We use Google for pretty much everything — from deep philosophical questions to settling debates and finding the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe.
Get ready to add another use to that list: Finding a job.
At this week’s Google I/O Conference, the company’s annual developer conference, CEO Sundar Pichai showed off a powerful new job finding tool that is as easy as making a quick Google search.
In a few weeks, Google will begin to recognize when U.S. users are typing job search queries into Google Search, and will then highlight jobs that match the query. However, Google is not necessarily taking on traditional job search service providers with this launch – instead, it’s partnering with them.
Google for Jobs will span industries. When you enter a query for something such as “teaching jobs,” the search engine will know you’re looking for a new job and will serve you results right away.
It will also let you sort a number of ways, including title and posting date. Google is also planning to add a filter for commute times to help you decide whether an open position is really worth spending an hour in traffic.
While the new tool looks remarkably easy to use, the hard part, of course, will be getting the interview and an offer.
The company said that Google for Jobs will initially partner with LinkedIn, Facebook, Careerbuilder Monster, Glassdoor, and other services.
The search engine will have a number of tools that will help you find the right jobs for you. For example, you’ll be able to filter jobs by location, title, category or type, date posted or whether it’s full or part-time, among other things.
The service will also show applicants things like commute time, to help them figure out if the job is too far away to consider.
What makes the service interesting is that it’s leveraging Google’s machine learning smarts to understand how job titles are related and cluster them together.
For instance, a search for “retail” could mean “retail associate” or “store clerk” or “store manager,” depending on how the employer wrote the job description. Google will be able to put all these together, so users who search for “retail” will see all matching job types.