Google sticks its foot in the recruitment marketing industry

Note: The Doctor is recovering from a bout with the flu – so this week we revisit the most popular post from 2017. Enjoy!

Remember Google Base? Joel Cheesman does. “The company launched Google Base in the mid-2000s to much fanfare.” And…it never went anywhere.

Then last year Google announced that they were working with CareerBuilder, Jibe, and Dice on a Jobs API. That project is now closed (CareerBuilder is reporting on it at the upcoming Jobg8 conference), but from what I’ve heard, the experiment was a success and will have an impact on how job data is handled by the search engine across all job boards and recruiting sites.

Now comes Google Hire (no, you can’t sign in but here are some screenshots). What is it? Basically, a hiring platform that includes an ATS, job posting builder (and most likely distributor), and career site builder/manager. At least that’s my take from the articles I read.

When a big player like Google sticks its foot into the proverbial water of the job board industry, we typically respond by asking: what is it going to do to me? What’s the threat? Who does it threaten? Should I worry? (Insert your own expression of concern and/or fear).

Well…

If I was Indeed, I’d be worried. Indeed – intent as always on world domination – has its own light ATS, job posting and distribution system, resume bank, etc., etc., etc. But…they also live and die by their SEO. If the rollout of Google Hire AND the rollout of the Jobs API does anything negative to how Indeed is handled by the search engine – well, it could get ugly.

If I was LinkedIn, I’d be curious about the Jobs API. I might even be slightly worried about Google Hire. But mostly I’d be preoccupied with integrating with Microsoft, just as I have been since the sale. (Although the ATS thing would really, really bug me – because, well, we kinda want that, too!).

If I was Facebook, I’d be annoyed. I mean, we just launched Facebook Jobs! Don’t steal our thunder! And offering a real hiring platform? I mean, geez! We just figured out this job posting thingy!!

If I was the average legacy ATS, I would be seriously worried. I’m already feeling pain from the new generation of cloud-based ATSs and recruitment marketing systems, and now Google is elbowing in!

If I was the average job board, I would be interested in getting on board with the Jobs API and Google Hire – because the more integration and visibility, the better. These moves don’t affect my candidate base – at least not yet. And I’m betting that Google sees the ATS market as much more tempting than the recruitment marketing biz.

And if I was Entelo or SmashFly or some other recruitment marketing platform, I’d gnash my teeth, then get back to work on making sure my product was better technically – and better marketed. And of course hope that Google Hire flops the same way Google Base did.

We live in interesting times.

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