Jobster to make Facebook tool for jobseekers

I’ve written much before about the potentially explosive combination of jobhunting and casual use of social network sites such as FaceBook and MySpace.

See these prior posts:

I’ve cautioned both employers and applicants about the dangers, while noting that the social networking-jobseeker combination also has positive potential.

Let me now state the positive side much more clearly than I have to date:

If the best way for jobseekers to find jobs is networking, and networking is likewise one of the best ways for employers and recruiters to find employees, then computerized social networking tools are a tremendous boon to both sides of the hiring equation — networking on steroids.

For these reasons, I was delighted to read of a newly announced alliance between Jobster and Facebook.

From the Wall Street Journal’s CareerJournal.com:

Facebook Inc., the owner of the popular social-networking site, is teaming up with Jobster Inc. on a site that aims to make it easier for users to create a job-seeking profile.

The career site, slated for launch this spring, will be available through Facebook.com. . . . [A] potential model for the site would allow users to select information in their Facebook profiles . . . to transfer into their Jobster profiles, which can then be searched by prospective employers. . . .

The partnership between Facebook and Jobster shows how social networking, a phenomenon once confined to young people looking to meet and stay in touch online, is hitting the business world. News Corp.’s social-networking giant http://www.MySpace.com last year added a basic job search engine powered by Simply Hired Inc.

Jobster is trying to change the traditional job board model by adding social-networking features to its site, Mr. Goldberg says. The site is looking to go beyond job listings and offer tools to help link recruiters with job seekers. . . .

The Facebook partnership enables Jobster to reach a young audience that may not otherwise visit job-seeker sites. “We’re taking career search to them rather than them trying to reach us,” Mr. Goldberg says.

The new site will likely be a boon to recruiters . . . . With the launch of a career site, “Facebook is saying, we are inviting the recruiters.” . . .

But the new career site could face a hurdle . . . . Facebook users may not be receptive to job-seeker functions on a site that they have so far used primarily for staying in touch with college friends and keeping up with who is dating whom.

Source:
“Facebook, Jobster to Launch A Site for Young Job Seekers”

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