Job search engine Simply Hired has integrated with Facebook to help job seekers discover new, more relevant positions via their social network.

Users who log in to Simply Hired with their Facebook accounts can now search for jobs at their friends’ companies and send private messages to inquire about openings on the site.

SimplyHired also pulls profile data about current and previous work titles, location and interests (including companies users “Like”) to make more personalized job recommendations.

These features are currently available to residents in the U.S., UK, Australia, Canada and India.

“Simply Hired is showing what’s possible when you make it easy to find jobs through friends,” said Ethan Beard, director of the Facebook Developer Network, in a blog post. “Personal relationships and professional networking have always been the best ways to find a new job. By integrating with Facebook, Simply Hired is bringing this to life online and helping users tap into their social connections to personalize the job search process,” he explained.

The integration helps Simply Hired move a step closer to the services provided by LinkedIn, which helps users organize and leverage their professional networks to make connections and obtain referrals while job hunting, among other things.

In its current state, Facebook is not optimally designed for professional networking; the site does not offer a job board nor does its search engine help users easily identify individuals based on workplace. However, Facebook has a great deal of valuable data about users’ connections, data that SimplyHired can effectively leverage to help users find relevant jobs and obtain referrals for those jobs.

What do you think of the integration? Can Simply Hired use Facebook data to effectively replicate some of the functionality of LinkedIn? What’s your preferred method or site for finding jobs?

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, PinkTag

Tags: facebook, jobs, linkedin, simply hired, social media

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