Dear Facebook: I’d Rather Use Your Job Search Mobile App (If You Had One)
Dear Facebook,
You have charmed billions. You are a daily fixture in the lives of at least hundreds of millions of people. You’ve introduced so many to the seasoning of chicken, pet adoption, polarizing politics, and fake news.
Facebook is where the people are. We are obsessed with you. You know our dirty secrets, lies, medical conditions, and family news.
You also know our career aspirations, plans, and goals – even if you don’t know our talents or training. You know our travels, but you don’t know our itineraries. We tell you the great news about our careers.
Recruiters hang out here. Employers do, too. Job seekers are active here as well – not all, but many of them. And we’ve all heard you are the next place to look for a new job, that you may be even better than a job board. That would be cool, because I trust my Facebook connections collectively. I bet you would make an excellent job search app.
It would be great if the capabilities of a mobile job search on the Facebook app would mirror the search on your desktop/laptop page.
1. I Want to See Not Only What Companies Post, But Also the Jobs My Friends’ Friends Post
Not only would this expand my network, but it would also give me a better shot at landing the jobs I see. A company’s job post will attract thousands of fans who might share it, but I could easily contact the employer through someone I actually know.
2. Give Me a Longer History of Hashtags Than LinkedIn Does
Facebook hashtags have been useful for many years now. Because people often use their Facebook pages to post Twitter hashtags as well, I can easily follow postings and career conversations on both networks. Both also house unique content that is helpful to me.
Facebook, you have a variety of hashtags related to both job postings and advice. To have access to all this within an app would be glorious.
3. The Casual Environment Can Be More Comfortable for Networking
“Professional” conversations aren’t always the most comfortable for me. Facebook, you offer more casual conversational threads for me to follow and engage.
4. I Could Make Myself More Personable to Recruiters
5. I Could See If Recruiters Were Human!
I could use your mobile app to see who recruiters are – to see if they’re a “fit” for me. Is he friendly? Does she have a nice personality? Values are important to me, too! Integrity matters just as much to me as it does to them!
6. I Could View Company Culture Through the Lens of an Employee – Without Anyone Knowing
Sometimes, I want to see how employees feel without the branding filter. I can do this more on Facebook than on LinkedIn. I can also find other employees who may feel the same and gather intel on culture both positive and negative.
7. My Friends and Intimate Connections Could Be More Transparent With Job Postings
I appreciate job postings from contacts, but when there is no contact person to whom I can direct communication, it’s just as challenging as applying through a job board. Since my connections on Facebook are more intimate and natural, I can gain much more information and better present myself to employers.
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Overall, Facebook, your mobile experience is king – except for when it comes to job search right now. Most of us have dropped the desktop and laptop for the mobile phone when it comes to you. You can make the mobile job search much more fun than it is now!
And Facebook, you can also help make the job search a little more comfortable, thanks to your casual environment that attracts employers who value personality. I can be fun within reason and attractive to likeminded companies. That’s what we all want, right?
Mark Anthony Dyson is a career consultant, the host and producer of “The Voice of Job Seekers ” podcast, and the founder of the blog by the same name.