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Facebook wants to help you find your next dream job

Part of Facebook’s huge success in recent years was its gamble that the smartphone would become the world’s main computing device. And now the company is gambling it can move beyond the consumer and make Facebook a serious work tool.

The company has already launched Workplace, a Slack competitor that promises the familiarity of a Facebook-like interface but without the annoying cat video updates to distract you from work. Next up in the professional realm: new features to help you find your next job. And that could spell big trouble for LinkedIn.

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Facebook confirmed to TechCrunch that it will allow businesses to create alerts for vacant positions and set up a dedicated jobs tab on their business page, allowing them to direct potential candidates to all available job listings. Businesses will also be able to promote those positions using targeted ads based on people’s experience, location, education, and other credentials.

Applicants will be able to apply for jobs directly from Facebook and even auto-populate applications with details from their Facebook profile, saving time if the user is applying for numerous jobs.

Facebook’s logic: Users already put so much information about themselves on the social network, so it’s a natural place to connect with job opportunities — even if you’re not actively looking for one.

LinkedIn is still seen as the de facto social network for recruitment, making the most money from recruiters, but its 470 million users typically only use the site only when updating their profiles with a new position or when they are actively seeking work.

Facebook’s almost 1.8 billion users are much more regular visitors. As a result, job postings could be seen by potential candidates who may not be looking for a job at a particular time but could be an ideal fit for the company recruiting.

“Based on behavior we’ve seen on Facebook, where many small businesses post about their job openings on their page, we’re running a test for page admins to create job postings and receive applications from candidates,” a company spokesman told Reuters.