Jobvite, which offers recruitment tools via online subscription, is integrating with Facebook, professional network LinkedIn, and microblogging service Twitter.
Sequoia-backed startup Appirio recently launched similar integration between Salesforce.com and Facebook, which also uses social connections to spread job listings and viral marketing. But that was just a Facebook app and didn't include other social networks. (LinkedIn's built-in job recruiting tool is similarly limited. Chief executive Dan Finnigan says Jobvite also benefits from being focused exclusively on jobs. That focus has made its recommendation engine particularly intelligent, he says, and it learns from how people use it.
Sounds good, but does anyone care about these kinds of tools in a downturn, with depressingly high unemployment numbers reported nationally? Finnigan says if you're still hiring, Jobvite is actually good for your bottom line, because it brings in more applicants through personal referrals. That means employers can rely less on professional recruiters, who charge a lot of money.
"In this economy, at this time, companies are all about how to do things quicker and more easily with fewer resources," Finnigan says.
Jobvite raised $7.2 million in 2007, and its customers include TiVo and Zappos.com.