Facebook’s Social Jobs Partnership: Built With Associations

Because you can’t spend all your time liking things on Facebook, the company wants to help you find a job.

The company’s Social Jobs Partnership (SJP) launched a new app Wednesday  (opens in a new tab) with the help of a number of groups — including the U.S. Department of Labor, the DirectEmployers Association, the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA), and the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) — in an effort to make it easier for users of the highly trafficked site to find jobs.

More details:

Why social jobs? According to Facebook, the app was created to tap into the growing trend of using social media to find employment. “The new SJP app is a central location where recruiters can share open positions with the Facebook community sorted by industry, location, and skills,” the company wrote. To start, the partnership will include 1.7 million jobs across numerous fields.

The potential: It’s already apparent. According to a recent study by NACE, half of all employers use Facebook as a recruitment tool, and 54 percent see social media becoming  more important in the hiring process.

How associations are helping: The associations, which joined the partnership in October 2011, will help by providing their own job listings. “Through the collaboration of NASWA and DirectEmployers, SJP users will have quicker access to jobs originating on state-sponsored job banks and large corporate websites,” Richard Hobbie, the executive director of NASWA, said in a press release  (opens in a new tab).

Companies contribute, too: Four popular professional sites — BranchOut, Work4Labs, Jobvite, and Monster.com — will also add job listings to the program, helping to build the total to 1.7 million jobs.

The app is available to try over here  (opens in a new tab).

Have you used Facebook as a tool to recruit employees? If so, were you happy with the results? Let us know in the comments.

(Facebook)