Facebook job ads: the Employment Special Ad Category

To help prevent discrimination, Meta has special requirements for job ads on Facebook and Instagram. If your ad promotes a job, Meta may require you to run it in the Employment Special Ad Category, which limits who you can target. Here's what counts as a job ad, what the category changes, and how to choose it.

Who has to use it

You need the Employment category if you're an advertiser in the United States, or if your ad reaches people in the United States, Canada or certain parts of Europe. If you should have chosen it and didn't, Meta may reject your ad.

What counts as a job ad

Meta defines an employment ad as one that promotes or directly links to an employment opportunity. Its examples include:

• Full-time and part-time jobs
• Internships and apprenticeships
• Professional certification programs
• Job fairs
• Job boards and aggregation services
• Guaranteed interviews or career placement
• Company perks promoted alongside job openings

So a “We're hiring” ad for your own shop, restaurant or office counts, because it promotes a job opening. Meta's examples of ads that aren't employment ads include general advice on succeeding at work or developing a career that isn't tied to specific listings, and posts about a company that don't share job openings or perks. Meta notes that its examples aren't a complete list and aren't legal advice.

What the Employment category changes

For advertisers in or reaching the United States, and advertisers reaching Canada and certain European countries, these audience options are limited or unavailable:

• Age and gender
• ZIP or postal code
• Excluding audiences
• Lookalike audiences
• Some interests in detailed targeting

Audiences based on a city or dropped pin include an expanded radius, saved audiences are updated to fit the limits, and Advantage+ catalog ads follow the same limits. Choosing it doesn't limit your audience to people interested in jobs, and it doesn't slow down ad review.

How to choose it

1. In Meta Ads Manager, create a campaign or open one.
2. Select Special Ad Categories.
3. Under Categories, choose Employment.
4. Under Countries, choose the countries where the ad will run.

If Meta rejects a job ad you believe follows the rules, you can request a review in Business Support Home. The same kind of limits apply to housing ads and financial ads; see Facebook housing ads: the Special Ad Category explained and Facebook ads for loans, credit and insurance.