If you’re a job board outside the U.S., consider yourself warned. Google is coming.
It was a just a matter of time, but Google is finally rolling out its vertical job search solution, commonly known as Google for Jobs, to the world. Announced this month, the feature is live in Canada and India.
“Finding a job can be difficult, whether you’re a student looking for part-time work, an electrician seeking a job closer to home, or a teacher moving to another province to be close to family,” said Google in a blog post. “Every day, millions of Canadians turn to Google to kick-off their job search. Now, this journey is simpler with the new job search feature on Google in Canada.”
Google introduced its job search feature in the U.S. last June, and since then the company says it has seen 60 percent more employers showing jobs in search results and has connected tens of millions of people to new job opportunities. It has also created a video for YouTube.
The move to unveil Google for Jobs in Canada comes just a week after Indeed acquired Workopolis, a popular job board in Canada. At the time, I speculated the move was made in part to strengthen its moat against an eventual Google entry into the market. Turns out, fending off ZipRecruiter allegedly had more to do with it, but I still think the threat of Google played some part in the strategy.
The functionality looks to be a carbon copy of what U.S. users experience, but it has done some customization on the content. “We’re working with a number of organizations from across the industry to bring you the most comprehensive listing of jobs — including the Canadian government’s Job Bank/Guichet-Emplois, BCJobs.ca, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Monster.ca, Jobillico, Jobboom, and other Canadian providers,” Google said. “You’ll see job postings from these sites and others across the web all in one place, as soon as they’re posted.”
Like the U.S., Indeed isn’t playing along, leaving its content out of the index.
In India, which was also announced on April 24, Google said it’s partnering with Aasaanjobs, Freshersworld, Headhonchos, IBM Talent Management Solutions, LinkedIn, Quezx, QuikrJobs, Shine.com, T-Jobs, TimesJobs, and Wisdomjobs.
No announcement yet on where Google for Jobs will be launching next, but historically, once Google starts rolling services outside the U.S., things happen pretty quickly. Legal issues in Europe could slow things down there, however.
