Facebook + Games = Jobs for Generation Y

SAN FRANCISCO, March 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Identified.com, the fastest-growing professional network for young people (according to AppData MAU(1)), today released an infographic on the evolution of gaming and the power of combining social networking with gamification to encourage those aged 18-29 to share professional information. The gaming technique is helping young people manage their career presence online in a way that resonates with the "Facebook generation."  As a result Identified is experiencing dramatic growth among millennials, reaching 4 million users today and adding one million users per week. Ninety percent of Identified users are under the age of 35.  

The infographic, which illustrates the evolution of gamification can be found at [http://bit.ly/GJwffi]. Identified provides a score - based on job qualifications - for participants to easily see how they are ranked by companies. Identified also scores schools and companies.

The gamification technique encourages people to input college major, job title and years of work experience that recruiters seek in job candidates. As people add information and progress in their careers, they gain points to increase their Identified Score. However, these are not the vanity points typical of other "game" centered apps that award users with badges and avatars. The points represent the value of key information currently in demand by employers that helps young students and professionals plan their careers. Identified is part of a growing number of companies using games to empower consumers in areas ranging from dating to fitness, energy use and to healthcare.

"Critical information that recruiters need to hire literally does not exist in one place online for young people," said co-founder and co-CEO Brendan Wallace. "Generation Y is nearly invisible to employers so this technique is key. We constantly hear that the pain point among employers is sourcing the education and job information of the 18-29 year-old demographic, but Facebook is a great starting point."

As an example, engineers who attended MIT are now in high demand across the country. Once an individual with this background imports his/her Facebook information to Identified.com and provides more complete work details, the Identified Score will rise quickly. The Identified Score is emerging as the standard of professional reputation online for recruiters and job seekers alike.  

Millennial job candidates can rarely be found on existing services like LinkedIn, where 61 percent of users are 35+ years old(2). Connecting nearly 850 million people, Facebook is an invaluable source for recruiters to locate and learn more about younger candidates. However, profiles often don't include all the requisite information that position people as "employable".  In fact, according to recruiters, 92 percent of Facebook profiles do not contain enough publicly available education and employment information (major, graduation year, job title) for recruiters to qualify potential candidates for jobs.

Identified found that more than 72 percent of Facebook users who come to Identified.com add new information that is not part of their Facebook profile to create "short-form resumes" online.  The result is that millions of younger candidates who wouldn't be 'recruitable' on Facebook alone can now be found by employers in a way never before possible.

Identified allows people to import their Facebook network and information, and "professionalize it" so they have an active, up-to-date professional profile available to recruiters without having to tailor their existing Facebook Timeline page for job searches, or recreate their friend network.

"We've learned that gaming can be used to solve the problem of the "invisible worker" for recruiters while it encourages and empowers millennials to be more strategic with their job and education information," added Wallace.

Identified has achieved unprecedented growth by allowing people to login to Identified via Facebook and bring their Facebook information and friend networks with them. Identified has also grown virally through Facebook as users have shared their Identified Scores with their friends.

For more information, go to www.Identified.com. Check out the Identified Blog, follow Identified on Twitter @Identified, Google+, and Facebook.

About Identified

Using Facebook connections, Identified lets companies organize and rank candidates, and lets candidates see how they are ranked by companies. Identified analyzes the work history, education and demographic data of 260 million Facebook users, and tracks the hiring behaviors of thousands of companies to produce an Identified Score for people, companies and schools. More than 4 million professionals and corporations access Identified Scores to evaluate career opportunities and make hiring decisions. Founded in 2010 and headquartered in San Francisco, Identified is the largest database of professional information based on Facebook.

Identified was conceived as a research initiative at Stanford University's MBA and Engineer programs by Brendan Wallace and Adeyemi Ajao and grew virally across campus, signing up 80 percent of the university in just one week. Subsequently, Identified raised $5.5 million from Draper Fisher Jurvetson's Tim Draper, Bill Draper - and others. For more information and to find out your Identified Score, visit www.identified.com.

(1) Calderon, Sara. "Draw Something, Angry Birds, Rotten Tomatoes, Cities I've visited, more on this week's top 20 growing Facebook app by MAU." Inside Facebook. http://www.insidefacebook.com/2012/03/26/draw-something-rotten-tomatoes-cities-ive-visited-more-on-this-weeks-top-20-growing-facebook-apps-by-mau/

(2) "Linked.com Traffic and Demographic Statistics." Quantcast. March 12/2012 https://www.quantcast.com/linkedin.com?country=GLOBAL#!demo.

SOURCE Identified