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Every month, Talent Propeller will be reviewing various types of media to share an honest and unbiased account of the best media options for recruiting candidates. This is media review #1: Facebook jobs

MEDIA:

Facebook Jobs

ABOUT THE MEDIA:

Facebook Jobs is the latest release from digital firm ‘Facebook’. Targeted as a free job board, it runs adjacent to their main platform and allows people to view jobs in their nearby area. Facebook Jobs has been live in New Zealand / Australia for approximately 12 months so is still very much in its infancy. 

As long as you are a user of Facebook, you can search job listings posted by nearby businesses.

*Facebook Jobs  differs from ‘Sponsored content’. 

ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN – WHAT ADS WE RAN:

We ran five campaigns across different locations and categories and trialled part time and full time roles. All adverts ran for 30 days. The roles were:

• Marketing Manager – Part-time 
• Recruitment Partner 
• Graduate Graphic Designer 
• Senior Graphic Designer 
• Recruitment Partner – Part-time 

 

Our Initial Findings:

• As a standard, each job is posted for 30 days
• It is currently free to post a job as both a company page and an individual user.
• It is available in both Australia and New Zealand
• Anyone with an account or a company page can post a job
• People can see your job post in the new Job’s bookmark on Facebook or in Marketplace.

HOW APPLICATIONS ARE RECEIVED:

The only way for candidates to apply is to send you a message via Facebook Messenger so if you have an ATS system or want candidates to visit your careers website, Facebook Jobs doesn’t allow for this.

There is no ability to link to a careers website or an application form.

QUANTITY OF CANDIDATES RECEIVED:

• High. Total of 167 across 5 campaigns. 

QUALITY OF CANDIDATES RECEIVED:

• Poor. Only 3 suitable across the 5 campaigns. 

WHAT WE LIKED:

It is currently free to advertise. Whether this is a long term strategy, Facebook Jobs are unspecific, but given it’s a new platform to the market, our best estimation is it will be free for a year before Facebook Jobs finds a way to charge you per application. 

 

WHAT WE DIDN’T LIKE:

• Candidate quality is extremely poor. 
• Due to the simplicity for candidates to submit their application into your Messenger account, it can be time consuming going through applications on a platform that was initially built for instant messaging. 
• Facebook hasn’t focused this product on the end user (e.g. Hiring Manger). Messages are not categorised by job, so it is impossible to effectively manage more than one vacancy at a time. 
• Accessing the profile of the candidate is a laborious process, requiring multiple clicks in, out and around the platform. It is time consuming and reeks of inefficiency.
• The inability to reply to all messages in a timely manner (e.g. there is no bulk email/reply feature)
• Every application received comes without a resume. Therefore, there is a good chance that you will need to reply to most applications, requesting further information on job history, skills and experience.

As there is no requirement for candidates to send you their CV with an application therefore we believe the platform is only relevant for roles where experience is less important and you simply need bulk of applications. This may suit a company who runs assessment centres as the first step in their recruitment process or hospitality based roles. The added downside of the simplicity in applying, candidates apply prolifically, with little regard for the role and if they are suited to it. We received applications from Pizza Delivery Drivers for our Recruitment Partner advertisement. 

OUR VERDICT:

Whilst you may be enticed by the free price tag and the name of “Facebook”, the bottom line is, their job board isn’t yet in a space to deliver relevant and streamlined recruitment for mid-senior, or white-collar roles.