COTJ Reviews JIBE.COM: Social Job Search Tool

When it comes to the job search, how many times have we heard, “It’s not what you know, but who you know”?  A lot…I mean, just typing that was annoying.  We all know that networking is the bee’s knees for the job search, and currently, building up professional social networks on Linkedin and Facebook is where the buzz on social job hunting lives.

The problem: We build up a massive list of connections on Facebook & Linkedin, and then have no idea where to start.  The questions popping into our heads overwhelm us:  Where/who do we begin with?  Who is most influential and connected in our network?  Which industries, job titles, and companies appear most out of our connections?  Those answers would help leaps and bounds in the job search, but who wants to manually go through each profile in our network and then compile the data?  No one does.

The answer: JIBE.COM

What is JIBE?

JIBE is a social job search tool that aggregates ALL of your Facebook and Linkedin contacts into one place, and then highlights career related information from each connection.  Amazing!

The information you see includes:

• Work Experience (companies, job titles, industries)
• Education (college & universities)
• Network Statistics – I’ll get more into this below, but I’ll tell you now that it’s fantastic!JIBE only lists career related information.  You won’t see your connections relationship status, hobbies, or favorite quotes here.

***Connections that don’t list their career information are still listed, but those fields will be blank.  JIBE will only list career related information.  You won’t ever see your connections relationship status, hobbies, or favorite quotes.

Read their FAQ by clicking here.

JIBE Analyzes Your Network For You

Knowing where to start and who to contact in your network is absolutely critical.  Manually going through contacts can take days, if not weeks, and it’s a waste of time if you aren’t sure what to do.  JIBE does an awesome job of taking care of this tedious task, and they succeed in making it interesting with fun pictures, cool statistics, and important information.

Some of the statistics include:

• Popular Job Titles
• Most Connected
• Top Network Industries
• Top Employers
• Unemployment Rate Among Your Connections

This information provides a starting point and a purpose in your networking.  My favorite category is the “Most Connected” section.  These are folks you NEED to contact.   Check out these sweet screen shots of my networks statistics!

Applying For Jobs

JIBE also has it’s own unique job board!  They’ve established relationships with a ton of big name companies who have posted many of their openings.  What’s unique about the “jobs” section is that you instantly see which connections work at these companies.  This gets back to the “who you know” being more important than “what you know”.  When you have a referral, it makes getting noticed and landing an interview much easier.

Some companies using JIBE include:

• MTV Networks
• HP
• Amazon
• Raytheon
• Wells Fargo
• Conde Nast
• TIVO

When applying to a position, you’re prompted to provide phone number, email, location, and to upload your resume.  After completing this step, you can add connections that work for that company onto the application.  Awesome!

Applying to jobs costs 50 credits, but don’t worry, gaining credits is free and easy.  Just invite people from your networks to join and build credits quickly.  You can also purchase credits if you see a job you immediately want to apply for.

You can save jobs that you find interesting, or share them with your network.

Sending Messages/Asking For Referrals

Another thing I love about JIBE is that you can send messages and ask your connections for referrals without leaving JIBE.  Thanks, JIBE for the attention to detail here!

A Quick Word on Privacy

JIBE only uses information that you submit and they are committed to protecting that information.  Click here to read JIBE’s detailed Privacy Policy.

Final Words From COTJ

Simply having all of my connections from Facebook and Linkedin in one place gives me smiley fever.  Being able to easily analyze my network and use my connections to apply for positions sets me over the edge with joy.

Jump onto JIBE.COM immediately, build your profile, and start using your network to your advantage.

More JIBE screen shots! Click to enlarge!