Tools of the Trade – Work4 Labs: Work for Us App

In the quest to become the world’s largest and most popular Internet destination, Facebook has experienced some astounding growth. Just last week TechCrunch had an article that revealed some staggering Facebook usage statistics;

149 million Americans now actively use the social network (as of 2009, the network had 100 million active users in the U.S.). And 70 percent of these active users in the U.S. log on to the social network daily.

The article also offered a breakdown of usage from a few other countries, but equally impressive to individual user data is the number of companies/organizations now utilizing Facebook in their recruiting efforts.

The impact of social media in staffing plans can no longer be ignored. It is the reality of where the industry has moved in the past couple of years. Recruiters scour LinkedIn, send out tweets daily on Twitter, and blog tirelessly in attempts of sourcing the elusive ‘perfect’ candidate. But what about Facebook? Sure it is a part of the social media plan, but it is much more then simply creating a fan page and praying for ‘like’ clicks. In fact there are number of tools breaking into the marketplace that leverage the popularity of Facebook in the recruiter’s favor. One such product that is really creating a lot of serious buzz in recruiting circles is Work4 Labs ‘Work for Us’ App, and there is a good reason why. Last week I had the opportunity to speak with Work4 Labs’ Director of Business Development Matthew Brown to learn about their tab application firsthand, and see exactly how it works.

‘Work for Us’ is an extremely adaptive tool that works seamlessly within the Facebook infrastructure allowing organizations to distribute news about openings that they have. It creates a customizable job tab on the Facebook page that lists out all details of the current open opportunities . This list is searchable by location and keyword, and it also allows users the option to respond directly by submitting resumes. There are also sharing options to disseminate the information to a user’s own social network. Since the app was built from the ground up, significant thought and time went into the user experience- and it shows. A few great examples of the product in use can be found here;

American Apparel
Deloitte
L’Oréal

Since it’s launch a couple of months ago over 5000 companies are currently using the ‘Work for Us’ app. It’s flexible design and adaptability fits into any social media plan. Work4 Labs offers a integration process based on the client’s needs and can incorporate most of today’s ATS products to provide powerful analytical data.

One additional feature to the app that can’t go unmentioned is found in the back end in how well it integrates with Facebook Ads. This allows recruiters to not only promote specific openings, but also use the ad system to create targeted advertisements to entice passive candidates.

At first glance where it would appear this product would only be helpful for corporate recruiters, a number of new features are in development that will make this a product that all recruiters should familiarize themselves with. The addition of a referral system and customized alerts will really allow all recruiters to increase the Facebook visibility of searches that they are working on.

The cost for the Work for Us app is based on a monthly subscription. The basic plan is $9 a month and scales up based on the number of job slots utilized. Matthew Brown also added that recruiters are able to swap out jobs as often as necessary in any given month with no additional cost.

With over 120,000 jobs posted, 1 million plus views, and 10% of those views leading to a resume submittal- what are you waiting for? Recruiting Daily will continue to follow the development of this product and keep you informed of new features as they are released. In a day and age where a successful social recruiting plan can give recruiters a serious competitive advantage, the Work for Us Facebook app is one tool that needs to be considered in growing your desk .

To learn more about the Work for Us app visit  Work4Labs.com and request a demo.

By Tim Spagnola