Yahoo Finance Google's search algorithms aim to plug local skills gaps
Job-seekers who use Google to find employment could soon be met with suggestions on where to learn skills needed for unfilled vacancies nearby.
Those who search “jobs near me” on Google will find see a list of vacancies along with information about courses and qualifications nearby, in a bid to help people find jobs that employers need and offer larger salaries.
Google hopes the feature, called Pathways, will address a skills gap it spotted after launching its job search tool last year – somewhat of a formality, given users around the world have already spent two decades using its search engine as a way to find work.
Nick Zakrasek, product manager at Google for Jobs, said: “The skills in demand are not always the skills people have. And this gap is different in each community.”
Pathways is already up and running in Virginia, US, where Google is working with local employers, the Virginia Community College System and the state government to make sure it is suggesting the most relevant information to people searching in the area.
It said it planned to roll the service out to the US and the UK “soon”. Since launching in 2017, Google’s official job search tool has been used by 100 million people in 92 countries. It sends emails when relevant opportunities pop up and works with LinkedIn, Monster, Glassdoor and Facebook to share postings.
The Silicon Valley tech giant announced a slew of new features at a birthday event in San Francisco, California, ahead of its 20-year anniversary on Thursday.
Updates include an Instagram-style “Discover” feed, which will be added to the Google homepage on smartphones and will suggest topics, news and videos that it believes are relevant to the phone owner.
Users can ask not to be shown certain topics if they are not relevant. If you like a certain topic you can click to see more.
It is also launching Activity Cards, which bookmark related and historical searches on the same topic, like previous holiday research.
It has ramped up Google Images, a Google product that was founded after engineers noticed searches for Jennifer Lopez’ green Grammy Awards dress soaring back in 2000. Google has added object recognition that helps people find where they can buy items they spot in pictures by highlighting the objects they want.
