SimplyHired.com, a vast database of jobs and internships that culls postings from numerous job search sites, recently launched a new integration feature with Facebook, and it's really simple to use. All you have to do is go onto www.SimplyHired.com, click on the Facebook logo, and log into your Facebook account. Then click on "allow" and you will see a list of your friends and the companies they work at. By clicking on the company name, you will see a list of any jobs at that company that are currently posted on SimplyHired. If you are interested in applying for a particular job and would like to enlist the support of your Facebook friend, simply click on their picture and an automatic email is generated telling your friend that you are interested in applying for a job at their company and would like to learn more about it. You can change the content of that email if you wish.
I have been explaining this new feature in my recent counseling sessions and some students seem a bit reluctant to use it. Their first concern is that their Facebook friends will know that they are using it. That's absolutely not true. The only way they would know is if you were to send an email to them about a specific job. The other comment I frequently hear from students is that none of their friends have jobs or none of them have jobs at companies they would want to work at. But how would they know unless they tried it? So let's say you have a friend who works in a retail position. Although that might not be the job you want, your friend might have connections to management within that company.
I would say that this feature is definitely worth looking into. It's a pretty easy and non-intimidating way to ease into networking. For more info and a brief video tutorial, please visit the following link: http://blog.simplyhired.com/2010/07/simply-hired-video-series-facebook-integration.html.
