For the past couple of years, LinkedIn has well and truly had a monopoly when it comes to being the social network of choice for recruiters and small business owners on the lookout for top new talent. With the new changes recently announced from Facebook though, the more ‘professional network’ might have a fight on its hands.
Of course, many business owners have been using Facebook for recruitment more informally for quite some time now. We’ve all seen the posts from companies letting their followers know that they’re hiring. The new feature simply makes the process a little more intuitive.
As soon as the job listing is posted to Facebook, anyone who visits the page will be able to make an application. There’s even the option for candidates to auto-fill their information based on the details that Facebook holds on them, such as name and location, to make the process a little more speedy.
Similarly, Facebook will allow page owners to pay to ‘boost’ their job ads to reach more people, based on their demographics and interests.
The feature’s brand new right now, so it’ll be interesting to see how it works out over the coming weeks and months, and how businesses manage to leverage the power of Facebook to find their top talent. Still though, the move demonstrates that online recruitment is very much a growing phenomenon, and it’s something that businesses absolutely can’t afford to ignore. Putting an ad in your local paper is not likely to cut it anymore, and you need to make sure that your recruiting toolkit is bang up to date.
With Facebook more traditionally being the less formal social network, favoured by those looking to connect with their friends rather than seek out professional opportunities, the new developments also raise some compelling points about how the world of business is changing. The lines between work and play are becoming more and more blurred, and this is a challenge and an opportunity in its own right for small business owners.
What do you think about the recent announcement from Facebook? Will you updating your recruitment practices accordingly?
