SUMMARY
The Service Was First Launched In The US And Canada In February Last Year
Social networking giant Facebook is reportedly in the process of launching its job application tool in over 40 countries, about a year after it was unveiled in the US and Canada. Somewhat similar to LinkedIn and Glassdoor, the feature allows users to look for jobs within Facebook.
Among the countries in the list are France, Germany, Spain and the UK. We have not been able to independently verify if the service has been launched in India.
Through the new service, Facebook users will now be able to search for and apply to jobs on both the mobile and desktop versions of the social networking app.
Additionally, companies can post job openings, peruse applications and even schedule interviews through their Facebook business pages.
Employment seekers can also opt to get notified when a particular company updates its job listings.
Confirming the development, Alex Himel, VP of Local at Facebook said, “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.”
The development comes around a month after the US-headquartered Internet behemoth rolled out its Marketplace service in select Indian cities. At present, Facebook Marketplace is available in 46 countries around the world.
Key Features Of Facebook’s New Job Application Tool
Facebook started dabbling in the job search segment back in November 2016. Later in February last year, it officially rolled out its job application feature in the US and Canada.
As part of the project, the company also partnered with jobs aggregator ZipRecruiter in September 2017. A month later, it also began testing a résumé feature to strengthen its offerings in this vertical.
With its launch in 40 countries, Facebook users will now be able to look for jobs via a ‘Jobs Dashboard’, which will contain listings of various open positions in and around the users’ locations.
They can also filter the job listings by category, location or job title. The application form is automatically populated with information from the user’s Facebook profile, including details about his/her job history.
Once the application is submitted, the company’s hiring manager can choose to have a direct conversation with the applicant through the Messenger app.
For businesses, page administrators will have the option to post job openings directly on their Facebook company page, including details like job type (full or part-time), salary, location and job title. To reach a wider group of job seekers, companies can also boost their job posts through paid advertisement.
As stated by Himel, a Morning Consult poll of 5,000 adults, commissioned by Facebook, revealed that about a quarter of them had searched for or found a job on the social networking platform.
Himel added, “We saw a lot of organic activity of businesses trying to hire. We looked at our internal data to make sure that’s true. Some of that is existing organic activity is in posts and in paid ads.”
“[Facebook is] optimising for user experience. We’re helping them find a job that they’re looking for. Right now the only jobs that are available in the Jobs browser are the ones that a Page is posting. My advice is a business that is looking to hire post a job directly on Facebook and work with their partners,” he further stated.
Facebook Strengthening Its Presence In India Through Myriad Initiatives
With over 260 Mn users in India, Facebook has taken a number of steps to expand its market in the country. Interestingly, India boasts over 450 Mn Internet users and more than 616 Mn mobile users, as per reports by the Groupe Speciale Mobile (GSM) Association.
In July last year, Facebook’s Messenger Lite app finally made its way to India. The pared-down version is intended for users with old smartphone models or slow Internet connections.
A couple of months later, in November, Facebook Marketplace had began its India journey with pilot in Mumbai. As an update to that development, the social networking giant recently rolled out its Marketplace service in a few cities across the country, including Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.
The latest expansion of its job application service to 40 additional countries is in line with Facebook’s aim to invest and support local business across the globe in 2018. As stated by Himel, so far, the social networking company has invested over $1 Bn to help local business since 2011.
