Look Out, LinkedIn: 40 More Countries Get Facebook’s Job Application Tool

Facebook announced Wednesday that it expanded the job application tool it launched in the U.S. and Canada last February to more than 40 countries. Vice president of local Alex Himel said in a Newsroom post that local businesses create more than 60 percent of new jobs, adding that a Morning Consult poll of 5,000 adults found that roughly one-quarter of them had searched for or found jobs via Facebook. Facebook began testing a jobs tab on pages in November 2016, and it officially launched its job application tools in the U.S. and Canada last February. The social network integrated jobs aggregator ZipRecruiter into its jobs application process last September, and it began testing a résumé feature the following month. To look for jobs on Facebook, users can access the Jobs dashboard, the Jobs option in the Explore section on the social network’s flagship mobile applications, the Jobs icon in Facebook Marketplace or the Jobs tab on specific pages. Once they find a position they’re interested in, they can create an application, which will be auto-populated with information from their Facebook profiles, including job history. Businesses can only see information provided by the applicant and publicly available information from their profiles. These applications can be edited before being submitted. Once an application is submitted, a Messenger conversation is opened between the applicant and the business page, enabling direct contact between the two parties and confirmation that the application was received. [kickout id="1"] For businesses that want to list available positions, page administrators can create job posts directly via their pages, including details such as job title, job type (full-time, intern, part-time) and salary. Once created, those listings will appear on the page, in the Jobs dashboard, in Marketplace and in News Feed (where they will appear similar to other page posts). Page admins can boost job posts. Page admins can also use Messenger to manage their job applications and communicate with applicants, including for scheduling interviews and sending automated reminders. [kickout id="2"] Himel said, “We know that not only do local businesses bring communities together, they create jobs. But 40 percent of U.S. small businesses report that filling jobs was more difficult than they expected. We think Facebook can play a part in closing this gap. We also know that one in four people in the U.S. have searched for or found a job using Facebook, so we launched the ability to apply to jobs directly on Facebook in the U.S. and Canada last year. This is progress, but we want to do more to connect people and businesses everywhere, so today we're announcing new features and beginning to roll out our job application tool to more than 40 countries around the world.”