Monday, April 16, 2007
Finding Jobs on Facebook?
I find it interesting to read that Facebook and Jobster are joining forces to create a job search site geared towards college age students and those who utilize the social networking site. I began reading about this while researching for my presentation on online job searching. The article posted about it on careerjournal.com was also interesting. I think that utilizing the technology of a site that is as popular with the current college generation will serve as a powerful tool for both job seekers and employers. With that being said, it is concerning to me that a site which has already sparked so much controversy over individual profiles will be used for something as important as a job search. So many people have already experienced problems where information posted on Facebook profiles has been used against them with current and potential employers. Will the partnership between Facebook and Jobster perpetuate that problem, or will they figure out a way to use these systems in the best interest of the job seekers?
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6 comments:
Interesting. I had no idea that Facebook was going to help recruit for jobs. Would this become similar to LinkedIn? Stephanie
This was exactly what I was worried about when I read this article. We are all told about the evils of facebook; that employers may be able to view our profiles and see all the bad things we do and, therefore, will not hire us. If facebook goes ahead and makes this a regular feature on its site (allowing companies to view profiles) I believe that a lot of the fun of facebook will be removed. People will no longer post those absurd pictures anymore, will stop writing hysterical posts on peoples walls, and I believe that the main social aspect of facebook will be replaced by peoples worries of "looking good for a job"
facebook is one of the hottest sites right now and i think it could be very profitable move in a long run. People on the facebook will have to change their profiles and take out some fun stuff, which will take some time. It could start out slow, but it is a great idea overall.
The Jobster/Facebook relationship is actually there to help this problem of employers viewing Facebook profiles. Jobster is a way for students to begin their search and connect with companies, though Jobster encourages people (in this case people with Facebook profiles) to make a Jobster account. This account is professionally oriented, and comes up when companies google you (at the top of the search). It's a way to complement all of the 'fun' stuff that's on facebook. Hopefully this partnership will encourage students to network and connect for Job opportunities, and make the most of their 'online persona.'
I think facebook needs to assess the big picture. Their service is so popular because of the structure that they provide and apply, which in turn creates a dedicated user base. Facebook has not created any revolutionary features/technology; they simply applied it to a niche market (college students). By deviating from their mission (of college social networking), they will almost inevitably degrade their network (the only thing they have), which will cause people to think twice before actively using facebook (or at the very least, reconsider what they post). Although this may be profitable for facebook in the short term, the long term ramifications will probably fare much worse; there are many unobtrusive ways for facebook to monetize their service--- I think integrating with a third party job recruiter is by far one of the worst..
It is interesting to see how controversical site as facebook can be partnered with such a formal function; job searching. Though, it might be a good idea "SNS with Job searching", I feel like facebook is not the place to be. I think, they should create another SNS to fit the purpose since facebook has such a different value and segmentation right now...but who knows how succesful the deal between two goes in the future.
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