TikTok is reportedly expanding its video app to an all-new category, with the social platform now testing a job recruitment feature. While job recruitment sites like Indeed, ZipRecruiter, and others are typically thought of as destinations to find a new gig, TikTok thinks it could be a better fit for its Gen Z user base.
The popularity of TikTok can't be understated. Although its overall user base isn't quite as large as YouTube, Facebook, or other competing social platforms, it's quickly rising through the ranks as one of the top dogs. It's reported that TikTok currently has well over 689 million monthly active users, and for Q1 2021, it was crowned as the most download app in the United States. While people of all shapes and sizes have flocked to the app, it's disproportionally favored by younger users. According to a Statista study from 2020, 62 percent of TikTok users are aged between 10 and 29 years old.
Looking to cater to that audience in a new way, an Axios report now claims that TikTok is piloting a job recruitment service on its app. Per the report, "The pilot program is designed to help people find jobs on TikTok and connect with companies looking to find candidates. It's also meant to help brands use TikTok as a recruitment channel." It's unclear when (or if) the program will expand to all TikTok users, but at least for now, it appears to be limited to "a beta group of companies."
How TikTok's Job Recruitment Feature Will Work
While details on the feature are limited to the single report, there's already a fairly good idea of how it could work. Axios says that the job recruitment program will be offered as a separate website found in the TikTok app, with the website showing job listings that people can apply for. Tying in with TikTok's younger users, it's said that these jobs will be "primarily entry-level listings."
Similarly, users won't apply for jobs through traditional resumes/applications. Instead, users can post a video resume that acts as "an elevator pitch" to quickly pitch themselves to a hiring company. It may not be for everyone, but it caters to the people that use TikTok (and the app's overall focus on video). While these video pitches will be shared directly with companies by default, TikTok will also encourage users to post them on their public profile.
While this might sound like an oddball move from TikTok, it could pan out as being a valuable addition to the platform. Applying to a job through something like Indeed might seem obvious to some people reading this, but for others, they may be more comfortable creating a short, creative video. Those are the people TikTok would be catering to with this feature, and many of them are likely already on the app.