Hello Matt, how are you doing?
I’m great Wise Man Say. First up, thanks for pointing out the typo, don’t know how we missed it. We have development teams in the US and France and it got dropped between the two.
I absolutely agree that we should blame the French
(laughs). No we can’t be sure who made the mistake. Important thing is that it’s rectified.
Well Matt, how do you feel about answering a few questions for Wise Man Say?
It would be my pleasure!
When I first saw the Work For Us app, I thought, “Here’s yet another attempt to convert Facebook into a viable recruitment platform.” What makes Work for Us different from all the other recruitment applications out there? Can you put it in a nutshell for us?
Sure.
First, we wanted to create an app that looked like it belonged in Facebook, from the simplicity, the look and feel to the actual user interaction throughout. We don’t expect recruiters to be technical experts and they’re also usually very busy, probably with 15 other things to do at any one time. We wanted to create an application that could be completely up and running in 5 minutes. Simplicity for recruiters and candidates is our core philosophy.
Secondly, we’ve got the business model right. The Work for Us app has a 30-day free trial for everyone. After that, you can keep using the app for free or you can pay a monthly fee based on the volume of jobs you want to post on Facebook The price is fixed and you can see the rate card here:
Thirdly, it’s already working. Accenture, L’Oréal, American Apparel, PwC are several examples of major companies already using the app. Actually, we’ve got over 4,000 businesses signed up, from small local companies to Fortune 500 clients. Our key markets include the US, France, UK, Australia. We’re also getting a lot of interest in Asia, so things are really looking great.
I must say Matt, I’m impressed. But isn’t the real reason why no one recruitment app has yet cracked Facebook is the concern about the personal vs professional?
That’s exactly right. Some people have seen Facebook as a personal space, and separated their professional lives from that. We are very conscious of the privacy concerns that people have and we make it very clear throughout the app that is shared and what is not shared. But the important thing about Work for Us is that the app is more like a Job Board: whilst you can stay in the app to apply for the job, ultimately you do so by email and your CV, not your profile.
So, let me get this straight. Using Work for Us app, you don’t apply with your personal profile, party pictures and all?
(laughs) Yes, that’s it. It’s a mechanism for people to find vacancies. Or more precisely, through the social features like the Like or Share function, or targeted adverts, for vacancies to find people. It’s still a CV you send, not your profile.
Facebook has rolled out Places, Groups and, maybe soon, Skype, all of which have obvious uses in the recruitment marketplace. Do Work4 Labs have development plans for these situations.
We have some of the best Facebook developers in the US and Europe, and so developments of this type are definitely on our radar screen. At the same time, we understand that further complications at this stage are at odds with our “Keep It Simple” philosophy, so our focus at the moment is to extend the business using the current model and see where that takes us.
How long until world conquest?
A couple months. (serious). We’ve recently rolled out a Twitter integration, made many changes to our proprietary ad targeting engine, and have several other very exciting projects rolling out soon that I can’t quite discuss now. It’s going to be a very exciting few months.
Yes, Wise Man Say is definitely excited. Thanks Matt, it’s a pleasure speaking with you.
Pleasure’s mine Wise Man Say. Goodbye!
Thanks to Matthew Brown, Director of Business Development at Work4Labs. Work4Labs is a recruitment software vendor which has produced the Work for Us Facebook application. Work4Labs are appearing at Social Recruiting Conference 2010 at The Cavendish Centre, London ((#SRCONF) on November 30th.
Find out more on Work4Labs at www.work4labs.com.
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