Students are great at using Facebook, but often not so great at finding a job. However, with new Facebook job-networking application BranchOut being launched, there may yet be hope for our generation of social-network savvy graduates.

There comes a point in every student or recent graduate’s life where they wish two things: Firstly, that they could stay 21 forever; secondly, that their parents were either extremely rich or extremely well connected. Networking is, for better or worse, an unavoidable reality in the job market. It has ever been thus, and it’s not about to stop now. But don’t worry if Daddy doesn’t run the finances of a small country, or Mummy doesn’t edit Marie Claire – you will have an existing job network whether you know it or not. This week we introduce BranchOut and begin to look at what it can offer in terms of harnessing that network through Facebook.

What is It?

BranchOut is very clever new Facebook application – so clever we can’t quite believe we didn’t think of it ourselves. It’s not like one of those ‘Online Gangster Wars’ or ‘Rate my crap photos/ugly mug/ misery’ apps which eat the innards of your internet connection and your happiness in equal measures. Essentially it performs a very simple function. According to the BranchOut Team:

“Every time a Facebook friend joins BranchOut, you see where they used to work, where they work now, and where their friends work.”

It’s kind of like LinkedIn and Facebook mashed together into a delicious job-hunting pie, saving you all the cooking and preparation time in the process.

It also allows you to help friends get jobs by recommending them for positions on the BranchOut jobs board. If you dare to be so altruistic, that is.

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Will it be helpful?

In a word, yes. BranchOut is certainly likely to cut down on the need to attend horrendous events where you sup cheap wine and congregate obsequiously around the big players of a major company. It’ll allow you to go straight to a relevant person in a desired company, and reference your link to them. People like human links, how ever tenuous they may be, and if BranchOut reveals your sister’s friend’s father recruits for your dream job, then you’ll certainly be better off than before. It also codifies in stark clarity the ‘corporate relationships’ between your friends, and handily allows you to search for specific companies.

However, particularly in its fledgling stage, BranchOut has some significant limitations. Firstly, your access to information depends on how many friends sign up to the same program. In addition, and crucially, it also relies upon friends (and friends of friends) having fully filled out their employment history, which is by no means a guarantee. That said, given the potential networking possibilities and ease of use, it is likely that in time millions of people will sign up to use BranchOut, particularly our generation of graduates who are more and more willing to blur the boundaries of professional endeavours and social media (or ‘work and play’, if you like).

Try it out and let us know what you think. Did you have many connections? Find a great contact you didn’t realise you had?

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