Top 10 Tips for Using Facebook for Job Search

When looking for a new job, you’ve got to use all the tools in your arsenal. Interestingly, many people don’t consider Facebook a job-search tool. 

However, there are so many ways in which you can use Facebook for job search. From joining groups to following your favourite brands, you can implement powerful job-hunting strategies into your everyday life.

Why you should job search using Facebook

It is a well-known fact that recruiters are the most active on LinkedIn. We didn’t reinvent the wheel here. 

But wait… are they?

A recent study by Jobvite found that among the channels most often used for recruiting by the 817 surveyed HR professionals, Facebook took the lead at 68%. LinkedIn stayed close on its heels, with 65%. 

This means that for many recruiters, Facebook and LinkedIn are equally powerful for finding new talent.

Meanwhile, 90% of job seekers use LinkedIn, but only 40% admit to using Facebook for job search (Standout CV). The presence of recruiters is almost identical on both platforms, yet the competition seems to be much, much smaller on Facebook, as fewer job seekers leverage it as a job-searching tool. 

This creates the perfect niche for Facebook users to stand out while using Facebook for job search. 

Surprised?

Now that you know that your effort won’t be wasted on searching for jobs on Facebook, we will show you how to do it effectively. 

Top 10 tips for using Facebook for job search:

1. Clean up your Facebook profile
2. Expand your network
3. Join industry-specific and job search groups on Facebook
4. Follow leading companies in your industry
5. Follow people from your industry who inspire you
6. Follow profiles sharing career advice
7. Engage and be active
8. Post appropriate content
9. Keep an eye out for events
10. Turn on notifications 

1. Clean up your Facebook profile

First things first. You need to focus on your own profile before you start using Facebook for job search.

Recruiters rate Facebook as the best social media platform for screening candidates (Standout CV). This means that many hiring managers look up applicants on Facebook to gain more insight about them. 

But that’s not all - if you intend to job search using Facebook, you need to treat your profile as a business card of sorts. You must make sure it’s spotless, inviting, and professional.

Choose a current profile photo. It doesn’t have to be as official as on LinkedIn, but go for a semi-casual tone. Avoid group photos, pictures in swimsuits, or distracting backgrounds.

Update your profile with crucial information about you. Again, you don’t need to go as deep as on LinkedIn, but adding basics like your education and current location can be helpful. Make sure the information about you matches across different social media channels.

Lastly, do an audit of your profile. Remove any inappropriate or very old photos you no longer want to show on your profile, and delete any content you wouldn’t want a potential employer to see. This also refers to posts you published or shared in the past and photos other Facebook users tagged you in, so don’t forget about that!

Hopefully, we don’t have to mention that your Facebook username should be your real name and surname.

Of course, your Facebook profile is still personal. Therefore, you don’t need to keep it as professional as LinkedIn, but you should keep it decent. 87% of job seekers update one or more of their social media profiles before starting job search (Standout CV), so you can’t be left behind. 

2. Expand your network

Once your Facebook profile is spotless, start building a network. Facebook is a personal social media site, so don’t go inviting professional acquaintances or strangers working in your industry to be your friends like you would on LinkedIn. This could be perceived as too straightforward.

However, you can do an inventory of your current friend list. It may be missing some people, especially if you have been neglecting your Facebook presence. 

Add everyone you can think of - friends from school or university, past colleagues you connected with on a deeper level than just sharing an office, and other people you know on a personal level. 

Once you start using Facebook for job search by joining new groups and meeting people, you can expand your network, but start with those you already know. 

3. Join industry-specific and job search groups on Facebook

Job search groups on Facebook are a meeting point between recruiters and candidates. 66% of recruiters use social media to post job openings (Recruiter Flow). And as much as 82% of companies attract passive candidates - people who aren’t actively looking for a job - using social media (Post Beyond). 

Join as many job search groups on Facebook as you can find and visit them regularly to check for new announcements. Watch out for job scams - verify every person posting a vacancy by looking them up on LinkedIn and checking if such an opening really exists on the company’s official website. 

But you shouldn’t stop on job search groups! Find industry-specific groups uniting enthusiasts from the sector(s) you’re interested in. For example, if you’re looking for a job in marketing, there are hundreds of local and international marketing-related communities you can become a part of.

Industry-specific groups are a great place to find the latest news, trends, and resources such as webinars and events. They are also the perfect environment to put professional networking into practice and exchange experiences. 

4. Follow leading companies in your industry

79% of job seekers use social media for company research (Go Hire). Companies are aware of that and invest in a strong social media presence. They regularly post industry-related content and information about themselves.

Following companies you are interested in working in or industry leaders is a great way to get to know them. Find out more about their values, activities, and working culture.

Additionally, they may post about the latest job vacancies. This way, you can find jobs on Facebook by just scrolling through your feed! 

5. Follow people from your industry who inspire you

Why do you look up to your role models? Probably because they have reached some form of success you’re also aiming at. 

And what better way to find out how they became successful if not by letting them tell their own stories? 

Key figures in every industry actively build their personal brands on social media. By following them, you can gain insights into their career paths and discover valuable tips from experts. 

They may also share interesting resources, recommend proven strategies for climbing the career ladder, or give shout-outs to big companies that are actively hiring. 

Surrounding yourself with relevant content increases the efficiency of using Facebook for job search, as algorithms will pick up your search trends and show you related results. 

6. Follow profiles sharing career advice

Personal profiles of career coaches and corporate profiles of job boards are a goldmine of free career advice. They post easily digestible content with top tips to succeed in your job search, including infographics, videos, carousel posts, and graphs. 

For example, at Europe Language Jobs, we keep our Facebook profile updated with all the latest news about the hottest vacancies on our job board and the events we organise. 

We mix it up with funny videos featuring our employees, letting users get to know us as a company and learn in an entertaining way. We also give our followers an opportunity to build a community and engage by regularly asking questions related to their personal experiences.

Following career experts will fill your feed with the productive kind of fun, allowing you to learn as you passively learn while you scroll. 

7. Engage and be active

Don’t be a lurker who only scrolls through content but never interacts with any of it. Reward Facebook content creators for their hard work by leaving a like or comment and reposting. 

But re-sharing somebody else’s posts is not enough! While 70% of job seekers use social media to search for a job, only 11% create their own original content to impress recruiters (Standout CV). This creates a huge niche you can take advantage of while using Facebook for job search.

Be active in groups - recruiters are members as well, so if your name pops up a lot and the content you contribute is valuable, they will start to take notice. 

What’s more, 1 in 5 hiring decision-makers says that they are unlikely to consider a candidate without a social media presence (Apollo Technical). This means that recruiters often visit candidates’ Facebook profiles and pay attention to how active they are and what kind of content they post.

Being an active Facebook user will also get you noticed among other members of the community and help you expand your network. Many people will want to follow you if you share engaging, insightful content. 

8. Post appropriate content

Be careful when being active on Facebook. Use inclusive language, be respectful, and don’t post any content going against the values of the companies you’d like to work for. 

According to Standout CV, 21% of recruiters admit they have rejected a candidate based on a negative impression given to them by something they posted on Facebook. In a survey by Career Builder, this number grows to 54%. 

The top reasons for choosing not to hire a candidate due to their online presence include:

• Offensive posts on sensitive topics (race, gender, religion)

• Public arguments in comments

• Posting inappropriate photos (including alcohol, drugs, nudity, or criminal behaviour)

• Bad-mouthing previous employers

• Sharing confidential information from previous workplaces

• Social media content inconsistent with what they claimed in their CV or LinkedIn profile

Sources: Standout CV and Career Builder

Interestingly, 17% of recruiters rejected candidates because they posted too much (Career Builder). So, don’t confuse being active with spamming. This could give off the impression that you spend too much of your time on social media. 

9. Keep an eye out for events

Facebook is the perfect place to find all kinds of events happening online or near you. Take advantage of the “events” tab to discover industry-specific networking events, webinars, lectures, or conferences.

The more you participate, the more recommended events will start popping up on your main feed. And attending events is a perfect way to increase your professional qualifications, make connections, and discover new opportunities. 

10. Turn on notifications

We are bombarded with hundreds of notifications every day. Understandably, this can often drive us to turn them off altogether.

But when you’re using Facebook for job search, turning on notifications is worth it. You can switch them off again once you find a job.

Until then, you will find it helpful to be notified when a new job vacancy appears in one of the job search groups on Facebook, or a company/career coach posts something eye-opening. Pay attention to the notifications about your friends attending events you might also like - you could get to participate in a conference with a buddy!

Pro tip: if you don’t want to receive irrelevant notifications, do an inventory of the pages you follow and unfollow those that no longer interest you.   

Now you’re ready to start using Facebook for job search! Of course, Facebook shouldn’t be your only resource as a job seeker. Don’t forget about job boards, visiting company pages, and other social media, such as LinkedIn, Twitter, or Instagram. 

Discover other unconventional ways to find a job and remember the top tips for an effective job search on Facebook: polish your profile, join groups, follow the right people and companies, and engage with the community. 

Sources:

• 70% of employers are snooping candidates’ social media profiles (2017) Career Builder. 

• Fathima, H. (2024) Recruiting on Facebook in 2024, Recruiterflow Blog. 

• Fennell, A. (2024) Social Media Recruitment Statistics 2024, StandOut CV.

• Hollins, O. (2023) Social media recruiting statistics for 2023, GoHire. 

• Ku, D. (2022) Social Recruiting: Everything You Need to Know for 2023, PostBeyond. 

• Surprising Social Media Recruiting Statistics (2024), Apollo Technical LLC. 

• ‘2021 Recruiter Nation Report’ (2021). Jobvite.

Feeling inspired? Visit our blog for more career advice! How can you be sure the information we provide is top-notch? We are a group of professionals working with recruiters, career coaches, and HR specialists from all over the world! 

Trust our experience and let us help you find a new job in Europe!