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This has been quite a week for the Jobcast team. Mostly because Ryan "Our Fearless Leader" St. Germaine hosted the first ever Jobcast sponsored webinar! Ryan shared his in-depth knowledge of passive recruiting live, to a huge turnout of recruiters and employers, hence the nickname. It was pretty awesome, if I do say so myself. And I do. We had such a great time working on this webinar that I'm sure we'll do more of them in the future. Which is pretty amazing when you think about it, as Ryan lives in Vancouver, I live in Holland (most of the time), and there were people in attendance from all over the place. Thank you technology! It's still amazing to me that connecting with people like this is even possible. Technology has really changed our ability to interact on a global scale, engage with each other, and, of course, how we recruit. Always gotta bring it back to recruiting! So, to celebrate our very first webinar, this week's links are all about technology, what's new, what's cool, and what it means for employers. Google Glass is about as new as it gets when it comes to tech, well for me it is anyways... Blogging for Jobs recently posted a great piece about the impact of Google Glass on HR by Mike Haberman. Apparently there are a ton of legal issues that will need to be addressed as Google Glass becomes a more commonly used technology. Mike's got you covered, I'm still trying to understand exactly what Google Glass does?! With great technology comes great responsibility, and a whole lot of data. Chris breaks down how to tackle all that Big Data you've got access to these days. Google Glass may be new and shiny, but the most important area of tech for recruiters to focus on is mobile, without a doubt. But if you did still have some doubts, check out this infographic about the importance of mobile, brought to us by Leader's West. Then there's that old standby of recruiting technology: job boards. They certainly aren't dead, but they're not exactly alive and kicking either. According to Raj Sheth's article for ERE, job boards are just plain boring! Although I would love to point you towards the Job Board Doctor who has quite a few ideas about how to fix that. Our favorite recruiting and employer branding technology for recruiters is, you guessed it, Facebook. Shocking, I know! But what I didn't know was that apparently, according to a recent announcement by the social network itself, over one third of Americans use Facebook every day. That's a huge talent pool right there, just sayin'. And if you want access to all those passive candidates, might I suggest a certain awesome Facebook recruiting app?

There's always something new popping up in the world of tech. If you have any hot tips about what the next new bit of tech that's going to come along and "revolutionize" how we look at recruiting, or you just want to share your opinion, let us know in the comments!

I don't know about you, but summer makes me lazy.

It's hot, the beach is nice, it calls out to me saying “come sit on me, eat a bunch of nachos, then take a siesta… you know you want to!”

That's why I think setting summertime goals is so important.

Sure getting shredded for summer is all well and dandy, but you can't just let it all go as soon as the nice weather arrives!

Setting some goals for your Facebook recruiting will keep you motivated to get things done, and act as a buffer against the beach's siren song.

What kind of goals are we talking about? Well, that's up to you of course, but, because we are all rather bossy and think that we know best, the Jobcast team does have a perfect answer suggestion…

Tighten up your content strategy

Not a very specific goal is it?! Well, let's work on that.

Assess your situation

Before you can make a specific strategic goal, you need to know where you're at. This means looking back over your analytics. If you use Jobcast you can go back over the reports we've sent you, and combine that information with the metrics provided by Facebook Insights. If you don't use the Jobcast Facebook Recruiting App then shame on you! I'm kidding, I'm kidding, you can use the info provided by Facebook Insights alone, or combined with any other reports you may have access to.

(This article explains why metrics are so important for successful Facebook Recruiting, and you should also check out Google Analytics, the basic version is free!)

Go over your reports, and make some notes paying particular attention to what kind of content you've been sharing, how consistent you've been with your posts, when and how many times per day you post, and how often you share image-based content like photos and video.

You should also take note of how your community tends to react to the content you share. Pay attention to what type of content gets the most engagement, what time of day your community is most engaged, and whether you notice any correlation between the frequency of your posts and increases in Likes for your Page.

This information will inform how you determine new goals for your Facebook Recruiting content strategy.

Content, still king

The most obvious area to focus on when it comes to content is, drum roll please… content!

Hopefully your handwriting is a lot nicer than mine, so you can check your notes and figure out what kinds of content gets the most engagement from your community, and what gets the least.

From that information you can set up a content ratio goal. Sounds professional huh? I totally made that term up, but feel free to use it in conversation.

For example, we find our clients get the most engagement from job posts (obviously), and posts that express company culture, especially if they include large-scale images or video.

(Check out this cool Webinar, The 3 Pillars of Passive Recruiting, for more info about setting up content ratios)

The reason it’s so important to share images and video is not just because people tend to engage with visual content more, but also because Facebook gives preference to visual content when determining what makes it onto a user’s News Feed. True fact!

One way to really capitalize on this is by sharing an image, then including any content you want to link to in the commentary section, rather than just sharing a link and selecting an image to accompany it.

“Love knows not what time is.” But your Facebook community does

It's important to post consistently and at the right times if you want your content to be seen. Use any data you might have about previous campaigns and this article about how to schedule your Facebook posts in order to set up a solid posting schedule based on when your Facebook community is most active. Then stick to it!

You must be consistent if you want to increase your reach and grow your Facebook community. Now don't be afraid of all the bold lettering and the word 'must'. I'm not suggesting you post every 15 minute, in fact I would highly recommend you don't! But you do need to maintain a social presence by posting regularly.

You’ll definitely want to use a good scheduling tool so that you don’t have to interrupt your day every few hours to put new content up on your Facebook Career Page. We highly recommend using Jobcast Premium for this purpose… But Hootsuite and Buffer are also totally awesome!

Engage

I'll keep this last one short and sweet. Keep tabs on your Page and respond to comments, shares, and Likes in a timely fashion. A simple thank you or even a smiley face emoticon is usually enough to make people feel heard. Make sure to answer your community member’s questions, and always stay positive.

Alright, so that’s actually quite a few suggestions! But, honestly, I probably could have rambled on for twice as long, if it weren't time to hit the beach…

Before I get (swim) suited up, I just want to remind you guys one more time to sign up for The 3 Pillars of Passive Recruiting free webinar on Tuesday August 13th at 10 a.m. Pacific/1 p.m. Eastern.

It's going to be awesome! It was awesome!

Tooooo late! The webinar has come and gone, but you can still see the slides from The 3 Pillars of Passive Recruiting and you can always email us at social@jobcast.net, tweet @jobcastnet or find Jobcast on Facebook, if you have any questions 😀

Do you ever have one of those weeks where absolutely nothing works? "Nope, never have, never will" - Said, Nobody Ever! I am writing this on Tuesday, only one day into the week, and I've already had a Mailchimp disaster, broke a pair of headphones, and dropped a dumbbell on my foot (this actually happens to me pretty regularly, but still!) The broken headphones and slightly damaged toes are pretty easy to recover from, but Mailchimp mistakes, like diamonds, are forever! If you subscribe to our newsletter, we are very sorry [Insert Name Here], merge tags are finicky beasts! So what better topic to cover in today's Link Love than social media blunders! Everyone makes mistakes. It's the choices you make in trying to correct them that really matter. Don't do what I did and bury your face in a bowl of coconut milk ice-cream, do what these fantastic articles suggest you do instead.

Link Time!

This lovely article by Sharlyn Lauby of hrbartender fame is a great reminder that, no, we can't "unring the bell", but we can definitely ring it again! She does a great job of reminding us that recovering from mistakes is all about moving on and doing better next time. I'm also going to link to her rant about how

"sorry is not a customer service program", because it is hilarious and very, very true! If you recruit in the 21st century, then you probably have a career site. If you don't, here's how to get start a Fully Branded Facebook Career Page. Otherwise, read this awesome step-by-step guide to fixing landing page mistakes, if not for the information it provides, then at least for the hilarious cartoon it features. Recruitment guru Jim Stroud explains what the top HR mistakes are and how to fix them on his blog, The Recruiters Lounge. This is probably the most serious post I've read of Jim's, although that may be because I usually prefer to watch his awesome and hilarious video blogs. But what if you've made a recruiting mistake so terrible you can't bare to face the repercussions? You've hired someone who really, really isn't working out and now you have to let them go. Thankfully, I've only ever had to do this once myself. It was horrible. I cried afterwards. A lot. If only I'd had a better game plan, like this blog post by Ron Ashkenas, explaining how to fire someone the right way.

Or even better, if I'd had access to Tim Sackett's hypothetical "iFire" app to do the dirty work for me! "Slip-ups are inevitable, especially in the fast-paced, gut-reaction world of social media." No matter how many preventative measures you may take! But, fear not, Mashable has you covered with this post about how to bounce back after a social media disaster.

They also include some of the WORST social media PR facepalms to have graced the interwebs, which will make you feel much better about any slip ups you may have made yourself. Unless you tweeted topless vacation pics from your company account... Then you may as well just start in on the ice-cream ASAP! Hopefully these articles help you as much as they've helped me, and hopefully Tim can find a developer for his app.

Targeted Facebook Ads are one of the best ways to reach passive candidates.

Passive candidates make up about 86% of the US workforce (United States Labour Bureau). These candidates are NOT on job boards, simply because they are not looking for work, but EVERYBODY is on Facebook. This is what makes Facebook such an awesome recruiting tool. In fact, we've found that Facebook ads can often mean the difference between zero applications and a landslide of quality applications.

We've already written a step-by-step tutorial on how to use Facebook Ads for recruiting, but we thought we'd share a few simple ways that you can make your ads even more effective.

How to get the most out of your Facebook Ads campaign:

Know thy enemy candidate

Before you log into your fully branded Facebook Career Page, before you even turn on your computer, but definitely after you've poured your first cup of coffee, take some time to think about your ideal candidate.

Whether you're looking for an experienced project manager or hourly workers for customer service position, spending an extra ten to fifteen minutes beforehand writing down what qualities, skills, and level of experience you want those candidates to have will save you hours later.

(More on this and other recruiting tips that will save you time)

Once you have your list, write down how the characteristics you're looking for in potential hires are expressed on Facebook.

For example: You are looking to hire young, well put-together, high-school graduates to fill serving positions at your swank new restaurant. It's a plus if they have a lot of energy and the ability to lift large boxes of food stuffs. Well, you can't exactly type all of that into Facebook and expect to find much of anything.

But you could search for: Women and men between the ages of 18 – 25 who “Like” Banana Republic, Jamie Oliver, and Gold's Gym. Makes sense right?

Now that you know what you're looking for…

Target target target

Why Facebook Ads work so well is that you can specify exactly who you want to reach.

Are you looking for seasonal employees to fill warehouse jobs? Do what Amazon did in one of their recent recruiting campaigns and target RV drivers (of course I would suggest you take it up a notch and target RV drivers that “Like Gold's Gym”)

(More examples of how to target candidates with Facebook Ads)

To take it a step further, you want to target the content of your posts as well.

For example: You can create two Facebook Ads. One that showcases your company culture in a way that will appeal to these candidates, and the second as a job post that is written using the kind of language and tone you think will most appeal to this audience.

(A great example of how to create targeted Facebook content and more on how to write better job posts)

Leverage your lists

Use “Custom Audiences”. This refers to an audience that you've built yourself, by inputting candidate information from networking events, your ATS, Email lists, or random street encounters! This is a great way of continuing contact with potential hires to grow your Facebook talent pool and convert them into applicants.

(A more detailed description of how to use Facebook Custom Audiences)

Lookalike Audiences!

Have you ever seen Double Impact starring Jean-Claude Van Damme (JCVD)? If not, do it now. Your talent community can wait. It's worth it.

Okay, so now that we're on the same page. (i.e. We know that lookalikes kick twice as much a$$.) Let's talk about Lookalike Audiences.

Lookalike Audiences are built to target Facebook users who have similar characteristics to the candidates you already have. Okay, so that's totally confusing. Let's use an example:

You're looking to hire babely Judo masters to hunt down evil villains. You already have some interesting looking candidates on file, they have awesome martial arts skills, hilarious French(ish) accents, and look amazing in tight black pants.

But you need more applicants since, let's face it, there are a lot of evil villains out there that need defeating!

So, you can use Facebook Ads to target a Lookalike Audience that will reach Facebook users who have similar characteristics to the applicants already on your list. You'll have an army of JCVD-caliber candidates in no time!

(A more in depth explanation of Facebook Lookalike Audiences)

I could probably go on forever. Seriously. There are a million more ways to amp up your Facebook Ads and recruitment strategy, but, who has time for that?! These tips will give you the best bang for your Facebook Ads buck!

That means you'll have lots of time left to improve other areas of you recruiting strategy, like for example, by attending this cool, free webinar on the 3 Pillars of Passive Candidate Sourcing! All the cool kids are doing it.

Tooooo late! The webinar has come and gone, but you can still see the slides from The 3 Pillars of Passive Recruiting and you can always email us at social@jobcast.net, tweet @jobcastnet or find Jobcast on Facebook, if you have any questions 😀

I am woman, hear me roar.

Okay… so I don't actually roar, although I do heckle pretty loudly at baseball games, if that counts for anything? (and believe me, it does).

Luckily for me, and you, there are lots of fantastic women roaring HR advice, employer branding tips, and social recruiting know-how from the rafters, so no one has to suffer my attempts at creating Facebook-themed musical covers of old baseball chants.

This week the women of social recruiting have been especially prolific. So much so, that without even realizing it, every article we've chosen to feature in this week's Link Love was inspired by women in the industry, or written by a female blogger.

How cool is that?!

Our first featured article, Saving Sandcastles: Determining Worthwhile Endeavors, comes to us from Blogging4Jobs. In it, Rayanne Thorn provides you with some critical questions to ask when deciding whether or not to attempt a new project.

In case you didn't know, we love Facebook here at the Jobcast blog. That's why this article by Meghan Kelly got us so excited! In it, Meghan explains why Sheryl Sandburg is so excited about Facebook's killer advertising quarter. Facebook ads are an awesome way to attract candidates, and grow employer brands, which is why they're getting lots of attention from marketers and employers alike.

Speaking of Sheryl Sandburg, apparently a management supervisor at a certain fairly well-known San Francisco agency has decided to take a new approach to finding a husband, inspired by Sandburg's book “Lean In”. She's decided to start a referral program to fill the position, and is offering a $10,000 prize to whoever manages to introduce her to the perfect candidate. Talk about being proactive with your goals!

Women are often said to be great communicators, which is probably why there are so many women in HR. Margaret Heffernan's latest piece for Inc. is about how what you do before you open your mouth determines how effectively you'll communicate your thoughts. She explains how to use the mantra “Think. Breathe. Speak.” to become a better communicator.

The most girl-powery article award definitely goes to Stacy Donovan Zappar's latest blog post. In it, she reviews the documentary She++ and gives her take on how we can get more women working in the field of technology.

And how could we do a Lady themed Link Love without featuring the Cynical Girl herself, Laurie Ruettimann?! Well, maybe if she hadn't written such an interesting article about what motivates us to go to work, and the taboo of office romance. Laurie's article asks you to “open your eyes. Take a look around you. Is your workplace all about sex and death?

And now I'll ask you, how can I possibly compete with a such a racy topic?

Well, I'm pretty sure I can't, so, that's all folks.

If you've read any great blogs by or about women in HR, employer branding, or social recruiting that we should feature on our blog, let us know in the comments.

The internet is a magical place. A place where you can find videos of cute animals you never knew existed, recipes that probably never should have been invented, and “fool proof” health plans to help you recover from said recipes in 7 days without diet OR exercise.

Magical!

The internet is also host to lots of useful stuff like email, Google calendar, and informative blogs about recruiting written by geniuses.

When it comes to recruiting, the web has provided employers with one of the most useful services ever invented: Facebook. Not only that, but there are a wealth of amazing new tools and resources available online that can make your Facebook recruiting and employer branding easier, more effective, and less time consuming than ever before.

Something we harp focus on a lot, here on the Jobcast blog, is about engaging candidates.

Engagement

But how are you supposed to know that your talent pool is engaged? An opinion poll of course!

Everyone likes a good poll. They are satisfying to fill out and make you feel like your opinion is important, and who doesn’t want to feel important?!

Polling your fans is a great way to get their feedback on your latest endeavors, the state of your industry, and, most importantly, who makes the best chai tea latte in your town. Polling your fans/talent community also keeps them engaged with your Page. It’s a win-win situation.

One of the better free(ish) apps on the market is Poll. Aptly named, Poll allows you to easily post opinion polls on your Facebook Page, and stores all your data right on FB so you don’t need to bother creating a separate account on their website. The free version is pretty basic, but it gets the job done. If you want to customize your opinion polls, and remove ads, you can upgrade to their Premium version for a reasonable $99/year.

Check out these other great Facebook polling app options reviewed by Jeff Bullas.

Get ’em Subscribed

Gathering intel on potential hires and passive candidates, in order to keep them engaged and convert them into applicants, is one of the main goals of social recruiting. Using a Facebook app to collect email lists is a great way to accomplish this.

MailChimp is pretty much everyone’s favorite email subscription app on the market. That adorable monkey icon is ridiculously cute and their user interface is easy-to-use and beautifully designed.

Okay, so you probably knew all of that already, but did you know that you can use MailChimp to sign people up for your mailing list through your Facebook Page? Well, if you didn’t, then this simple tutorial for integrating your Facebook Page with your MailChimp account is going to blow your mind! If you did know all of that then: A) You get a social recruiting gold star and B) Please move on to the next tool.

Attention Grabbers

Someecards. I know, I know, this recommendation is a little bit out there, but trust us, it’s worth trying! If you haven’t come across these hilarious e-cards already, be forewarned, many of them are NSFW (not safe for work) and some are pretty politically incorrect, but that is what makes them so effective.

LG, Ford and even Home Depot are using Someecards to grab Facebook users’ attentions, and it’s working. People love these fantastically sarcastic cards, which mean they get a lot of Likes and Shares, making them a great way to increase engagement, while making your employer brand a little more fun. You don’t have to post anything over the top, and you definitely shouldn’t go against your company values, but that doesn’t mean you can’t come up with some pretty hilarious cards.

Check out this one used by Ford:

See? Totally funny and inoffensive.

Facebook Recruitment

Last, but not least, no social recruiting campaign would be complete without a Facebook recruiting app. Annnd not to brag or anything, but Jobcast is pretty much the best recruiting app on the market.

At Jobcast we have over a decade of experience in social recruiting, so we know how to get results. That’s why we created our Facebook recruiting app.We truly believe that Facebook is the best place to attract, engage and convert candidates, and that our app is the most effective Facebook recruiting tool. Just in case you’d like a slightly less biased opinion, check out this review by The Undercover Recruiter which ranks us right at the top as best value for a Facebook recruiting app. Or this quote by a satisfied Jobcast customer:

“I have been using a lot of tools for online/social recruiting, Jobcast is by far the BEST. Thanks guys for this great tool! Looking forward to the upcoming features!”

– Ruben A. Rabines

Sign up to start recruiting with Jobcast now!

I just entered an Instagram contest.

I feel very mixed about it.

Not because I don’t think contests are great, but because I work very hard at keeping my Instagram account lookin’ good. I do so by being extremely diligent with the content I post.

I use select filters (almost always Walden, because I am a hipster, and a girl), only post my own pics, and try to stick to sharing images of attractive subjects, like farmer’s markets, my friend Monika, and shots of espresso with exceptional crema (told you I was a hipster!).

I refrain from posting shots of me watching MMA, baseball, or the food I eat that is not attractive (i.e. nothing starring ground beef).

This is because I believe that cohesive, well thought out content makes for a better social media presence.

So, disrupting my usual content flow to re-post another user’s neon-text-splattered image made me wince. But the prize is lots, and lots of fancy treats. And fancy treats trump my personal branding resolve any day! I did, however, use a filter to make their text less neon and a slight blur… Hopefully that doesn't rule me out.

For those of you who, like me, value content in the same way that most people value diamonds, here are some links you are really going to love:

Our first link is to an article by Beth Hayden at Coppy Blogger. Her post explores the importance of keyword research. I love how she makes the point that trying to smoosh every single keyword you can think of into your posts is both a waste of time, and disrupts the cohesiveness of your content. She then gives some great advice and links to a free e-book about how to find and utilize keywords for SEO optimization and better content.

The next link has to do with a different kind of content altogether. The kind of content found on your phone. More specifically, it has to do with your voicemail recording or lack thereof. The HR Capitalist; Kris Dunn presents a witty little rant about the less than optimal ways in which people handle their distaste for voice messages in the age of email. If you want to learn by example how to write pithy, sarcastic, and hilarious commentary, I highly recommend doing so by studying Kris’s blog.

Getting back on our usual employer-themed track, let’s talk employee performance goals. Andrea Devers over at Blogging4Jobs presents a smart article about the trouble with using SMART Goals. This article will have you questioning what you thought was true about setting goals for your staff. It also provides some fantastic tips for improving both your goal setting, and the way you communicate the goals you set to your staff.

This (almost) last link explores two types of content: the content of a recent Gallup poll and the content of your future hires' resumes. According to the poll, employees who have college degrees are less engaged than those who don’t. China Gorman explains why this information may be completely invalid, and yet still worth considering the next time you’re contemplating what kind of education requirements to include in your job posts.

For the grand finale, I present to you; This Season’s Biggest Fashion Trend at Work according to the one and only Cynical Girl, Laurie Ruettimann.

Happy Wednesday!

If you have any cool links to share, let us know in the comments.

The world's favorite method of searching the internet has finally come to Facebook!

No, not Google. Facebook is still partnered up with Bing, as Bing+ does not exist, so the search engine poses zero threat to FB's manhood network.

I'm talking about that wonderfully useful little symbol, the hashtag.

Google Plus' introduction of hashtags to their user interface seems to have lit a fire under the posteriors of our friends over at Facebook. They've rolled out hashtags in full force for all Facebook users, including those using mobile!

Reception has been surprisingly warm and devoid of the backlash FB interface upgrades usually receive. We're all pretty happy about it here at Jobcast and so, it seems, is the rest of the social recruiting world. If I remember correctly, my exact reaction upon hearing the news was “finally”. Okay, so that's not exactly warm, but, tardy or not, I'm happy that Facebook has jumped on the hashtag train. Yay hashtags!

Why are we so happy about hashtags?

Besides making it easier to search for posts about teacup-kittens, it's because we care about you. Seriously. The addition of hashtags to FB's interface is awesome for recruiting and employer branding. Which is, in turn, awesome for Jobcasters!

No, it's not going to revolutionize recruiting or anything like that, but it will make it easier for candidates to find your content, and for you to find theirs.

How you ask? Well…

Hashtags included in status updates and wall posts are clickable, thus hashtags provide a means of grouping messages. You can search for a hashtag to view a set of related messages all containing that tag. This means your hashtagged posts will be linked to other similarly tagged posts, creating a sort of conversation.

For example, if you click on #RyanGosling, you'll instantly see all of the “Hey Girl” posts made by people in your network, assuming they are doing their hashtag duty, of course.

(Facebook is a closed network so, if you click on a #hashtag, you’ll only be able to see conversations started by users in your network. Just another reason you should build up your Facebook talent community!)

More importantly, if you are looking to hire a new server for your restaurant, you can hashtag your job posts #serverwanted or #nowhiring, thus making your post clickable. This means users will see your post when they search those terms. You can also use hashtags to improve your overall reach and employer brand in a similar fashion.

Pretty darn cool. Especially because you don't even have to change your recruiting strategy to start using this new feature.

Just start hashtagging keywords, locations, and terms related to your industry.

Let's go back to our restaurant example. We’ll call our hypothetical restaurant Sam's Waffle House (my article, my restaurant! And waffles because they are the best, obviously).

Here are a few ideas for content I could share on my branded Facebook Career Page:

Sam's #Waffle House #restaurant is looking to #hire a new #linecook at our #Gastown location in #Vancouver #applynow

or

Click here to see our #delicious new #restaurant #menu items, including a #hotfudge #sunday #waffle and #peanutbutter #milkshake

and

Looking for #work as a #server at an #upscale #restaurant ? Sam's #Waffle House is #hiring. Make #great #tips and enjoy a #fun work #atmosphere

You can also include hashtags at the end of your posts. Either in addition to posts like the ones shown above or to non-hashtagged posts if you prefer to keep your content free of tags, as some do. Use whichever format appeals to you and, as usually, experiment with different tags and setups until you find what works.

For example:

Check out all of the great jobs available for servers, and hostesses at Sam's Waffle House in Vancouver. Go to our Career Page and apply now!#nowhiring #hiring #needajob #apply #lookingforwork #serviceindustry #jobs #hostess #server #restaurant #Vancouver #downtown #kitsilano

Don't worry too much about overtagging if your main goal is letting people know you're hiring. What's important is that you use keywords related to your field, the jobs you need filled, and your location.

Here are some more tips about using Facebook hashtags to improve your reach.

FB just keeps adding more cool stuff for employers and recruiters to supplement their Facebook recruiting arsenal. Graph search is proving to be a great tool for sourcing passive candidates and hashtags look to be equally promising.

These new features go hand-in-hand with Facebook encouraging users to share more of their salient information such as skills, education, and interests, that employers can use to build talent communities and source candidates. Not only that, but the social network's userbase is expanding, as are the numbers of users using Facebook specifically to hunt for jobs.

It's a pretty exciting time for Facebook recruiting, which makes us especially happy to be able to offer the best Facebook Recruiting App on the market.

Click here to start recruiting with Facebook right now.

“I have been using a lot of tools for online/social recruiting, Jobcast is by far the BEST. Thanks guys for this great tool! Looking forward to the upcoming features!” – Ruben A. Rabines

Everyone likes a good fight.

Some of us prefer physical battles : boxing, MMA, shark vs. bear, whilst others prefer the more intellectual skirmishes : political debate, heated philosophical discussion, and Amanda Bynes vs. Everyone on Twitter.

But I think we can all agree that a little conflict from time to time keeps things interesting, and, when handled properly, can even spur creativity and improvement.

This is why some of the best reviews and blog posts out there pit one product or concept against another. Comparing and contrasting their best and worst features, practicality, and general usefulness.

Today’s links are all about conflict, as it relates to social media of course, and to kick things off, I present to you:

Entelo vs. Falcon

Jim Stroud’s Cool Tool Cage-match: Falcon vs. Entelo. This is basically Jim making up for how disappointing the recent Anderson Silva fight was, by pitting two well-rated Chrome extensions that are popular for sourcing /social networking against each other. Thank you Jim! This post is awesome; it goes through the pros and cons of both apps with screenshots and commentary, and ends with Jim choosing a winner. You’ll have to read the article to find out which app reigns supreme!

Bloggers vs. Common Sense

Bloggers love to take on common sense. No, not because they are crazy and weird, but because it makes for great headlines and more interesting articles.

This past week brought us two stellar examples of this kind of journalism.

We’ll start with a piece on Inc.com, where Drew Greenblatt argues against promoting exceptional employees. Yup, that’s right, Drew says that if you have an awesome employee, who’s doing great at their job, you may want to keep them right there doing the job they are so very good at. You’ll have to check out his article if you want to know why, but I’ll admit he makes some very strong points. And, hey, just because you may not want to promote these employees, doesn’t mean you can’t give them a raise!

… annnnnnd, just when you thought things couldn’t get any crazier, those recruiting rebels-without-a-cause over at Fistful of Talent posted a blog by Jason Pankow that argues in favor of hiring “idiots”. The article is pretty sensationalized, but the gist is that hiring less than intelligent employees means improved productivity, as they will not question your orders. It’s based on this Swedish (of course) study, which the author admits to not having actually read (of course). This is a must read. We’d also love to hear your opinions on the matter!

Buzzfeed vs. Facebook

Buzzfeed recently posted an article criticizing Facebook for not informing their users about how many people actually see their posts. According to the article “feedback is crucial for the system to work” and people need to know how many people see what they are posting in order to better understand just how interesting they actually are.

Facebook shot back saying that most of their users (Company Pages not included of course) do not care how many people have seen their posts, only how many of them have clicked the Like button. According to Facebook, not sharing things like reach and ratios of Likes to Views keeps the user experience positive.

As much as I think it is important to track reach and stats for Company Pages and recruiting, when it comes to personal accounts, I have to side with Facebook on this one.

What about you? I’m sure you have an opinion, let us know in the comments!

This is ridiculous.

Doesn’t Facebook know that summer is for lounging about, eating too many hotdogs, and watching summer league baseball?!? Apparently there’s no good baseball or highly processed meat-like foods available in Silicon Valley.

That’s the only explanation I can think of for all of the changes and updates Facebook has been rolling out over the past month.

Really guys, we are not amused! Well, at least I’m not.

But, fear not. I have sacrificed a whole day’s worth of grilling salmon to bring you guys up to date on all that’s new in the world of Facebook and how it will affect your recruiting.

Don’t worry; I’m not going to bore you with Victoria Harbourcats stats, or updates about my friends’ new dogs. I promise to only bore you with the important stuff that will affect you directly.

.. like …

Facebook pulling the Question tool for Pages

Yes, sadly this tool is no longer available for most Pages, although FB has stated that certain Pages may be allowed to keep using Questions, specifically those related to news and media. FB says that the tool is redundant due to the ability to posit questions via images and video, but I know quite a few of our users are unhappy over losing what they found to be an effective tool for engaging fans.

What can you do about it?

Roll with the punches and take this change as a sign that it’s really important to start focusing on posting more great pictures. Although it’s always sad to see familiar tools go, the ability to roll questions into images is awesome, as images do improve engagement quite a bit.

Instavideo

This one started a whole bunch of Team Twitter vs. Twitter Facebook mud-wrestling rumors, which were sadly proven false. But, if those rumors had been true, Instagram video would have been the clear winner as, according to Simply Measured:

· Instagram videos are being used by twice as many brands, and more videos are being posted [than Vine].

· Instagram videos are seeing significantly higher (over 2X) engagement than Instagram photos, suggesting brands should focus more time and energy on them.

Not only that, but Facebook has now made Instagram photos and video embeddable, so they are likely to garner even more attention.

What can you do about it?

Jump on board the Instagram train, but only if it makes sense for you. If you have a lot of staff events, or a cool break room, then post pics and video on Instagram. You can also take super short Instavideos of staff members, either talking about how great their workplace is, or playing foosball in the cool break room.

If you don’t have a lot of interesting stuff going on in your workplace, or you’re mostly targeting candidates who are a little more mature, don’t worry about Instagram — just focus on the basics like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

Hot Tip: If you do decide to make Instagram a part of your social recruiting and employer branding, do not go overboard with filters. Choose a few (1-3) that have a similar vibe and stick with them for all of the images you post. This will keep your feed looking cohesive and attractive.

Graph Search for everyone

We have already written about how Facebook Graph Search is going to change the face of recruiting, and now this awesome tool is being rolled out to the general public! I don’t know about you, but I’m super excited.

Graph Search lets you search FB’s databases for people, interests, photos, and places. Graph Search uses “long-tail” searches, which means the more detailed you are, the better your results.

So you can, and should ask specific questions like, “which of my friends like baseball and meat-on-a-stick?” and perform more detailed searches, such as “women with great social media and writing skills living in Holland”. Graph search also promises to be faster, easier to use, and to be better at selecting relevant results than its predecessor. It is also integrated with Microsoft’s web-search engine Bing.

Those using Facebook in U.S. English should have seen their search upgraded last Monday.

What can you do about it?

Other than wasting countless hours hunting down hilarious photos of your high-school crew … LOTS!

First, update as much information about your company as possible, as this will make you more searchable.

Second, think about using the content you post to make your company more searchable. Note that the causes you support, the news you post, and the links you share, all add to your companies profile on FB’s social graph. Ask yourself what you can share that will showcase your company culture and values in a way that will attract the candidates you want to hire.

Third, use Graph Search to find talent with highly specific skills. Because FB users share details about past jobs, interests, education and volunteering on their profiles, Facebook’s Social Graph has access to all of this info and now, so do you. You can use detailed searches to source niche candidates like never before. Pretty darn cool!

But, before we get too excited, remember, this is dependent on those candidates updating their profiles with all of their relevant information. Luckily, Facebook has been making a concerted effort to encourage users to do just this.

Thank you Facebook!

This article has gotten rather long, so we’ll continue next week with more cool new Facebook stuff, like the addition of hashtags and much, much more.