing some serious competition.
The platform boasts some nice highlights, the top one being that people can post or search for a job on a platform they are already basically living on. Facebook has made it simple to use for job seekers with easy to manage filters to search for the ideal job. The biggest bonus for employers is it is free (for the moment) to post jobs.
The drawbacks for this new innovation to consider are:
- Will people who utilize the Facebook platform for socializing with friends and family want to use this platform for job seeking? Embarrassing photos and not so employer friendly comments posted on the user’s wall might be a factor in whether people embrace the new job search area. Although, it has become pretty standard practice for an employer to review a candidate’s social media accounts during the hiring process now anyway.
- When applying to a job, it is all done through Messenger. This is handy for both employer and job seeker but it does have its limitations.
- Job seekers are unable to upload a resume or cover letter. You can add experience and education and you are allotted 1000 characters of text to explain why you believe you are a good candidate for the position; but it still lacks the real power of the other job posting sites in terms of providing the required documents to actually support your experience and apply for a position.
- When it comes to the employers, it may be fine for a small business where the hiring manager, who possibly also runs the social media platform, can see the messages via Messenger. This is not so helpful for larger businesses with separate marketing teams that run the platform. This would then make it necessary for the marketing department to forward messages to the appropriate people. Ideally, Facebook would allow an option for the employer to add an email field and not use messenger at all to allow the job seeker to send the application directly to the right person. This would also allow the job seeker to attach the appropriate documentation (resume and cover letter). Obviously, Facebook has not gone this route as they wanting to utilize only Facebook resources. Will we see Facebook creating an email platform in the future?
- While the platform does provide things like location, industry and job type to search, it does feel limited when trying to specify a job title, although there is a search area available that will suffice. It would also be nice to be able to specify a wage range and see employer ratings and reviews.
Facebook may still have some work to do in development but none-the-less they are off to a tremendous start.
So how does the Job Search work for a job seeker?
Log into your personal Facebook account. You will notice on the left side of you screen there is the “EXPLORE” area.
If the “JOB” section is not visible you will need to click on “see more”. This will then drop down the menu and you should now see the “JOBS” briefcase. It will look like this:
Go ahead and click on this. This will take you to the job search area that will look like this:
As you can see you are provided with a number of options. You can change the location and the geographical radius then select the industry and job type. At the very top there is the search bar that allows you to get more granular in your job filtering. You are able to select job role, business name, and so on. This is a simple keyword filter.
The job posts appear much like a regular post on Facebook with the exception being the “Apply Now” button appearing in the lower right corner.
EXAMPLE JOB SEARCH
Let’s say I am in search for a position in landscaping in the Toronto area and I am in need of full time work.
STEP 1
I would first select my location of interest and the geographical radius by clicking on the “Change” link within the location area:
This will then open the area to type in my options. In this case we are selecting Toronto. As you type the city, Facebook will display suggestions much like Google.
Then I am able to type in the radius. The maximum radius allowed currently is a limit between 2 and 150 kms. For the purpose of this demonstration I have selected a radius of 100kms.
Once you are done typing your selections, click apply and let the magic happen.
What you are left with in the listings are all jobs posted within the Facebook platform within a 100 km radius.
STEP 2
Now let’s fine tune this selection to find the jobs I am interested in.
I am looking for a full time position, so in Job Type I will select Full-time.
Once clicked, the list of positions will automatically update to reflect all the full-time positions posted.
Now to zero in on the particular job role that I am interested in obtaining, in this case landscaping. To do this I will go to the top and within the search bar I will type my query “landscaping”. When I am done typing, I will then click on the magnifying glass to the right of the search box to start the search. Remember, these are keywords that you are using to filter the search so a landscaping company could possibly use terms like construction, yard maintenance, etc. in their job titles so be sure to try a number of different searches.
We could narrow our focus further by selecting an industry, but for this particular tutorial we are not utilizing this option.
At this point I am presented with all the job opportunities that fit my specification. Now it is time to apply.
STEP 3
Once you have selected a job posting, click on the “Apply Now” button. This will open a new tab displaying the company’s Facebook page with the full job posting to view. You can interact with the post much like any Facebook post. You can share, like, follow, etc. You also have the ability to save the post as you can see in the following image:
Step 4
Located at the very bottom of the job post you will see the big blue “Apply Now” button.
If you click on this, a pop-up will appear, pre-loaded with your name, phone number, city you live in, and your email address. All this information is taken from your Facebook profile so you will want to be sure that everything is correct.
As stated earlier, you are only given the option to fill out limited information and you are only provided a 1000 character limit on your text as to why you believe you are a good candidate, so use all the space wisely and be sure to include all pertinent details as they pertain to the position you applying for.
STEP 5
Once you have fully filled out all the fields, click send. This will send a message via Facebook Messenger to the Admin of the company’s Facebook page.
As stated before, there are some limitations to the new Facebook Job functionality for both the employer and job seeker. It acts as more of an introduction rather than a job application. I am sure Facebook is working feverishly to fully develop this application to optimize it for both the company and job seeker. The good news for the employer is it is currently free. The bad news is for Facebook’s competitors. LinkedIn, Monster, Glassdoor, Indeed, etc. are going to have to step up their game now that they have a mega power like Facebook stepping into the ring.
Have you tried the new Facebook Job section? Let us know your thoughts.
Knowing the places to look for employment is only one piece of the puzzle. You need to know how to write compelling resumes and cover letters to be able to score that interview. Then you need to know how to rock the interview to land that job.
Agilec’s goal is to help you do just that. Get us working for you in your Job Search.
Happy Job Seeking!
