CHICAGO, Sept. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- CareerBuilder launched a new Facebook application that is helping companies to turn up the volume on their employee referral programs and cut down on time and money spent on recruitment.  CareerBuilder's new Work@ application leverages a company's most productive recruitment asset – its employees– and enables them to share open jobs at their company with personal and professional contacts within their Facebook network.  Details can be found at www.careerbuilder.com/workat

Sixty-three percent of U.S. Internet users have a Facebook account and the average user has more than 130 friends, according to Facebook data.  That means if a company has 1,000 employees, that company can potentially reach a network of more than 62,000.

The Work@ app utilizes CareerBuilder's proprietary technology that revolutionized the accuracy of job matching six years ago and remains unparalleled today.  Work@ grabs open jobs housed on a company's Web site or in their Applicant Tracking System.  After an employee adds the Work@ application to his/her Facebook account, CareerBuilder's job recommendation engine quickly identifies matches in that employee's network to the company's available jobs.

Recent research shows that while the vast majority of companies have an employee referral program in place, the effectiveness of those programs may not reach desired levels.  In an August 2010 Personified study*, 63 percent of workers in companies with employee referral programs reported they are not aware of job openings in their organizations and said it is too hard to find friends who would be a good match.  

In the same study, employers recognized the value of social media in employee referrals, but most reported they had not yet executed on programs.  Three-out-of-four human resource professionals (76 percent) said they would expect the same or better quality of job candidates from their employee's social networks.  One-third (34 percent) of employers said they think social networks are an effective source of candidates, but few are currently using it for employee referrals.  

"Work@ helps companies grow their recruiting staff overnight by giving employees an easier, more convenient way to identify and refer friends," said Hope Gurion, Chief Development Officer at CareerBuilder.  "It's never been easier to unlock the potential of your employee referral program."

Work@ also provides robust analytics, through which the company can track and measure trends over time to gauge their program's success.  Employers will discover who their best ambassadors are as well as which jobs and locations are being shared the most and receiving the most referrals.

*The nationwide study was conducted from August 11th to August 19th and included more than 400 human resource professionals and over 250 workers whose companies have employee referral programs.  The study was conducted across all industries.

About CareerBuilder®

CareerBuilder is the global leader in human capital solutions, helping companies target and attract their most important asset - their people. Its online career site, CareerBuilder.com®, is the largest in the United States with more than 23 million unique visitors, 1 million jobs and 32 million resumes. CareerBuilder works with the world's top employers, providing resources for everything from employment branding and data analysis to recruitment support. More than 9,000 websites, including 140 newspapers and broadband portals such as MSN and AOL, feature CareerBuilder's proprietary job search technology on their career sites. Owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI), Tribune Company, The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI) and Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT), CareerBuilder and its subsidiaries operate in the United States, Europe, Canada and Asia. For more information, visit www.careerbuilder.com.

SOURCE CareerBuilder