Facebook and LinkedIn Both Offer Job Posting Services for Businesses
Do you have a job you need to fill? You’re not alone. Millions are unemployed. But as the COVID pandemic eases, many companies are having trouble finding employees to fill all their needs. There are tons of websites offering to help companies fill their empty job ranks. Some work better than others. But have you considered posting your job openings to LinkedIn and Facebook as well? Over 84% of organizations are using social media to recruit and 9% more are planning to start according to SHRM. That site states that organizations particularly use social media to recruit passive candidates – those who weren’t looking for a job but are open to an opportunity if it presents itself.
In the post below, we’ll discuss the benefits & detriments of each solution to help you decide which might be best for your business.
Posting a Job on Facebook
If you follow us (you should if you don’t) then you might occasionally see a job post on our Facebook profile. We’ve also helped many customers to post jobs on Facebook and boost them for more exposure.
Facebook Jobs Manager
Benefits to Facebook Jobs
With Facebook, you can target specific geographic regions with your job posts. This can be a city, state, or even an entire country.
Facebook lets add all sorts of information to your job posting – like location, benefits, salary information, work schedule, hours per week, and more. A lot of this information is optional, but the more you can provide the better your results are likely to be.
Boosting (or advertising) Facebook jobs is relatively inexpensive and very easy. We recommend a budget of $100-150. You can set a daily budget and also a lifetime budget (meaning the maximum you want to spend over the life of the boost.
Facebook allows you to set up questions to ask your candidates (although they are not required to answer them).
When you receive a new application, Facebook will let you know in the app on your phone and also send an email to the address you specify.
Facebook has a job candidate management tool that allows you to mark a candidate as a YES, NO, or MAYBE. In this tool, you can filter your job applications by job post, status (contacted, interview scheduled, interviewed, hired and rejected), interest (interested, maybe, not interested), and whether or not they have been read. You can mark each of your applications with these options as well. This makes it easy to keep track of the status of your applicants.
Within the Facebook jobs interface, you can message a candidate directly. You can also see their answers to your questions and candidates can attach a resume as well.
You can set up canned responses to messages. Not only can you have Facebook auto-respond to candidates who apply for your jobs, but you can save responses to make it faster to respond to candidates.
Facebook Jobs – the Down Sides
As mentioned above, Facebook doesn’t require candidates to answer your questions. So, some candidates will give you all the information you could ever want while others will not.
Your budget is a pay-per-view budget. So, any time Facebook shows your job post they get paid. By contrast, LinkedIn has a pay-per-click budget.
Facebook jobs expire. If you want it to be on the site for more than about 30 days, you’ll need to renew the job post.
Facebook Messenger for Job Applicants
Types of Candidates
Your mileage may vary, but our experience in helping our customers find job candidates has shown that Facebook is more effective with low-level job positions. If you are hiring a maid, carpet cleaner, lawnmower, or other similar types of positions, Facebook may be more effective for you. However, having said that every industry and location is different.
If your budget allows and other means have failed, Facebook jobs may work for you.
Posting a Job on LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a network for professionals, so it is not surprising that it is also a place to find job candidates. According to LinkedIn, 75% of people who recently changed jobs used LinkedIn to inform their decision. And new employees sourced through LinkedIn are 40% less likely to leave the company in the first 6 months.
LinkedIn Jobs Manager
Benefits of LinkedIn Jobs
With LinkedIn, any company with a business page can post a job for free. Just go to your company on LinkedIn and select “Post a Free Job” from Admin Tools.
LinkedIn also has a candidate management tool. And yes, you can mark a candidate as a Good Fit, Maybe, or Not a Fit
You can message a candidate right from the application, just like with Facebook. You also receive an email informing you of new applicants.
LinkedIn job postings provide a LOT more information to job seekers. In addition to the kind of information Facebook allows, LinkedIn has places to put desired skills, tools, or technology with years of experience, and screening questions (which are not optional for candidates).
You can use the screen questions in LinkedIn jobs to filter out candidates who don’t meet your minimum qualifications. You won’t even see those candidates or get a notice of their application. Instead, LinkedIn will send them an automated rejection letter. This cuts down on the management time quite a bit.
LinkedIn uses a pay-per-click budget so you only pay when someone clicks on your job post.
LinkedIn Jobs – the Down Sides
LinkedIn doesn’t allow you to post your job to only certain geographic areas. This means your job may be seen, and clicked on, by people who aren’t even real candidates – especially a problem with virtual jobs. This can really drive your budget up due to their pay-per-click model.
You can set a daily job posting budget, but not a lifetime budget. And the job posting and ad will run until you cancel them.
You can learn more about posting a job on LinkedIn at their site.
Types of Candidates
If you are looking for more professional or skilled employees, LinkedIn may be a more successful venue for you. However, it may also be more expensive. It was for us.
