Google recently announced Google For Jobs, a new initiative crafted for users on the job hunt. Google For Jobs will let you search for postings in your area by pulling listings from third party sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, and CareerBuilder. It will allow users to run a mega job search across platforms, creating greater efficiency.
It works like this: users can search for something like “finance jobs” in the Google box. The engine will then pop up with a list of job posting in your area. Users can further filter their list by date posted, type of job, experience required, full time versus part time, and job titles. Soon, Google says, you will even be able to filter by commute time.
Strategically, this is a great new way for Google to make money by indexing their information. IBIS World estimates that the total market for job search to be around $4 billion annually. This program will likely help the 46% of U.S. employers who say they are facing talent shortages and having issues filling open job positions. Google believes that collaborating with partners and capitalizing on Google’s strengths for searching and organizing data will do wonders to match the right jobs with the right candidates.
“We want to better connect employers to job seekers,” said Google CEO Sundar Pichai of the reasoning behind the new offering.
Just as Craigslist challenged local newspaper classifieds, Google is putting the pressure on the online classifieds market. Pilot programs were tested with bigwigs Johnson & Johnson and FedEx. According to Pichai, they saw an 18% increase in applications over other methods of job hunting.
As an additional bonus for Google, the Google For Jobs initiative could help the company attract even more ad dollars from employment related advertisers. According to eMarketer, employment-related advertising is expected to generate three quarters worth of search ad spending this year.
Photo: Alexey Boldin / Shutterstock.com
