What a surprise when I logged into Facebook today to see this ad (scroll down) appearing in slot #3 on the right rail when I was on a friend's FB profile who's unrelated to recruiting or the high-tech industry.

In case you have trouble reading the image, the ad is headlined, "I want to be at Microsoft" followed by a headshot of someone who turns out to be a job-seeker named Eric Barker who lives near me (Greater Boston area).  The ad text under that says "Hi, my name is Eric and my dream is to work for Microsoft. I'm an MBA/MFA with a strong media background. Can you help me? Please click!"

So I click through to his profile.  He graduated Ivy League and went to UCLA's entertainment curriculum, and has been a media freelancer type for 13 years, but is now finishing his MBA.

It appears he targeted me based on geography and the fact I am in the Microsoft network on Facebook (having worked there up to last fall), which is great that individual Facebook ad buyers can target that finely).  I have to give him credit for doing the ad, so I'll reach out and try to steer him in some productive directions (though he's not in a high-demand area from Microsoft's perspective, especially given their recent two rounds of layoffs).

NOTE:  This idea of a Facebook jobseeker ad campaign was first proposed by Willy Franzen.