Facebook, Feds Team To Help Job Seekers

I found it interesting that the U.S. government (more specifically the Department of Labor) has teamed up with Facebook in order to help people use social networks to find jobs.  The National Association of State Workforce Agencies, DirectEmployers Association, and the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) are all involved with this collaboration as well. 

Facebook has created a new page entirely devoted to this task, called the Social Jobs Partnership, which provides resources on training programs, job searching, and educational opportunities. 

“Facebook also will post public service announcements online in targeted geographic areas experiencing high unemployment to drive traffic to the new page, according to the Department of Labor. Additionally, all of the Social Jobs Partnership's partners are providing information about the employment resources and other services they have available on the page.  Social media is becoming key to job searching and recruitment, a trend that spurred the creation of the initiative, officials said.

More than 70% of college career centers have a Facebook page, according to research by NACE, and 92% of respondents to a 2010 Jobvite poll said that they either have recruited employees or plan to do so through the social network, according to information about the initiative Facebook has posted online” (Montalbano).

Labor Secretary Linda L. Solis was quoted in a press statement saying, “Linking American job seekers with the resources they need to get back to work is a top priority of the Obama administration and my department.  By leveraging the power of the social Web, this initiative will provide immediate, meaningful, and ready-to-use information for job seekers and employers, and a modern platform to better connect them.”

The Obama administration also launched a broad initiative last month called the American Jobs Act, which aims to spend about $450 million in job creation measures.  Congress is still considering the bill.

“Partners also will research and create systems that can deliver job postings virally through Facebook free of charge, as well as promote existing public-sector employment programs and resources through social media.  Finally, the partnership will provide recruiters, government agencies, and job seekers with educational materials about how to use social media effectively” (Montalbano).

It may be insightful to take a look into how many Americans without jobs even have access to the internet, and if the American Jobs Act really needs to spend that much money on this movement, placing our nation even further into the trenches of debt if Congress decides to pass the bill.  Aside from that, I could definitely see how a movement like this could be useful to a certain point because so many Americans are currently unemployed.  Its clear that we need some sort of jumpstart to our economy, and it will be interesting to see if this could lend itself as a solution, or further the problem.

Facebook, Feds Team To Help Job Seekers