MySpace Adds SimplyHired to Friends List

In the first of what promises to be multiple integrations with Fox Interactive Media (FIM) properties, SimplyHired is powering a new job search area on MySpace. The addition of the MySpace Jobs feature follows FIM’s recent investment in the job listings aggregator.

Visitors to the new Careers section of the social networking site are greeted with a photo of a buff beach-bathing couple and links to searches for outdoor jobs such as swim instructor or camp counselor, internships and retail gigs that might appeal to summer job seekers.

“Given the time of year and the nature of the audience, we thought it was a really good way to start,” explained SimplyHired VP of Marketing Phil Carpenter.

For now, the feature is pretty bare bones, allowing users to search based on keyword and location. However, Carpenter expects that some of MySpace’s social networking capabilities to be integrated with the new offering in the future. “We see a lot of potential there,” he said. MySpace users are already able to use the site’s free classifieds posting feature to post or search for jobs, housing, personals and other listings that are searchable by keyword, location, and added criteria appropriate for particular categories.

SimplyHired also is using the exposure to promote its SimplyFired “Summer Job Sob Stories” contest. The company has created a SimplyFired profile page and advertised it on the MySpace Careers page.

Carpenter noted that plans are in the works for incorporating SimplyHired’s functionality into other FIM sites as well. SimplyHired raised $13.5 million from FIM and Foundation Capital in April.

Harnessing online communities is becoming more and more important in the world of job recruitment. Evincing a broader social networking strategy, SimplyHired already partners with business networking site LinkedIn to enable job searchers to click directly from a job listing to the LinkedIn system to find who they may know at a given company. Recruiting and networking site Jobster last week acquired recruiting industry blog Recruiting.com, also indicating just how significant community-building could become for Internet recruitment.

Some wonder whether employers will benefit from reaching the MySpace audience; the site has a reputation for appealing to teens and young adults. The danger, opined Joel Cheesman, author of recruitment and SEO blog Cheezhead, is that MySpace could drive unqualified traffic to employers. “It’s good for MySpace and it’s good for SimplyHired. I just question how good it is for employers,” he told ClickZ News. Continued Cheesman, “You can argue that the employers are getting screwed….They’re going to get really crappy traffic from 18-year-olds.”

Cheesman suggested that SimplyHired limit the types of jobs listed in the MySpace job search, removing executive positions, for instance.

Carpenter disagreed with the characterization of MySpace’s audience, however. “This is not just people in their teens and early twenties,” he contended. There are job seekers to be found [on MySpace] en masse that would be really good candidates for a broad range of jobs to be found.”

MySpace declined to share any specific information regarding audience demographics, besides stating that “approximately 80 percent of our members are over the age of 18.”