Facebook To Allow Users to Look For, Apply For, And Even Interview For Jobs All Through Facebook

Facebook figures that most people already get their news, conversation, and photos of friends’ dinners from the social media network, so why not let them find a job there too?

A lot of people fear a job recruiter looking at their Facebook page, but thanks to a new feature, that’s where people will find jobs in the first place.

Rolling out this week, Facebook has unveiled a new feature that allows companies to post job openings just like they would a status or photo. While many companies post job openings as a status now, or link to a CareerBuilder or other job site posting, this new feature lets them post a job and lets users apply for the job without leaving Facebook. The new feature is a way for Facebook to grow its reach and use, especially in people who don’t know how to put a profile on major job search sites like Monster or don’t feel comfortable creating a LinkedIn.

Using social media to look for a job is a quickly growing trend. A recent study from ADP showed that almost 15 million people in the US say they’ve utilized social media to look for a job, so this step makes sense for Facebook. “Facebook is pushing the limits to see what people are willing to do on the site, and jobs is a natural step,” said Ray Wang, founder of the Constellation Research firm. “It’s an area where people will say, ‘Oh, this makes a lot of sense.'”

Facebook says they hope to target people who may not even be actively looking for a job by alerting them about a position at a place they have “liked” or visit often.

Once an application is sent, the hiring manager will have access to all the information the applicant put in, but not to anything else on their profile (privacy settings still apply). If the feature is successful, Facebook plans to use it much more often.