LOOKING for a job? Why not try searching on Facebook? Some local companies have started to use Facebook, a popular social networking site, to advertise job openings and recruit potential employees.

Take Royal Plaza on Scotts, a five star hotel in the Orchard area, for instance.

The hotel set up a new Facebook page early this month, with an events section called "We are hiring!".

There, it advertises for and hopes to recruit young frontline service staff.

Miss Eileen Ang, 30, the hotel's human resource manager, said: "Facebook is also a good way to keep in touch with old employees and inform them of our new career opportunities."

Though Royal Plaza still recruits through usual avenues such as recruitment agencies and online job portals, Miss Ang said that using Facebook is an "out of the box" way to appeal to younger recruits, who may be attracted to a hip and refreshing image of the hotel.

The Straits Times Razor TV, an interactive web TV service, is another employer which has been using Facebook to advertise various job openings - for multimedia journalists, videographers and presenters.

Since last December, editor Eugene Leow has posted the openings on Facebook's marketplace, where users can view and post classified advertisements.

So far, he has been getting around a dozen responses to the postings each week.

SaidMr Leow: "We use Facebook because its users are our ideal target group. We are looking for people who are in tune with Internet culture and are totally comfortable with the online realm."

One successful Facebook recruit is Rosalind Loy, 26, a multimedia journalist with Razor TV. She checked out its job postings on Facebook after hearing about them from a friend last December.

She sent in her resume via e-mail and successfully went through the usual application process. This included face-to-face interviews and a writing test.

Said Miss Loy: "I think it's an innovative method of recruiting. The use of Facebook lightened the tone of the entire application process.

"It was less intimidating."

Some recruitment agencies have taken the Facebook phenomenon one step further.

iHipo, an online global recruitment agency, built their own Facebook application - which gives users a feed of the most recent jobs, mainly entry- level executive jobs and internships with local and international firms.

Said Singapore-based co-founder Arnout Wagenaar, 26: "Since we built our iHipo application three months ago, response on Facebook has been very good.

"Our application has been installed by several hundred users."

But iHipo is unable to provide employment success rates, as candidates hook up directly with employers - iHipo is only a linking platform.

But this method of recruitment has its detractors. Said AICG recruitment agency director Justin Ng, 30: "Using only Facebook is more of a shotgun approach as most social networking sites aren't targeted in any fashion.

"Professional networks are far better for targeting quality candidates."

On why other recruitment agencies are reluctant to use Facebook for recruitment, Mr Wagenaar explained: "Recruitment over Facebook is still in a very young phase.

"Some recruitment agencies are reluctant to use it because they aren't familiar with online concepts.

"Facebook is still regarded as a social website, but its use may slowly shift to a more professional one, which includes recruitment."

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