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Facebook-based recruitment program lets the accounting giant keep in touch with the finest graduates

Amhurst College is a private arts college in Massachusetts, USA that was ranked ninth in a Wall Street Journal survey of feeder colleges to the top 15 business, law and medical schools in the country.

Of the 438 students who enrolled in 2008, only 1% said they could be contacted via a landline, a recent survey found. But 99% had a Facebook profile.

Professional services firm Ernst & Young has a voracious appetite for new recruits: it adds 3,500 graduates to its payroll every year. The figures from Amhurst College demonstrate why, for Ernst & Young, having a recruiting presence on Facebook is not so much an innovative use of Web 2.0 as an absolute necessity.

In 2007, the company created a careers group on the website, which thousands of interested students have joined. Members receive job updates from the company, but more importantly they can use the site to interact directly with Ernst & Young recruiters and fellow potential employees.

Competition for top graduates is intense, and by connecting with graduates on the Facebook platform – where they already organise their social lives – companies such as Ernst & Young can establish a more personal and, it is hoped, lasting connection with the best candidates than with just a website and email address.

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