Skip to content

Facebook page promotes local jobs

Facebook has cost some people their jobs, whether through ill-advised postings or excessive time on the social media network during working hours.

Facebook has cost some people their jobs, whether through ill-advised postings or excessive time on the social media network during working hours.

Now it’s promoting employment — at least in Central Alberta.

Alberta Employment and Immigration has set up a Facebook page titled Central Alberta Jobs. Only a few weeks old, the site is expected to become a rich source of information about job openings and leads, training opportunities, job fairs, tools with which to find employment and even labour market statistics, said Charles Strachey, a regional communications manager with the provincial department.

“What we’re hoping for is to kind of build a community where employers and job-seekers provide a lot of the content.”

Alberta Employment and Immigration has posted information about its services and the region, and is promoting events like today’s Central Alberta Career and Job Fair at the Capri Centre. But Strachey anticipates that the site will be shaped by the needs and desires of its users.

“We want to see what people can do with it.”

One employer has already put out a call for IT professionals, and Strachey expects some job-seekers to publicize their skills.

“At the end of the day, it’s up to them how much information they want to divulge on Facebook.”

Central Alberta Jobs is a pilot project for Alberta Employment and Immigration, which is urging its staff across the province to use social media to inform the public about its services and connect employers with prospective workers. Other regions are experimenting with Twitter, said Strachey, or using Facebook in other ways.

“We were the first out of the gate,” he said, adding that the local office has just started to promote the Central Alberta Jobs page.

Positive feedback is already coming in, he added.

Central Alberta Jobs can be accessed by Facebook members at www.facebook.com/CentralAlbertaJobs.

hrichards@www.reddeeradvocate.com