Inside Job Brings Career Networking to Facebook
Social media sites like LinkedIn and Twitter are often the go-to applications for career networking, but now Facebook users can contact people who have interviewed, worked, or are currently employed at the places they want to work at next with a new app called Inside Job.
Inside Job, developed by Arlington Soho, works on the premise that having a contact on the inside of a company will improve your chances of getting hired there. Here are its main features:
1. Information about a perspective employer before you interview. Before you join a new company, it's often helpful to know what you are getting yourself into. For example, if you are interviewing for a developer position with Microsoft in Redmond you would simply search Inside Job for "developer", "Microsoft" and "Redmond, Washington". You can then contact the people that show up in your search results and ask them, "what is it really like to work at Microsoft?" or ask questions about the interview process. This can be valuable information to a person starting a new career.
2. "Insider" connections. Do you want to work at Microsoft, but you don't have any connections there? With Inside Job you can search "Microsoft" and Redmond, Washington" (or any other location) and locate the company's lead contacts that you can find on Facebook. You can then add those contacts to any of your other professional networks for future reference.
3. Be a resource for others. Both employers and employees can benefit from using Inside Job. Employers can post jobs and employees can help recruit qualified talent to their companies and possibly earn their company's referral bonuses.
These are certainly tough times for job seekers in all markets. Using a free Facebook application like this could be a great way for people to network their way into a new career.
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This is an interesting application.
Why fb doesn't make one of their own?
I really hate to be pessimistic about other peoples ideas but this is one of those things I just can't help myself on.
This is an application I could see quickly getting banned at many corporations (starting with mine) and a prime example of why companies are struggling with aup's for web 2.0
This is the way I see it. A random person contacts me via a social networking site and starts inquiring about the inner workings of my company, not only is it intrusive/creepy it has the potential to be seriously abused by competitors gathering data.
But lets say we lived in a perfect world and no one abused it. I still I get the mental image of the kid in junior high who always jumped people in the lunch line. Someone looking for a shortcut or the inside track.
Quite frankly if I found out an interviewee did this, his/her resume would go it to the dark abyss of the file cabinet only to resurface six months later on it's way to the shredder.
It's one thing to do research on a company you're applying for, but it's another to spy on them. As a company owner and employer this feels a lot more like spying than research. Just my two cents and I'm sure plenty of people will disagree with me. Take it for what it's worth.
Edward,
Thanks for bringing a very big problem we dealt with in developing InSide Job. Allow me to respond to your very real concern.
When we started to build InSide Job we gave a great deal of thought to privacy and what corporations would do in the situations you describe. I have heard from employees at law firms that don't allow their employees to even have a Facebook page over these privacy concerns.
What did we do to remedy this problem?
We implemented a reputation management (feedback) system that works like eBay. Users leave feedback for one another (only after both parties agree to connect) in the form of stars (1 to 5) and text where you can write a few sentences.
Users are encouraged to be "good actors" because if they are not, they will get poor feedback that reveals their bad intentions for all to see. The better feedback a user receives, the more likely they are to get help the next time they ask.
I hear web 2.0 experts say “Companies don't own their brand any more, consumers do.” I think the same is true for employment. Your employees either love you or hate you depending on the day and they share that with their network.
I would be happy to chat with you more about your concerns and what we can do to bring InSide Job to your organization.
All the best!
Lorne Epstein
CEO/Founder
Arlington Soho
Lorne@MyInSideJobs.com
Lorne
By no means am I saying it won't work for everyone. I'm sure there are plenty of companies that can make great use of this app. However, in situations/companies like mine, where we handle sensitive data, and have aggressive competitors it just won't work.
If you turned this app on its head and gave company managers a way to approve/disapprove conversations/posts to potential candidates then you've got something we'd work with. Think of it as an opt-in from both sides of the fence. At least that way we could make sure no sensitive information was released. Mix that with your rating system and I could see this being a app embraced by companies like mine. Good talent and enthusiastic employees are a real gem and hard to find
I am inclined to agree with Edward Vernon. I would also add that this application I suppose is ok for someone who is 'green' and has not had a professional job or on a career track. It is for those people who need to be reminded that flip flops are not appropriate wear for a job interview. However this application is in my humble opinion a waste of time for professionals who have been in the field, who have solid qualifications and have no issues with networking in the 'real world' to gain information about organizations. I hire professionals daily and I am inclined to say I would any contact through this forum for "informational" purposes would be a sure way for me to send that resume to the shredder before a 6-month period. I don't necessarily view this as spying - I see it as a venue for a 19 year old newbie to figure out which way to go not a someone with a 20 year career who needs information. While Facebook itself has evolved to appeal to an older generation, this application is a good start for a 20 something with little to no experience in face-to-face relationship building or contact.
I have to agree with Edward Vernon here, a lot of employers are not going to like this application at all.
“Companies don't own their brand any more, consumers do.” I think the same is true for employment.
????? try telling that to the employers Lorne.