MatchFWD – Use Social Connections for Networking

You’ve spent years building friendships with other users on social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Now it’s time to put those friendships to use. MatchFWD is a job placement platform that uses people’s extended social networks to match them with jobs that are right up their alleys.

Although you can sign up for MatchFWD by connecting with Facebook or LinkedIn, MatchFWD “highly-recommends” the latter. When MatchFWD imports your LinkedIn profile and contacts into its system, it is able to use a proprietary algorithm to automatically suggest individuals who may be helpful in your job search. MatchFWD goes through your friends’ connections, looking for references to companies that may be hiring soon. When the application finds a position you’d be perfect for, you’ll receive information about that opening, along with information about which friend or friends could make for great referrals. The information that MatchFWD gathers and provides to you is posted in a custom activity stream, making it easy to scroll through job opportunities and share those opportunities with friends who may be interested in furthering their own careers.

MatchFWD isn’t just for job seekers. The application offers tools to help hiring managers reach more than one billion candidates, by syndicating job opportunities across multiple networks and online job boards. Managers can track the top referrers driving candidates to their websites, and research applicants based on their LinkedIn and Facebook profiles.

Practical Uses:

• Use your social connections to help you find a position in a competitive industry
• Find out when your cousin’s company is hiring
• Ask your girlfriend’s sister for a referral when applying for a position at the company she works for
• Get access to a large pool of talented job seekers

Insider Tips:

• The more connections you have on LinkedIn and Facebook, the more useful MatchFWD becomes
• Follow MatchFWD’s wizard when setting up your profile
• MatchFWD only imports work experience and contacts from its users’ Facebook accounts

What we liked:

• Hiring managers can post a position on multiple job boards by using MatchFWD
• MatchFWD sends weekly recommendations with things managers can do to maximize their chances of finding the right job candidates
• Users can make their profiles private, so friends don’t know they’re searching for a job
• MatchFWD tailors its opportunities based on the feedback users provide

What we didn’t like:

• MatchFWD may not have opportunities available in every field or area of the country

Alternatives:

• BranchOut – http://branchout.com
• Jibe – http://www.jibe.com
• jobdreaming – http://www.jobdreaming.com

Company Info:

• Launched: July 2011
• Privately Held
• Headquarters: Montreal, Canada
• Founded by: Philippe Gauvin and Céline Charron
• Web site: http://matchfwd.com

Costs:

• Free in beta