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How to Use Facebook Jobs for Hiring

In Hiring Software & Tools — by Dave Anderson

Successful hiring starts with getting your job openings in front of the right candidates. And Facebook is where many people around the world spend a significant amount of their online time.

While Facebook hasn’t traditionally been used for hiring, the site now allows US and Canadian companies to post job openings and accept applicants. The job postings are displayed to followers of the company pages, like usual Facebook posts, who can then reshare them with friends who may be interested in the opportunity. Hiring companies can also configure demographic targeting that displays the job posting to people based on geographic location, work history, their field of study and other specific factors that help them connect with the right candidates.

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In this blog post, we’ll delve into the ins and outs of Facebook Jobs so you can decide if it will be a favorable sourcing channel for your company.

How posting a job on Facebook works

Let’s start by going through the steps for posting a job on Facebook. It’s a fairly simple process but requires multiple actions. Here’s how it works:

• • The job opening must be set up and posted on the hiring company’s official page by the page admin.

• • The application the candidate completes is basic and not very customizable. They’re asked to provide their contact information, work history, education and a short answer on why they would be a good fit for the company.

• • The company receives and reviews all the applicants through Facebook and can check out their profile for additional information.

• Candidates provide their phone number on the application but the hiring manager can also communicate with them through the Facebook Messenger feature.
  

Tips for hiring on Facebook

Like any sourcing channel, there are tricks hiring companies can take advantage of to get the most out of Facebook Jobs. Here are some ways to optimize your postings.

• • You can post your complete job description but the post title should be limited to ten or fewer impactful words to get people’s attention.

• • You should use an eye-catching image to accompany the post, just as you would for a typical marketing post on Facebook.

• • You can also post a video instead of an image. It’s a great alternative if your company has a well-produced recruiting video.

• • Definitely take advantage of the targeting functionality so your opening gets in front of the right applicants. One of the best things about Facebook is people provide a great deal of information about themselves.

• • Encourage your staff to reshare your job openings with their network.

• • Consider paying for the “promoted posting” feature to give your job openings a boost.

• If you’re going to post a lot of jobs on Facebook, it makes sense to have a dedicated “we’re hiring” page to keep your marketing posts separate from employment opportunities.

Disadvantages of using Facebook Jobs

Posting your open jobs on Facebook is a great way to reach the right candidates. However, it does come with some disadvantages. Here are few to be aware of:

• • Since you screen your applicants on Facebook, their information isn’t available in your applicant tracking system (ATS). Your recruiting team has to move between two places.

• • The Facebook application is fairly basic and isn’t customizable, making it difficult to learn about candidates prior to speaking with them.

• Openings can end up being displayed to a lot of people. While that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it can result in a quite a few unqualified applicants that take time to be reviewed.

Takeaways on posting jobs on Facebook

At first glance, the ability to post jobs on Facebook is a welcomed development. Nearly everyone has a profile on the site and connecting with the right candidates can boost your company’s hiring efforts.

However, Facebook Jobs isn’t perfect for the reasons outlined above. You should test its effectiveness, as you would with any new sourcing channel, and determine if it’s worth your recruiting team’s time and effort.  

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