Google for Jobs aims to make job searching less of a hassle

A lot of people turn to search engines when they’re looking for work, so today the world’s biggest search engine announced Google for Jobs. The project aims to leverage Google’s advanced machine learning capabilities, sorting through millions of job listings to better match opportunities with candidates. 

Right now Google isn’t planning to start hosting its own job listings. It is collecting them from third parties like Facebook, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Monster, and ZipRecruiter. It then filters jobs for criteria like the length of the commute, and tries to bundle together openings for similar jobs that might be listed under different names. A couple of big companies, including FedEx and Johnson & Johnson, have been piloting the program, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai says they saw an 18 percent increase in applications over their previous methods. 

It’s not clear if Google is dipping its toe into this market before launching a competitor to job search engines like Indeed. Right now, after a user clicks on the job they want, Google sends them to another service to apply. According to Bloomberg, Indeed generated over $300 million in revenue in the first half of 2015, and IBIS World estimates the total market to be around $4 billion annually, so there is certainly an attractive opportunity for Google if they want to take on incumbents. The product is rolling out in the US in the next few weeks. 

The article was published on : theverge