Google is breaking into the world of recruitment technology with the launch of its Cloud Jobs API.

APIs or Application Program Interfaces are a set of routines, protocols and tools for building software applications. Christian Posse, group data scientist at Google Cloud, explained in a post on Google Cloud’s site earlier this month that its Cloud Jobs API will aim to provide “highly intuitive” job searches that anticipate what jobseekers are looking for, giving targeted recommendations that help them discover new jobs. 

To provide the most relevant search results and recommendations, the API uses machine learning to understand how job titles and skills relate to one another, and what job content, location and seniority most closely match jobseeker preferences.

Posse adds Cloud Jobs API is now in alpha with a select group of customers, including providers of job boards, career sites and applicant tracking systems, while initial testers include career sites CareerBuilder, Dice and Jibe.

Commenting on Dice’s testing of the site, Michael Durney, president and chief executive of parent company DHI Group, told Recruiter in a statement: “Dice already has robust search capabilities and we've long delivered relevant job opportunities for candidates who search on our site, but we believe there is always room for improvement and the Google Cloud Jobs API works to filter out the small amount of noise that appears from simple searches.

“We agreed to pilot Google Cloud Jobs API, because it offered a way to learn and expand on the search capabilities we currently have, by leveraging the massive amount of data Google has available.

“The trove of data Google has can supplement our already strong vertical-specific data, providing value to Dice candidates and clients.”

Meanwhile Joe Essenfeld, CEO at Jibe, told Recruiter Jibe’s support for Google Cloud Jobs API enables organisations to power their career sites with Google machine learning technology.

“Jobseekers will be presented with more relevant search results, which will lead to better, more qualified candidates for employers.

“Research shows that career sites are the most important source of hire for every business. Career site search is a critical function for connecting candidates with the right opportunities. Google has built machine learning models using millions of publicly available job listings. These models identify the relationship between many items of career relevance – skills, preferences, seniority, location – and produce better job search results for candidates.”

Recruiter also contacted CareerBuilder for comment but had not heard back by deadline.

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