Google for Jobs – The nightmare of Stepstone, Monster and Co.?

Dear reader,

everyone has noticed – there is a new player in the market for job ads. The timing for entering the German market couldn’t be better for Google, as many companies are suffering from the shortage of skilled workers.

Google for Jobs has been available in Germany for almost 4 weeks now. As in so many other areas, Google now wants to achieve supremacy on established job portals. This seems to be successful. Within a short time Google’s new “Jobs Box” made it to # 1 in the search result lists (from 0 to 92.5%). Almost overnight, the search engine giant has displaced the established job portals from the top.

How does it work?

The new Google feature searches online job portals and the career pages of (large) companies for job opportunities. People who are looking for a job at a certain place, now see a blue and white box with matching job ads. Especially in Germany, it is a useful tool, because the market of job boards is very confusing. In addition to the major providers such as Indeed or Stepstone (covering all occupational fields and classes) countless other platforms – specialised on physicians, computer scientists or engineers – are added. Each provider has its own user interface, and sometimes job offers are listed at several providers. Google sorts out duplicate hits and helps applicants from having to search multiple job boards for their matching job ads.

What effect does this have on the classic job portal world?

A look at Google’s job search engine shows that the results are currently fed mainly from job boards. Led by LinkedIn, closely followed by XING, Indeed, Stepstone and Monster. Nevertheless, many providers see the threat to the market and competition. Especially for the small job portals, a cooperation with Google is initially very appealing, as more reach is achieved. However, in the long term, job seekers will no longer visit job portals because they are able to find all jobs through Google.

What does this mean for your company?

In order to appear on the search engine, companies need to adapt the IT interfaces of their career pages so that Google can find the jobs offered there. Out of the 30 DAX companies only half of them has done this so far. For those who have already focused their career page on Google’s new search function, there are two key benefits: More reach and cost savings. Because if the offers of your own career pages are automatically disseminated by Google, less money must be spent on classic job boards.