Keeping up with the avalanche of new features and solutions coming out of Microsoft/LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google aimed at aiding employers and job seekers alike is dizzying. (Checkout my archives for an idea of just how dizzying.)
That said, if you didn’t think Google was serious about grabbing a significant share of the employment pie before today, the unveiling of four new job search features this week might change your mind.
Here’s a breakdown:
- Salary information. Google says salary information is missing from over 85 percent of job postings in the U.S. today. To remedy that problem, it has partnered with sites like Glassdoor, PayScale, and LinkedIn, which supply that data in various ways. If a posting doesn’t have a salary listed, Google will show a comparison to the estimated range for that job, if available. It’s worth noting that Indeed has salary information as well, but since it’s not participating in Google for Jobs, that data will be absent in search results.
- Location. For job seekers who want to work someplace close to home, this enhancement will be particularly popular. By clicking on the Location filter, user can select to see jobs within two, five, 15, 30, 60, or 200 miles from a nearby location, also selected within this filter. Competitor Indeed allows users to specify exact location only, or five, 15, 25, or 50 miles in distance from a search query.
- Job-board-of-choice apply. This update is by far the most interesting and unique to Google. Basically, if the job you’re viewing is located on multiple job boards, you can select which one you want to use when applying for a job. So, if you already have a Monster account, and have built a resume there, you can select to apply to that job via your Monster account and not, for example, through CareerBuilder or a site where you don’t have an account. You can also opt to apply directly through a company’s ATS and bypass job boards entirely. Google doesn’t say how it decides the order, but in the screenshot, the company site comes before the job sites. (Again, it’s worth noting Indeed won’t be an option, as long as it chooses not to participate in Google for Jobs.) It’ll be interesting to see if Google will release data around the percentage of people who choose a company website versus a job site.
- Bookmarking. This one is pretty self-explanatory. See a job you like, click the bookmark icon in the upper right corner. From there, that job will appear in your “Saved jobs” tabs on Google, which is accessible across any of your devices.
Although Google for Jobs has only been around since June, this round of updates represents the most important list of new features yet. It’s also further proof that Google is really serious about this whole job search, employment thingy.
I’ll also reiterate this list of enhancements really turns the screws on Indeed. In addition to copying some of Indeed’s existing functionality, Google is really forcing Indeed to choose whether or not it wants to remain on an island while CareerBuilder, Monster, Glassdoor, LinkedIn and others partner with Google to funnel more and more traffic to their own jobs.
By letting users decide which platform they want to use when applying means Google doesn’t have to play favorites. While Indeed distances itself from job boards, Google seems to be embracing them (at least for the moment). Job seekers who have no clue about any of this will ask themselves, “Why isn’t Indeed an option for applying?,” which in time could be devastating to Indeed’s brand.
Oh yea, Indeed realizing that many job seekers on Google would actually choose Indeed to apply to openings on Google for Jobs if Indeed was actually an option has got to be ironically painful. Good for Indeed’s competitors though, so there’s that. Indeed is based in Texas, right, where the Alamo is?
