Dive Brief:

• TikTok launched its TikTok Resumes platform last week as a pilot program, aimed at allowing job seekers the opportunity to apply to openings with video resumes.
• The announcement follows weeks of media speculation that the social media app was set to launch a careers product. TikTok is partnering with employers including Chipotle, Target, WWE, Shopify and others in launching the platform, it said.
• Users will be able to submit video resumes to U.S. job openings from July 7 through July 31 and can access the service via the TikTok app. More than 400 openings will be featured, a spokesperson said in an email to HR Dive.

Dive Insight:

TikTok's announcement is the latest example of a social media company entering the recruiting space. It comes at a time when younger job seekers in the U.S. — a key component of the app's user base — are in high demand across industries.

Seasonally adjusted unemployment for workers ages 16 to 19 stood at 9.9% in June, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which represented an increase from 9.6% in May but a sharp decrease from 22.6% during the same month in 2020.

A 2021 Pew Research survey of more than 1,500 U.S. adults found 21% used TikTok, but that number jumped to about half of adults ages 18 to 29 and to 55% of those ages 18 to 24. Previous reporting by The Wall Street Journal highlighted the prominence of content on the app devoted to career advice and guidance targeting younger users.

Still, sources who spoke with HR Dive in a follow-up to initial reports about TikTok's launch of a careers platform expressed some skepticism about how the announcement would be received by younger workers.

Tallo, an employment and scholarship platform, surveyed more than 1,200 of its Generation Z users earlier this year and found only 8% wanted potential employers to contact them via personal social media platforms, compared to 45% who said they wanted to be contacted on professional platforms such as LinkedIn and Tallo. Five percent said they would use social media to find information about a potential employer.

That hasn't stopped brands from experimenting with recruiting on more personal social media platforms in the past. After McDonald's announced it would experiment with "Snaplications" via Snapchat in 2017, the fast food company received nearly 3,000 applications through the platform in 24 hours, according to the Mobile Marketing Association.

Despite the gains younger workers have in the current job market, experts in the job training sphere have expressed concerns about their career prospects in light of the pandemic and its impacts. For example, some higher education institutions subtracted from career service departments in the past year, while employers have deployed automation solutions. That may cut into the ability of younger workers to learn and advance while on the job, sources previously told HR Dive.