What is Google Hire, and why would recruiters use it?

Earlier this year, Google launched its Google for Jobs search engine, which organised listings from a range of employment sites including LinkedIn, Careerbuilder and Glassdoor.

Then on Tuesday this week it unveiled its first piece of HR software, called Google Hire, which will help small and mid-sized US businesses to communicate with candidates, schedule interviews and manage overall job applications.

Through the tool recruiters can customise their hiring process by setting questions, coding tests and onsite presentations for the requirements of each role. As it integrates with Google Calendar recruiters can drag and drop interview schedules into available slots, while also sending invites and setting questions.

From a business perspective Google Hire aims to improve efficiency and transparency in the recruitment process improving the candidate, recruiter and hiring manager experience.

The service integrates with existing Google Cloud products like Gmail, Google Calendar and Sheets to ensure an efficient recruitment process for businesses. The tool is separate from the G suite bundle, with Google Hire prices varying depending on the company size.

Companies using Google Hire can choose where to disseminate their job listings on popular job sites such as Indeed, Glassdoor and its Google for Jobs feature.

Additionally, hiring managers signed into Google Mail can submit feedback from any device and location without logging in to the Hire app itself. It also promises to give a better overview of candidates by automatically connecting to their profiles such as LinkedIn and Stack Overflow, allowing recruiters to view colleague’s feedback after they have submitted their own, to avoid recruitment bias.

Google Hire sends users reports about source efficiency, candidate pipelines and when is the best time to hire, exporting the data to Google Sheets.

Speaking about the tool more generally, Gartner analyst Helen Poitevin said she is more interested in understanding Google’s new offer and relative position in the market.

“Because of its limited reach, [Google Hire] will only have benefits for that potential customer base. That said, it does leverage Google’s investments in machine learning to match jobs to people and improve the overall searchto which it may prove to be a differentiator having higher potential benefits and a greater impact,” she said.

According to Google Hire’s website early adopters of the tool include Singlehop, Medisas and Poynt.

While it’s solely based in the US, Google Hire is rivalling HR software vendors like Workday, Greenhouse, Lever and Microsoft. The company says it plans to expand Hire to other countries but did not specify if or when it was coming to the UK.

“The recruiting system market is vast with a number of companies providing similar services,” Poitevin said. “However, with the heavy investment in machine learning for matching people to jobs, and the close tie to other G suite applications, Microsoft is the obvious rival, particularly with their LinkedIn acquisition and their Dynamics 365 Talent offering, which is tightly integrated with Office 365”.

Google Hire is planning to invest further in machine learning tools which will allow candidates to reapply for positions and new job opportunities while also extending it to other countries.