You might find your next job on Facebook

Job-seekers will now be able to apply for vacancies directly through Facebook, as the social media giant announced an expansion of its job-finding function to more than 40 countries including the UK.

The service, which comes with a $1bn (£720m) investment, could bypass the need for external job recruitment sites entirely.

The international launch comes one year after the service was launched in the United States and Canada, with Facebook claiming that one in four Americans now looks for jobs on the social network.

It raises the prospect that Facebook will come to compete with LinkedIn, owned by Microsoft, as the go-to employment network for job-seekers and businesses alike.

Facebook job applications will be filled automatically with previous information the user has already posted to the network, including previous employment and education history.

Job openings will show up in a "Jobs" section when users are on their computers, or in a section on the Explore feed when users are on the Facebook app.

Job-seekers will also be able to subscribe to alerts about jobs in their chosen fields.

Once a business has posted a job, recruiters can sift through applications and contact applicants directly using Facebook Messenger.

Facebook stressed that the service will benefit “local” businesses. Job recruitment site LinkedIn, which has around 500 million users worldwide, was bought by Microsoft in 2016 for $26.2bn (£18.4bn).

:story: The Telegraph