Facebook’s LinkedIn Killer? Jobs Feature Will Let You Apply On Company’s Facebook Page

Facebook is trying to become a one-stop shop for all your networking needs. The company has been working to enhance the usage of the social network by introducing gaming features, a vote planner for the 2016 elections, a food ordering feature, a corporate communications tool and a VR ‘experience’ app, to name a few. Now, it is planning to step into a new domain — a job portal for companies as well as job seekers.

The website’s new feature will make businesses’ news feed a recruiting window, where jobs can be posted and candidates enlisted.

“Based on behavior we’ve seen on Facebook, where many small businesses post about their job openings on their Page, we’re running a test for Page admins to create job postings and receive applications from candidates,” a Facebook spokesperson told TechCrunch.

A new option will open up in companies’ status update window, allowing them to share a job opening and provide details such as job title, salary, full-time vs. part-time, and so on. The jobs posts would be differently formatted than regular posts so that they stand out. Job postings will come with an “Apply Now” button, clicking which will redirect the candidate to the companies' standard job application flow.

The advantage for both businesses and candidates using this approach is that all the relevant information would be shared from their Facebook profiles automatically. Users will not need to fill in too much information repeatedly and apply for multiple jobs easily.

For their part, businesses would have better knowledge of the candidates, as well as wide reach and engagement in comparison to existing business networks. They will receive submitted applications in form of a Facebook message. Information about past jobs, job titles, employers etc. could be collated from the candidate’s Facebook profile. Businesses will have to pay for utilizing the feature, similar to paying for LinkedIn ads.

Facebook would compete with LinkedIn’s employment oriented social network, along with a host of online job portals such as Monster.com. The social networking site trumps LinkedIn in terms of numbers — it has 1.79 billion users globally, compared to LinkedIn’s 467 million users.