Advertisement

Checking in on Google’s Foray Into HR Tech (Hint: It’s Not Slowing Down)

Article main image
Mar 8, 2018

When Google dove headfirst into employment less than a year ago, many in my circle of know-it-alls wrote it off, saying things would peter out similarly to how Google Base came and went with barely a whimper. Well, checking in with Big G reveals a company that isn’t slowing down.

Check it.

  • Gmail integration. There are fewer advantages Google has that are more impactful than Gmail. With over 1 billion monthly users strong, the platform is a juggernaut of consumer penetration. That said, using Gmail to boost its Google Hire offering makes perfect sense, from not only a users perspective, but also a strategic one. Checkout its YouTube video detailing the latest update.
  • Top 25 ATS. A new report from Ongig says Google Hire is now the No. 24 most popular ATS across all it surveyed, enjoying 0.78 percent of the market. Not an earth-shattering share, but considering it has been less than a year, and it’s already bigger than old timers like Jazz HR, Kronos, and CATS, then it’s not too shabby. The report tracks 4,218 top hirers and the ATS they use.
  • Top 10 ATS for SMBs. The same Ongig report says Google Hire is already a Top 10 provider to SMBs, or those with less than 25 open jobs, translating to a 2.65 percent share. Greenhouse came in first with 17.13 percent. Google was also the fastest-growing ATS overall, but considering it started at zero, that’s not that big of a surprise. Ongig said, “Google continues to make headway with their new ATS software. They could be a top 10 ATS if they really go for it.”
  • Cloud Job Discovery coming out of private beta soon? Google is infamous for keeping things in beta for a really long time, until it really feels comfortable officially unleashing it on the public. Its job search API tool, used by sites like CareerBuilder to improve the search experience, is rumored to be coming out of private beta soon. The move says Google is taking the solution seriously and is iterating it accordingly. Pretty soon it is going to have some really good data to help make Google for Jobs that much better.
  • Early rumblings of some sort of web profile search? Definitely, maybe. Google may not have the user data that LinkedIn has, but aggregating the entire web for professional profile data could certainly make it really dangerous really quickly. This isn’t from anyone at the company directly, but my sources say something is coming that will make Google Hire a treasure trove for sourcing candidates, followed by some “cool AI features.”
Google Hire Gmail Integration
Google Hire Gmail Integration Screenshot

New feature by new feature, Google continues to show that it’s serious about employment and really making a dent in the market. Granted, it’s still early, and most of its current ATS customers have less than 25 job openings. However, at this rate, if it doesn’t succeed, it doesn’t look like it’ll be for a lack of effort, money, and people power.

We’ll see if it ever starts eating its own dog food. As Ongig says in its report, “A telling milestone for the Google ATS is whether/when Google uses Google Hire as the ATS system for its own huge volume of internal hires. That would mean that Google scaled it to be a true enterprise-level ATS that could appeal to large Fortune 500-level employers.”

Get articles like this
in your inbox
Subscribe to our mailing list and get interesting articles about talent acquisition emailed weekly!
Advertisement