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Google to add jobs to search, dabbles as HR gatekeeper

Google will use machine learning to cluster and bring relevant jobs to users along with contextual data and streamline the application process.
Written by Larry Dignan, Contributor
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Google said it is launching Google For Jobs, an effort that aims to pull in contextual data from multiple products, use machine learning, and connect the labor pool to employers across various skill levels.

CEO Sundar Pichai said Google For Jobs will launch as part of its search results in the coming weeks. "Google For Jobs addresses an important need and taps our core capability as a company," said Pichai.

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He added that Google has worked with LinkedIn, CareerBuilder, Monster, Facebook, Glassdoor to work on Google For Jobs, which will also roll out globally. These partners also collaborated on application programming interfaces for Google For Jobs. The Google Jobs API allows "company career sites, job boards, applicant tracking systems, and staffing agencies to improve the job search experience of job seekers who visit their sites and apps."

Google noted:

We power the job search on the career sites of FedEx and Johnson and Johnson. Using Cloud Jobs API has led to an 18% increase in job applicants per search and a nearly 25-percent increase in clickthrough rate on Johnson & Johnson's career site, supporting the notion that job seekers are more easily finding for what they're looking for.
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Pichai emphasized that Google For Jobs will work across all experience and job levels. "We're using machine learning to cluster and bring relevant jobs to you along with commute times," said Pichai. If a job is appealing, the applicant can apply with a click.

What remains to be seen is how Google will monetize the service and what it means for job listing sites ranging from Monster to Indeed.

Indeed, President Chris Hyams said:

"Google has woken up to the fact that searching for jobs is one of the most important searches in anyone's life. Our 5,000 employees wake up every morning and go to bed every night focused solely on helping people get jobs. We look forward to relentlessly innovating to help hundreds of millions of people find the right job, including millions of jobs that are only on Indeed."

And if you stretch the Google For Jobs mission a bit, there is also likely to be a business service to go along with G Suite. Add it up and it appears that Google is going to use its machine learning and artificial intelligence know-how to tap into the human resources market.

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