Facebook: We're Hiring!

Despite some positive signs that the economy doesn't completely suck, jobs are still very difficult to come by these days (including a sky-high 12.1 percent unemployment rate in California). The good news? Well if you're lucky enough to get on their HR team's radar, Facebook is hiring.

According to Bloomberg and a host of other sources, the popular social networking company plans to expand its staff by 40 to 50 percent — as many as 500 new faces — by the end of the year. It's unclear whether all of the new jobs will be at Facebook's Palo Alto, Calif., headquarters, but it's probably good news for Silicon Valley all the same.

In an interview with Bloomberg, 25-year-old CEO (yep, must be Silicon Valley) Mark Zuckerberg told the reporter that since, "No one else has been hiring," it's a great time to find talent. But analysts, including IDC's Karsten Weide, remain skeptical that the company (popular, but not profitable) has enough cash to go on such a large hiring spree.

But they are hiring at least a few hundred new employees, it's safe to say. And not just engineers, but also in the legal, HR, marketing, sales and finance departments.

I think I'll have to click "like" on this bit of good news, but I won't hold my breath that Facebook will accept my request and "employee" me. Sigh.

Image courtesy of Facebook