With Facebook’s ongoing quest to combine every other social network’s features under its own blue slab, it appears Facebook is now adding a “Professional Skills” section where users can, well, boast about the things they’re good at getting paid to do.
Currently in testing, the feature is reminiscent of LinkedIn’s Skills section where users can select an expert field, skill, or interest and have all this information encompassed under their Facebook profile’s About tab. The primary difference between Facebook and LinkedIn, however, is that with Facebook’s skill tab, you can click the skill to search for other people who’ve listed similar expertise. At the moment, LinkedIn does not let users find other job candidates with similar skill sets, though there is an ironically more social aspect since friends and colleagues can endorse you for whatever it is you say you’re good at.
That isn’t to say that LinkedIn hasn’t been, say, inspired by Facebook’s features either. It also borrowed the infamous “Like” system so users can approve of posts and updates made by friends or companies they are following.
From the screencap of Facebook’s Professional Skills tab, you can add virtually any skill under the sun as long as there’s a page dedicated to it. We’re already counting the goofballs in our friends list who will undoubtedly use this feature to list hysterical “skills” they possess, like Eating or Getting Crunk.
This isn’t the first move Facebook’s made to make the social network more job-friendly. Its constant redesigns are clearly a part of a larger attempt to make the initial landing page look like a resume. Just last year, it also partnered with several employment services to launch a job search app designed to connect users to available positions worldwide.
There is no set date of when this feature will become available, but just in case you do use Facebook for more than party photos and birthday notifications, it couldn’t hurt to try and make yourself look awesome professionally as well.
