Happy anniversary, Google for Jobs. It has been just about a year since you made your debut, and despite all the hoopla at the time of your arrival, it's fair to say that most companies have brushed you off as just another Google tool. But, in the words of Mr. T: "I pity the fool." After all, 30 percent of all Google searches (about 300 million per month) are job related, and if you want to compete in the race for talent, you better play by Google's rules.
Though some may not yet understand the impact of Google for Jobs, its introduction has truly brought recruitment into the Age of Googlization. Before Google for Jobs, it didn't really matter to employers where job seekers started their search. If a company posted job openings on Indeed, for example, its job postings ended up on Google anyway, which is precisely the reason Indeed maintained its position as the preferred job posting board for quite some time.
But that all changed with Google for Jobs. Now, Google no longer indexes Indeed's jobs. Let that sink in. That means that even if you're No. 1 on Indeed, your job post won't show up on Google—at all. A surprising number of companies still don't realize this, and there's no good reason for their oversight.
How can your company learn to use Google for Jobs and turn it into a competitive advantage? Here are four tips to follow now.
1) Create Separate Landing Pages For Jobs
Often, career sites simply feature a list of available jobs, with little information beyond a job title. But this is not enough—to get indexed by Google and earn top placement among search results, each available job should be featured, with details and specifics, on a separate, crawl-able web page.
2) Don't Ignore Technical Requirements
Google has created technical requirements that you'll need to follow in order to ensure that your jobs show up in Google for Jobs. My guess is that 99 percent of recruiters and HR professionals won't have a clue what any of this means—that's okay. What's important is that you are now aware that these requirement exists, and you can now partner with your web development or IT team to help insert schema.org job posting structured data and create or schedule the recommended XML sitemap updates.
3) Use a Third-Party Integrator or ATS Tool
If you'd rather avoid working with IT, consider using a third party integrator like CareerBuilder, ZipRecruiter, LinkedIn or Facebook. By posting jobs on these forums and social platforms, you'll ensure that your job postings show up on Google for Jobs as well.
And, most applicant tracking softwares blast jobs out to multiple sites, many of which are integrated with Google for Jobs. If you're using that approach, you're in the clear as well.
4) Give Your Company Career Page Some TLC
A great deal of planning and detail goes into the design and marketing of a company's key products and services. But when it comes to creating a career page, it's an after-thought at best.
With quality talent so scarce, job seekers have choices. The first place they go to learn about your company is your career page, so more than ever, it deserves the same kind of attention that you'd dedicate to promoting your most important new product. That way, when Google brings applicants to your page, they'll like what they see.
Google for Jobs is shaking things up for recruiters that rely heavily on Indeed. If that includes you, it's time to change your ways. Start by creating an engaging career site and treating each job posting as unique—these are just two simple ways to get your job opportunities in front of as many job candidates as possible.
Photo: Twenty20
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