reCareered: Facebook Becomes Job Search Engine

Sunday, June 3, 2007

Facebook Becomes Job Search Engine - page 2

“Simply Hired is showing what’s possible when you make it easy to find jobs through friends,” said Ethan Beard, director of the Facebook Developer Network. “Personal relationships and professional networking have always been the best ways to find a new job. By integrating with Facebook, Simply Hired is bringing this to life online and helping users tap into their social connections to personalize the job search process.”

There are some broad similarities in how SimplyHired integrates with Linkedin vs how SimplyHired achieves integration with Facebook. There are many differences, making each integration a unique tool for job search, used in different ways.

Similarities to Linkedin/SimplyHired Integration:

Connections: Both connect your network to hiring companies
Sign-in: Both require that you allow SimplyHired to sign in to your Linkedin and Facebook account
Privacy: SimplyHired keeps your searches and information private. It doesn't publish information on your Facebook wall, Linkedin or Facebook status. Your job search remains private, unless you wish to manually post your activities to your wall or status.

“Personalization is the next generation of job search,” said Simply Hired CEO Gautam Godhwani. “Today, Simply Hired takes another significant step toward making job search simple by combining the largest social graph with the largest job database. Finally, your friends can help you find a job online.”

Differences Between Linkedin/SH integration and Facebook/SH integration:

Linkedin contacts are displayed to the side: Linkedin contacts are displayed to the side of each of each job opportunity:
Facebook friends are displayed in sections: Facebook displays your friends on your homepage, at the top of search results, or on a separate page.
Different assumptions: SimplyHired makes the assumption that a candidate is closer with Facebook contacts, and that Linkedin contacts are a bit more distant, or formal. Unless you are an open networker (like me), you may use Facebook only to connect with close friends and family and Linkedin with past co-workers, vendors, clients, and maybe some current co-workers (depending on how you have used Linkedin). The average adult user probably has fewer Facebook friends than Linkedin network, if for no other reasons than Facebooks limitation on network size and Linkedin's 3 degrees of separation. SimplyHired assumes that your Facebook friends are fewer but more likely to help than your Linkedin network.
Degrees of separation: While SimplyHired includes Linkedin contacts up to 3 degrees of separation, SH shows only direct Facebook friends. Of course there are advantages and disadvantages to these treatments - Linkedin probably gives a job seeker a broader reach, while Facebook is more likely to return close contacts at companies. Ability to access both types of contacts is ideal.
Types of searches: You can direct SimplyHired to display a listing of your Facebook friends (alphabetically by name) and the companies they work; your Facebook friends and their location; your Facebook friends who work at companies you've "liked"; Most popular companies in your network of friends; and most popular locations in your network.