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Job recruiters increasingly using Facebook to find candidates

By | August 8, 2011, 11:00am PDT

Summary: Facebook is increasingly being used by job recruiters, according to a new report that suggests this is hurting job boards and LinkedIn.

More companies are looking eagerly at Facebook’s more than 750 million users in hopes of finding new employees. Facebook’s use as a job-recruitment tool is small but may be growing, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Some recruiters say they have all but eliminated their spending on job boards, which often charge per job posting. Others have found that although LinkedIn is more comprehensive as a résumé database, candidates tend to value referrals from Facebook connections much more, and are also easier to reach on Facebook since they spend much more time there than on LinkedIn.

The result is that traditional job boards and LinkedIn may suffer as Facebook continues to become more and more ubiquitous, although it’s too early to tell how much of an impact the social networking giant could have. Some job boards are already learning to leverage Facebook rather than compete with it. Meanwhile, LinkedIn insists that its users are telling the company they want to keep their personal and professional networks separate.

It’s important to remember that Facebook is not actively pursuing this market. This is just one of the benefits of being the world’s largest social network: it’s hard to ignore you.

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Emil Protalinski has covered the tech industry for five years for multiple publications.

Disclosure

Emil Protalinski

Emil has nothing to disclose.

Biography

Emil Protalinski

Emil Protalinski has covered the tech industry for five years for multiple publications, including Neowin for two years and Ars Technica for three years. He has written 1,000s of articles for both, with a particular focus on scrutinizing Microsoft products and services. Recently, Emil has expanded his coverage to non-Microsoft technologies, including the social networking giant Facebook.

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RE: Job recruiters increasingly using Facebook to find candidates
tnguyengp 9th Aug
As an IT recruiter in Dallas, I spend a lot of time looking at LinkedIn profiles. Recruiters and HR teams these days have to look at so many job applications. A resume just looks like hundreds of others coming in. The trick now is to get noticed before you even walk through the door. It?s easier for recruiters to assess what they see on LinkedIn; all the information they need is there. The LinkedIn profile is the door opener.
Than Nguyen
http://www.insourcegroup.com/
Actually, I like having LinkedIn the way it is. I wish it had a bit more saturation, though. Whenever someone asks me about it, "it's Facebook for business" happy
Oh, yes. The cream of the crop are on Facebook. And searchable.
If a recruiter were using facebook to try and find me I would definitely not respond. It's a junk medium attracting the lowest denominator. It's like driving to the trailor park to find employees.
Facebook is a personal space, and I would feel intruded upon if someone was to approach me for a job that way - I would be suspicious as to the motivations as I don't really have much about my work life or history on Facebook, so would wonder how and why someone is contacting me for a job.

It would be different if I was using a job searching app, like BranchOut or BeKnown (http://www.freshnetworks.com/blog/2011/06/professional-social-networking-2-facebook-apps-that-challenge-linkedin/) as then there is a separation and understanding that I wish to be approached. I can certainly see Facebook apps posing a threat to LinkedIn, but not Facebook itself unless it decides to create its own platform that everyone then adopts.

It's LinkedIn week on the FreshNetworks blog, and we just posted a comparison of the growth rates of Facebook and LinkedIn, which people might find of interest - http://www.freshnetworks.com/blog/2011/08/linkedin-v-facebook-growth-statistics-and-trends/
0 Votes
+ -
One for the personal me.
One for the professional me.
And never the twain shall meet.
Using forums having people's images in them to make decisions about whom to recruit immediately enables discrimination.
As an IT recruiter in Dallas, I spend a lot of time looking at LinkedIn profiles. Recruiters and HR teams these days have to look at so many job applications. A resume just looks like hundreds of others coming in. The trick now is to get noticed before you even walk through the door. It?s easier for recruiters to assess what they see on LinkedIn; all the information they need is there. The LinkedIn profile is the door opener.
Than Nguyen
http://www.insourcegroup.com/

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