Mark Miller — March 6, 2017 Follow @MMtwopointfiveFacebook has just released a new tool to help connect employers and job seekers. And like everything else the social media juggernaut does, the move has major implications for both marketing professionals and social media marketing recruiters. It may also impact how businesses approach the challenge of “how to hire great marketing talent.”
The feature – called simply “Jobs” – enables businesses to post vacant positions on their Facebook Page. It empowers users to easily apply, using information automatically populated from their Facebook account. The option is currently being rolled out to North American users and will shortly be available worldwide.
In the words of Facebook Business:
“We’re focused on building new ways to help make it easier for businesses to interact with the over 1 billion people visiting Pages every month. Businesses and people already use Facebook to fill and find jobs, so we’re rolling out new features that allow job posting and application directly on Facebook.”
You can go to facebook.com/jobs any time to search for available roles by job type, keyword, industry and location. Or you can see what positions are open at a specific business by heading to that company’s page and clicking on the new ‘Jobs’ tab. Here’s what it looks like on MarketPro’s Facebook page:
(P.S. Don’t forget to follow us for hot marketing news, job opportunities, and career advice!)
How it Impacts Marketing
Social media is a core pillar of any complete digital marketing strategy, and Facebook is obviously a key player in the social space. So while ‘Jobs’ probably won’t dramatically impact most marketers’ day-to-day work, there are still some important things to consider.
Working with HR
Facebook, with its massive user base, has the potential to be a massively valuable source of job applicants. Traditionally, matters of how to hire great marketing talent like talent hunting or job posting have been left to the HR department or a third-party recruiting partner. But while people in those fields might be quite adept in their own field, they usually don’t have the natural social media aptitude and digital fluency that’s instinctive in experienced marketing pros.
That’s important to consider in this situation, because Facebook Jobs end up right on your business’s Facebook Page and can appear alongside the rest of your posts. That’s valuable marketing real estate – and not something that should casually be put in the hands of someone who can’t make the most use of it. On the other hand, it could also prove to be a huge talent-finding asset to social media marketing recruiters. Businesses can’t afford for marketers to be greedy and hoard the entire Facebook page to themselves.
Marketing teams should proactively engage their Human Resources counterparts and coordinate to make sure both parties are able to get the most value out of this resource. That way you’re still able to tap into Facebook’s huge talent pool without compromising the brand voice and format of your social media presence.
Shifting Dynamics in the Social Landscape
Facebook’s first major push into the professional careers space is a clear move to content for content, users, and businesses that in the past have largely been focused in another social network: LinkedIn.
This is just the latest in a long line of features Facebook has adopted from competitors, ranging from integration of hashtags to live streaming and beyond. And with its larger user base, greater influence and superior data collection, it can use its position to take market share away.
It’s unclear whether Facebook will be able to unseat LinkedIn as THE place for employers and talent to connect and network. Its ‘Jobs” feature still has a number of problems that make it less attractive for recruiters:
The UX for publishing a Jobs post is frustrating and has little flexibility.
There’s no obvious way to format the job description in a more coherent manner. Notice that in the preview, all the copy runs together into an incoherent wall of text. Line breaks don’t work. For the general user, the presentation is not optimal.
Worse yet, once your new job posting is published, there’s no way to edit information about the job itself, only the accompanying “Introductory Copy.” If you make a mistake, you have to delete the post and start again from scratch.
Furthermore, there’s no enforceable gateway to apply. Anyone who sees the post can click the Apply button and submit an application. They don’t even have to include a real name or contact information. And there’s no option to attach a resume or similar document.
But the feature is only at the beginning of its existence. We certainly anticipate seeing many more updates to it overtime to make it a go-to application mechanism.
Despite all the current issues, there’s nothing that couldn’t be fixed. And this move shows that the social giant isn’t getting complacent and has no qualms stepping into territory that others had previously tried to carve out for themselves. That’s something to keep in mind when it comes time to reevaluate where you want to invest your social media resources and budget.
How It Affects Your Marketing Career
In the past, what I’ve seen is that most people are pretty good at keeping their LinkedIn accounts fairly professional and clean (with some glaring exceptions). However, people tend to let their guard down when it comes to more “informal” social networks like Facebook.
That’s something you need to consider carefully if you find any marketing jobs you’re interested in on Facebook. We’ve already received several applications from candidates that had content on their walls that immediately disqualified them from consideration.
Remember, if you’re applying through Facebook, you’re inviting marketing recruiters and employers to evaluate the way you represent yourself on the platform (even though we all know that employers have been checking out Facebook and other social media accounts of potential employees for years). That includes all the things you say and share about your private life.
If you do choose to apply to marketing jobs, do the hiring manager on the other side a favor and include accurate contact information and an explanation of how to get your resume. That will automatically vault you ahead of other applicants.
Finally, ignore the temptation to ditch LinkedIn altogether–at least for now. A LinkedIn profile is still a valuable career growth asset for any marketer, and you may find some opportunities there that will not be available on Facebook.
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