Participants in social media have long been looking forward to Facebook unveiling its own job search assistant for users, and it was finally this week that people have been able to start using it. “Social Jobs” acts as an aggregator application that pools together a selection of different job search sites like Monster, JobVite and others.

Since the amount of people on Facebook (now surpassing one billion) is the largest of any social network, Social Jobs is certainly the largest stage for job seekers. Facebook didn't just simply put this together by working the participating website either. According to Wired and other sources, Facebook teamed up with several governmental institutions such as the U.S. Department of Labor and the DirectEmployers Association.


The unveiling of Social Jobs is the result of a one year collaboration and effort with these institutions, and a great deal of the talk started during the summer when the application became much more definite.

Since its launch, the natural comparisons that have been made with Social Jobs are with that of LinkedIn, the social network that is commonly referred to as the “professional Facebook”. Since Social Jobs carries the Facebook label, many sources are jumping to assume that it will bring more benefits to job searchers than LinkedIn. However, if they actually conduct their own tests, some might find that Social Jobs falls flat in a lot of areas.

An article in the tech blog DX3 demonstrated some issues with Social Jobs when a search query yielded some unrelated results. Granted, maybe Facebook just needs some extra time to tie up some loose ends with the application. One thing that is more certain though is the delivery between Social Jobs and LinkedIn, and there's really no comparison to be made.

Social Jobs simply acts as a sort of door opener for a person in the middle of a job search. It shows a person where job openings are and simply takes them to another website – it is a hub of sorts. LinkedIn on the other hand is an actual network where prospective employees can actually connect and learn more about the people who work at a company that they have an interest in.

Job seekers will certainly stand to benefit much more from being more engaged in LinkedIn, as it goes way beyond the surface. It is hard to understand why the social media world is making a comparison between the two, and even more so why some believe that the end of LinkedIn has already begun. This could not be further from the truth.

Just because Facebook has created a job aggregator, it serves a completely different purpose than that of LinkedIn, and offers no competitive value over the social network. Those who have used LinkedIn for the several years that the site has been online will attest to the value that the site creates.

The job search results may not be as big as what comes from Social Jobs (if those results are correct in the first place), but prospective employers will have a better chance to learn about your based on your profile.

So the answer the question to the title: No, Social Jobs will not outperform LinkedIn by any means. LinkedIn is too well-branded at this point, and even if Facebook offered a “professional” profile option, most people will want to keep their personal and professional lives as separate as possible  - that is what LinkedIn is for.

Author Bio:
Ezra Melino is a tech blogger and occasional critic of social networks. If you have any questions, leave them in the comment section below.