To stay current and keep its stock price up, Facebook has rolled out a selection of new and updated features such as an improved timeline, a page feed and newly-added share feature. But the tech company’s recent job board addition may prove to be competition for professional networking site LinkedIn.
Facebook launched a highly-anticipated job board, on Wednesday, as an extension of the Social Jobs Partnership it created with the US Department of Labor, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), DirectEmployers Association and the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA) last fall. The Social Jobs Partnership application will aggregate 1.7 million jobs from recruiting companies, including BranchOut, DirectEmployers, Jobvite, Work4Labs and Monster.com.
“When it comes to economic growth, few issues are more important than matching qualified candidates with great jobs,†said Facebook, in a press statement. “In that spirit, we know that the power of social media — the connections between friends, family and community — can have an outsized impact on finding jobs.â€
Many employers already use Facebook to recruit candidates so this could easily place the social network at the forefront of the hiring process for employers and job seekers– if users can see Facebook as less of a casual social networking site and more of a professional platform.
Since its 2002 launch, LinkedIn has established an esteemed reputation for aiding headhunters in the scouting process. However, investors took notice of Facebook’s new service and LinkedIn’s stock dropped by 2% the day of the announcement.
For the average job seeker, it may be wise to use this new platform in combination with your LinkedIn account and any other networking platforms for job seekers when searching for your next position.