This post appeared originally on CEO Jeffrey Doucet’s LinkedIn page here.
Last week, with much fanfare, and for some reason the support of the provincial government here in Ontario, Google Jobs launched their job board in Canada.
We have received a lot of questions from customers and other partners about how we think this will impact the job search ecosystem, and how it will impact job seekers moving forward.
At CareerJSM we believe that the impact of Google entering the job search ecosystem is massively overrated. As web giants are known to do, Google has ripped off Indeed, ZipRecruiter, and other aggregators that have brought similar products to the market. Due to the scale of Google, Google Jobs will simply eliminate a click or two for job seekers while not bringing any functionality to the market.
That said, Google Jobs – driven by Google’s business model – will be focused on farming clicks and further exasperate the challenges job seekers face.
In this blog, we will dive into Google Jobs, their business model, and why career coaches and consultants should be concerned about the impact on job seekers.
What Is Google Jobs?
While being hailed as extremely innovative and a “game changer” I was pretty underwhelmed by Google Jobs. The experience is not different at all from Indeed, ZipRecruiter, LinkedIn or many other major job search aggregators.
There is one main feature that differentiates Google Jobs from their competitor. Google will recognize when you are “googling” a job and pull in jobs from their partners, instead of bouncing you to a third party application. Have a look at this screenshot.
Google is working with partners (other job boards) to bring their opportunities to Google’s home page, giving their partners priority on google when a job seeker is simply “googling” for a job. Google knows that you are more likely to start your job search with a google search, rather than going to the homepage of a job board.
That being said …… before we talk about “innovation” in search we need to remember Google’s main source of revenue.
Google is an ad company
When you look at their balance sheet, Google is still mainly an ad company.
In 2017 advertising revenues still represented 86% of Google’s total revenues. Google Jobs is simply another Google initiative to strengthen their advertising revenue pipeline.
The launch of Google Jobs drives up the value of Google Ads to their competitors. Indeed, for example, is likely now spending even more money to advertise on Google so that their postings appear at the top of the page. Google’s near monopoly on search will be used to squeeze other hiring resources, which is why I highlighted the prominence of competitors on a google search for sales jobs.
Google Jobs will impact the job seeker, but it might not help them.
I actually think Google Jobs is going to hurt the job seeker, and here is why.
50% of job seekers already apply to jobs that they are not qualified for. Aggregator that Google copied (Indeed and ZipRecruiter for example) have made it easier than ever to apply to a high volume of jobs but do not place any emphasis on helping job seekers search through the clutter and find opportunities that fit their qualifications.
Google’s monetization strategy drives this point home. Google is an ad company motivated primarily by clicks.
Just as Google does not care about whether the vacation you book with Expedia went well, or the T-Shirt you bought from an E-Commerce store fits, Google does not care if you apply to the right job. It will never impact their business model. Their customers (job boards) are simply paying for clicks.
WHO WILL HELP JOB SEEKERS?
WOW, am I glad you asked.
Believe it or not – CareerJSM is here to help job seekers organize the clutter that is the modern day job search. With our business model motivated by outcomes, we continue to invest in building features that make job seekers smarter and more efficient during the job search, like our SmartTracker that is launching this week.
While job seekers browse Google Jobs (or other sites) CareerJSM will instantly analyze their compatibility to the job and let them know whether this is a good fit.
We do this by leveraging AI and Semantic Search, parsing the important informationout of the job posting, and comparing it directly to their resume that has been built on the CareerJSM Resume Builder.
We are excited to roll out SmartTracker out with our corporate clients and look forward to continuing to invest in job seeker centric features to improve the search experience and decrease their time to employment. If you have any questions about SmartTracker, send me an email, I would love to hear from you jeffrey@careerjsm.com