google hire

Google Hire ATS

Admittedly, I am giant fanboy when it comes to Google and its products.

I had a chance to speak with Google Hire team yesterday to get a peek at the new functionality — and, as always, they did not disappoint.

Recruiters have said that Hire fundamentally improved how they worked

With the launch of Hire last year, Google aimed to simplify the hiring process by integrating it into the tools where recruiters already spend much of their day, namely Gmail, Google Calendar, and other G-Suite apps. Recruiters have said that Hire fundamentally improved how they worked, with less context switching between apps. In fact, when they measured user activity, they found Hire reduced time spent completing everyday recruiting tasks — like reviewing applications or scheduling interviews — by up to 84 percent. 

But wait. There’s more!

Google Initiates AI

By incorporating Google AI, Hire now reduces repetitive, time-consuming tasks, like scheduling interviews, into one-click interactions. This means hiring teams can spend less time with logistics and more time connecting with people.

The new functionality in Hire allows recruiters to:

Schedule Interviews in Seconds: 

Recruiters and recruiting coordinators spend a lot of time managing interview logistics — finding available time on calendars, booking rooms, and pulling together the right information to prep interviewers. To streamline this process, Hire now uses AI to automatically suggest interviewers and ideal time slots, reducing interview scheduling to a few clicks.

If an interviewer cancels last minute, Hire not ONLY alerts you, it also recommends available replacement interviewers and makes it easy to invite them quickly. This means hiring teams can invest time in preparing for interviews and building relationships with candidates instead of scheduling rooms and checking calendars.

This is yet another game-changer, especially for full-desk recruiters in-house from Hire.  “Time kills deals!” was something a manager of mine would say when trying to get people in the door.  This helps a recruiter better handle time management issues.

Auto-highlight Resumes: 

A considerable portion of recruiters’ time is spent reviewing resumes (we all know this). I was told that as the team was watching people interact with Hire, they found that customers were frequently using “Ctrl+F” to search for the right skills as they scanned through a resume — a repetitive, manual task that could easily be automated. Using AI, Hire now automatically analyzes the terms in a job description or search query and auto-highlights them on resumes, including synonyms and acronyms. This is yet ANOTHER game-changer, especially for recruiters who are looking for specific skill sets yet are not overly-versed with the terms they are searching for. This one tool will be able to help recruiters learn specialties.  

Also, I have preached for years about the ATS system and how it should be your go-to for candidates — logical, as you have spent a great deal of time gathering information.  Why would you want to chase after people who may not want to work for you when here you have a plethora of candidates who have either applied or you may have spoken to in the past? There are just to many ATS out there that are simply a repository of information but impossible to get that information out of them. (I may or may not be discussing Taleo.)

Click to Call Candidates: 

Whether they’re screening candidates, conducting interviews, or following-up on offers, recruiters often have dozens of phone conversations each day. Hire now simplifies every phone conversation with click-to-call functionality, and automatically logs calls so team members know who has spoken with a candidate. How does it work, Derek? Glad you asked!  

The system calls your phone and then when you pick it up it calls the number in the system to the candidate. I am going to let that sink in for a minute. You never leave your inbox, the phone call is recorded, and you can take notes while on the phone. I asked if there was ever going to be text functionality to this as well citing that markets have shown that roughly 98% of people respond to a text message and rarely listen to voicemails OR answer numbers they do not recognize.

I also asked about integration as I have done multiple ATS set ups and transfers and it is quite simply a new ring of hell in Dante’s Inferno implementing one.

They assured me that the process was simple and getting the valuable data that you have painstakingly harvested will be transferred with ease.  

(If you have done a transfer to Hire from an existing ATS I would love to hear from you and your experience.)

Simply put Google Hire is giving you back time to do the things you should be doing, like sourcing, recruiting, and getting the job done. I have said this before and will say it again; this is a game changer for the ATS space and those who are playing in the space should be very nervous. I would be. 


Authors
Derek Zeller

Derek Zeller draws from over 20 years in the recruiting industry, and he currently is the Director of Recruiting Solutions and Channels with Engage Talent. The last 16 years he has been involved with federal government recruiting specializing within the cleared IT space under OFCCP compliancy. He has experience with both third party agency and in-house recruiting for multiple disciplines. Using out-of-the-box tactics and strategies to identify and engage talent, he has had significant experience in building referral and social media programs, the implementation of Applicant Tracking Systems, technology evaluation, and the development of sourcing, employment branding, and military and college recruiting strategies. Derek currently lives in the Portland, Oregon area. Follow Derek on Twitter @Derdiver or connect with him on LinkedIn.