Google has announced that it will be launching a new online portal for job listings. The new portal will be called Google Hire and will allow companies to post job listings, and allow people to search for jobs. This is great news. As someone who works in a Human Resources Department, I think that the more ways we can disseminate job advertisements, the better. Some are saying, however that this will compete with LinkedIn. But I wonder if it will have as big of an impact as we think it will? LinkedIn does allow employers to post job ads, but it also has other options, like connecting (or linking, as it were) to colleagues or other people in your industry. So if the Google tool doesn’t do that, then I don’t think it’s a fair comparison. Yes, this will give sites like Monster more competition, but is that such a bad thing? After all, employers are searching for the most qualified candidate for their job. So why not expand our search options?
A bigger concern that has been raised is around the idea of privacy. Because you have to sign in with your Google account, people are worried that Google will share their browsing history with their employer. Or prospective employer in this case. But where is this coming from? I think I’m struggling with how people are making this leap. Just because Google provides the ability to search the internet automatically means that your browsing history is going to be made available? I feel like this is a “tempest in a teapot” type situation. One doesn’t automatically lead to the other. In fact, Google would have an extremely hard time getting people to use this product if that was the case. Or are people worried that it will capitalize on knowing what you’re browsing? But can’t they do that already?
As far as privacy goes, the bottom line is that it’s not in Google’s best interest to share any private information with anyone. If you use Google Docs, does it take what you collaborate with someone on and sell that to someone? Or share that information with your employer? Sure, maybe it has the ability to suggest new YouTube videos that you might like. But that’s part of the service. You listened to some Bob Dylan today, here are some other artists that you might like. I don’t see anything wrong with that. And neither should you. But I feel like it’s an extreme leap to go from – Google has a new portal where you can apply for jobs to – Google is going to turn over your browsing history to your employer.
Like always, I see this kind of development as a positive for the industry. I like options. I like the ability to decide where I’m going to go to look for jobs. In most cases, I don’t like being told what to do. And I’m sure that most people don’t. So having another way of doing something isn’t necessarily bad. It will make the competition better, which is always a good thing. Too much competition can be problematic, but the market for job hunting isn’t saturated. In fact, many employers point to their own websites when recruiting. And unless I know that company x is hiring for the job position I’m interested in, I’m not going to their website. I’m looking on Monster, or LinkedIn to see what’s available. Google is just going to make this easier for everyone, and I think that’s a good thing.