The present job market is more cutthroat than ever. As competition is at an all-time high, a university degree and a motivation to succeed is no longer enough to secure you a great profession. Landing the perfect job and career can entail months of scouring job sites for the ideal role — or at the very least, one you pursue until something better turns up.
The British Chambers of Commerce claim that employers are feeling the brunt of it, too. Three-quarters of UK employers face talent shortages and have issues filling open positions and finding the right candidate. Perhaps it’s due to the influx of graduates scrambling for jobs regardless of whether they are appropriate for the position. A previous post on Career Experts highlighted smarter ways to find a job that some applicants tend to overlook, like tailoring your CV and leveraging sites like LinkedIn. But as mentioned, it may take a little more than that to truly stand out from the crowd.
Whether you’re a fresh graduate or industry veteran looking to make a career shift, Google wants to make it easier for you with its Google for Jobs service. The tech giant has recently expanded its platform to provide a new job search experience. It aims to connect its users to the job opportunities that best suit their needs and skills. The feature, which launched in the US last year, has recently made its way to the UK.
Google shares that the launch is also an effort to further their commitment to helping 100,000 people in the UK find a job or advance their career by 2020. It is in conjunction with their Google Digital Garage, a program that provides free training in digital skills.
What can job seekers expect?
Less searching, more doing
Just the act of scrolling through hundreds of postings can be time-consuming. Too often, job seekers end up devoting so much time to this part of the process, instead of using it to actually apply for a post. Google Search product manager Joy Xi explains that one challenge job hunters face is that employment opportunities are listed on various sites across the web, making it harder to identify which ones best suit you. Now with Google for Jobs, a simple search box at the top can point you directly to the most relevant job postings for your query — listing opportunities sourced from all over the web on just one page. So far, the tech giant has a slew of partner job listing sites, like The Guardian Jobs, Gumtree, and CV-Library.
Additionally, the Google job search function allows you to sync between your smartphone and desktop so you can save a particular post and access it on any device, anytime. You can also set up Gmail alerts that will send you real-time updates about the listing.
Factoring in commute times, salaries, and more
Of course, we all want a practical job that doesn’t require having to sit through hours of traffic just to get to your desk. Mashable underlines Google job search’s option to adjust their search parameters to factor in variables such as distance from home and when the position was uploaded. This way, users are able to search for queries like “consultancy jobs near me.”
Additionally, SEO specialists Ayima detailed the control users have over salary expectations in the search platform. This is especially useful when you know how to gauge your qualifications and its equivalent rate. It also eliminates the time you would’ve spent on opportunities that do not quite suit your salary requirements.
Refined and relevant
When searching for a job, a single keyword can end up changing your query completely. While “programmer” and “developer” may mean the same things, using one keyword can usually limit your chances of seeing opportunities posted under the other. Fortunately, relevance is Google search’s forte. Cutting through the backend, it is able to bring you jobs that are virtually the same but are separated by a word or phrase.
Fake jobs filter
Perhaps one of the most innovative uses that Google for Jobs brings to the table is its quality metrics that prevent fake job adverts. Beyond that, their extensive job content policy bans abusive and spam posts. The same is applied for fake ratings and reviews done to boost or degrade a company.
In the age of fake news, small efforts such as this can go a long way in filtering out the digital clutter.