Google For Jobs – Will Jobseeker’s Wag The Tail Of The Dog

Having completely dominated the search industry to the point of becoming a verb, Google is now making inroads into the jobs market, which if you think globally, as Google does, is a very lucrative move.

For the time being, Google for Jobs (GfJ) is free to job seekers and companies looking to hire. They will most likely monetise the feature in the future once it has gathered sufficient momentum and market traction. 

Here at Inspire, we’ve been keeping a close watch on what Google is doing with regards to GfJ and looking for ways to support our clients, new and old, to gain not only a competitive edge to reach the best candidates but also to use GfJ to reduce both operational and recruitment costs.  Despite their size, Google are not averse to playing the role of disruptor, and Google for Jobs does that in spades.

We believe that this technology feature is and will continue to significantly disrupt the way job searches and recruitment advertising are done, so over the next month or two, we’ll be looking at the various aspects of GfJ:

• how it is going to affect the traditional jobs board platforms?
• consequences for those who have premised their business models on using those platforms e.g. recruitment agencies?
• how it will impact employers?  
• what do we perceive Google’s strategy is and what that means longer-term?
• whether or not there are benefits for Jobseekers?

We are going to start this five-part deep dive with Jobseekers – will they benefit from Google for Jobs, and if so, how?

It is pretty much a given that people looking for a new role have almost certainly used Google in the past – but what they saw on the Search Return Page would have been based on the existing Google Search algorithms (for organic returns) and AdWords (paid returns). 

Google for Jobs changes this radically, placing GfJ results above all other organic returns in a highly visible box of their own.  Any non-GfJ job adverts and organic results will appear below this.

What the job seeker would see once they clicked on that job will depend on how well the web developer has understood the framework, followed the right standards and essentially given Google what it expects:

Here is a poor example:

Whilst our example would show:

Now it’s possible but unlikely that someone looking for a job will use our phrase above, much more likely is that they search for “project support coordinator”, and if they are in Perth, Scotland they will see this:

What should be clear from the above is that there are a number of job board platforms who are already using GfJ to further increase their reach. 

What makes less sense is that there are no recruitment agencies appearing in the results. Not to use GfJ makes little sense, especially when there is minimal cost and comparatively little work involved in preparing your website to take advantage of what it offers. 

Now the interesting question here is whether a job seeker will go to the job board or recruitment agency directly or if they will understand the benefits of using the GfJ feature?

Our experience helps us understand not only user behaviour but also the user experience; we know that users are becoming much faster at adapting to an evolving and changing environment.

We have direct, empirical evidence of the effects of this disruptive tech; seeing a significant rise in the number of job applications being processed via the GfJ implementations we’ve deployed for our own clients when compared against the traditional job boards or recruitment agencies.

Clearly any reduction in the hoops a jobseeker has to jump through to first find, then apply for a role will provide an advantage to that employer, over one who makes the process more cumbersome.

Google for Jobs is not just about pulling together organic job adverts based on the use of the technology by employers.  In addition, Google is making use of the data it already has about the user performing the search and bringing artificial intelligence (AI) to bear on the task.

“Drawing on a candidate’s browsing, search, location and online document storage history, Google for Jobs can form a picture of you, your aspirations and experience and, in return, deliver personalised and bespoke job opportunities.” 

So, Google aren’t simply taking your search criteria and delivering a result, they are combining your search criteria with what they know about your interests, location and other data to attempt to best match you to the job you are looking for.  Google claim that this is a learning technology and should, therefore, produce better results with use.

Google for Jobs is far more comprehensive than just the priority given to search results might suggest.  If used correctly it guides job seekers directly to the employers' website where they can learn more about the role – assuming that the advert and GfJ pages have been properly set up to maximise interest - they can further explore the public face an organisation presents to the world without having to perform any further searches.

It’s a neat package that concentrates information in one place, rather than spreading it over a number of sources.  Google is all about information delivery, and Google for Jobs brings this expertise to the assistance of jobseekers, making their searches easier and more fruitful and guiding them to potentially valuable opportunities.

When asking who benefits from GfJ, jobseekers are the clearest winners with improved, personalised search results leading to direct access with potential employers. 

Who stands to lose in this Greek Tragedy?

Employers who fail to understand the impact of GfJ and the benefits they stand to reap.  Unemployment in the UK is at a record low, that means finding and attracting the right candidates to fill your vacancy is paramount. Have a look at our article on Intelligent Design, which is for Employers to get a deeper insight into the job seeker mentality/perspective and ultimately how to write a Job Advert based on Maslows Hierarchy of Needs.

Who are the Walking Wounded?

Until Google start to monetise GfJ, Job Boards’ business model is at worst destroyed or at best greatly diminished.

If they embraced GfJ and deployed it they will hasten their market share collapse as Employers see that they can do the same thing for a fraction of the cost.

They will need to innovate and create their own “value add”, hence we see they are adding new features to their platforms for managing candidate applications, creating email templates for replying to candidates; using various means of differentiating/selecting candidates e.g scheduling skill testing; psychometric testing.

Who will be The Walking Dead?

Recruitment Consultants/Agencies, what value do they add if all they do is take a Job Description and publish it on a range of Job Board platforms (that’s what many actually do)?

If they want to survive they will need to evolve their offering to the:

• Jobseeker, perhaps to:
  • help tease out work and life examples to fit an employers brief, then write tailored CV
  • carrying out interview training;
  • prep the candidate on what to expect; and
  • focus on the long term by following/cultivating an individual during their career;
  • being there for them when they’re ready to move on
• Employer, perhaps:
  • ensure the job advert is well written;
  • offer to filter the candidates;
  • run the interviews;
  • recommend skill or psychometric testing tools or even better deliver them;

Why should job seekers (and employers) spend time and money with these middlemen when all that some of them do is reprint and repost existing advertisements, yet expect to be well rewarded for doing so?

The benefits that accrue to job seekers will most likely drive the increased adoption of Google for Jobs as it allows them to seek, investigate and apply for a job wherever, whenever and however they choose, regardless of their preferred platform. A further and more substantial consequence for Job Seekers is that over time they will (by dint of using the GfJ feature) nigh force not only Employers to disrupt their own traditional recruitment strategy, but also Job Boards and Recruitment Consultants/Agencies.

The savings that employers will make from not using the ‘traditional’ recruitment paradigm can be used to increase enticement:

• golden hellos;
• loyalty bonuses;
• enhanced employees benefits;

All positive and good for job seekers. 

In our next Insight we will focus on how Google for Jobs will affect employers, what it can do for them, and why they shouldn’t ignore it.

Here at Inspire we have been developing ways for our clients to use Google for Jobs as efficiently and effectively as possible.  If you would like to know more about how your company can benefit from these exciting developments, contact us for a free initial discussion.