Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis announced an innovative partnership that leverages the combined audience and expertise of officials from the U.S. Department of Labor, Facebook, the National Association of State Workforce Agencies, Direct Employers Association and the National Association of Colleges and Employers to provide crucial employment resources to job seekers through the use of social networks. Together they’ve launched the Social Jobs Partnership Facebook Page that aggregates career resources including job search education, job boards, and services that match a visitor’s skills with opportunities.
“Facebook is about connecting people, so that they can share what’s important to them, and that is the driving force behind the social jobs partnership,” said Marne Levine, Facebook’s vice president of global public policy. “We’ve brought employers, recruiters, college career services and government agencies together to help the millions of Americans who use Facebook to find jobs.” The goal is to make it easier for those without jobs to discover these resources that were previously scattered across .gov and .org websites. Public service announcements will be run on Facebook and in the 10 states with the highest unemployment to promote the new Page.
The partnership reportedly will pursue a number of initiatives designed to leverage social networks in the job market more effectively. Society for Human Resource Management lists out a few of these initiatives:
Launch a central page on Facebook, facebook.com/socialjobs that features resources and content designed to help job seekers and employers.
Public service announcements will be featured on Facebook to promote the page in the 10 states with the highest unemployment rates and in Puerto Rico, which has an unemployment rate of 16 percent.
Conduct in-depth survey research about the ways in which job seekers, college career centers and workforce recruiters are using the social web.
Explore and develop systems where new job postings can be delivered virally through the Facebook site at no charge.
Promote government programs and resources for job hunters.
Distribute educational materials about leveraging the power of the social web to recruiters, government agencies and job seekers.
Read More on the USÂ Department of Labor site
