Your next job might come from Facebook Marketplace

Whenever I think of Facebook, I see it as a platform for connecting with friends and family, and a source for great local deals through Marketplace. I have never viewed it as a place to find a job, since platforms like LinkedIn, Indeed, and Glassdoor serve that purpose, but it appears Meta wants to change that perception.

In an attempt to make Facebook more attractive to job hunters, the social media giant has announced that it is bringing job listings back for US users, after removing them three years ago. This time around, however, Meta is focusing on Facebook helping people find local jobs, with an emphasis on entry-level positions, and jobs in the trades and service sectors.

“Starting today, we’re bringing jobs on Facebook back, making it easier for people in the US to find and inquire about local jobs. We’ve always been about connecting with people, whether through shared interests or key life events,” Meta explained in a Facebook blog post. “Now, if you’re looking for entry-level, trade, and service industry employment in your community, Facebook can help you connect with local people and small businesses who are hiring.”

You can now find couches and jobs through Facebook Marketplace

Job listings are available to all Facebook users in the US who are over 18

If you’re curious about how Facebook’s return of job listings works, you’ll be able to find all the local listings in your area in the Marketplace tab. Yes, the same place you can go to find a great deal on a couch or sell your old bike.

Once you’re in Marketplace, you’ll see a new category at the top of the screen called Jobs, and when you press that, it will bring up all the local listings for jobs in your area that you can scroll through. From there, you can sort job listings by category, distance, and job type. To find and search for jobs on Facebook, you’ll need to be an adult aged 18 years or older and be located in the US.

If you find a position you’re interested in, you can tap on it to see the job description, the rate of pay the employer offers, whether it’s full-time or part-time, and where the business is located. Most importantly, you’ll be able to reach out to them directly via Facebook Messenger to inquire about the position and apply.

As I mentioned earlier, this isn’t Facebook’s first rodeo with a job listings feature. In 2017, it introduced job listings on the platform in the US and Canada. It then expanded to over 40 countries, and then scaled back to just the US and Canada again in 2022, and was ultimately scrapped altogether in 2023 (via TechCrunch).

Meta didn’t go into any detail on why it suddenly decided now was the time to bring job listings back to Facebook, other than saying, “We want to make it easy for you to find local jobs and connect with your local community.” If I had to guess why Meta decided to bring them back, it’s probably to attract a younger audience to Facebook, since it highlights entry-level positions and jobs in skilled trades, where college students or recent graduates might be searching for work. It might also be to position Facebook as a more approachable alternative to LinkedIn, which usually focuses more on higher-skilled roles with very specific requirements.

Job listings are rolling out now on Facebook for US users. Meta hasn’t said yet if it has plans to roll it out to additional countries again in the future.