Adventures in Google Jobs
By Soozy G. Miller, CPRW, CDCC, CDP
I always test out new software and new resources to help my clients. I also apply to jobs sometimes so I can experience applications first hand and so I can keep testing out my job search methodology.
One day, one of my colleagues provided real, hard data that demonstrated that job seekers got about 3X more interviews applying on Google Jobs than LinkedIn. I’ve only test-applied to jobs on LinkedIn, so I decided to test out Google Jobs. Oh my, what a mess!
I started by finding a job on Google Jobs that I wanted to apply to. I clicked Apply and then, to make a long story short:
You have to use a Google template to apply to Google Jobs. You cannot upload your own resume to apply to a job. There are many templates to choose from. It shocked me that all of the templates put the skills section on the bottom. It shocked me even more that all the templates contain a references section. Hello 1980!
After you pick the job and the horrible template you have to upload your resume to Google's AI to create the resume for that job. The job description that I liked had barely any tangible information, so what did AI do to help me? It suggested skills from the job description that aren’t skills like Independent Contractor. I might as well have added Use a Computer as a skill. 🤷♀️
When I uploaded my resume for Google AI, the AI acted like outdated software in that it couldn't parse a bunch of my information, even though I used a Word document and a traditional layout. So I had to re-write everything into a blank template. I know a lot of my clients experience this in applications. Not cool.
And then … Google Jobs asked me for permission to submit my new Google AI resume to the job. After I did everything above I clicked Yes ... and only then did it tell me the job had expired. Seriously?
That’s not even the end of these adventures.
I also decided to test out the Resume Review feature. And … well … there are no words for this experience.
After I submitted my resume for review, and before I received the feedback, I was sent an email that told me the 4 areas that the review would be based on. One of them was “ATS compatibility.” Great, except there ain’t no such thing. That’s like saying that your swimsuit must be compatible with the water. When career advisors like me see “ATS compatibility” as an issue, it always—I mean always—is associated with a money-making scam. (“Your resume is not compatible with the company’s systems, you must pay us $150 to make it compatible.”) Nope.
The review itself started with the concern that my resume is 3 pages long. It is not. Maybe it appeared as 3 pages to the reviewer because she viewed it in the ridiculous Google template. But my resume was well under 2 pages when I submitted it. Bad start.
I’m not going to cover all the ridiculous Google Jobs resume feedback here. The reviewer claimed to be a female executive recruiter, a “resume expert.” There was no bio attached so I’m not sure if she’s real or an AI avatar.
I know that LinkedIn ain't great either. I take data seriously, so I’m trying to understand how people get more interviews via Google Jobs. I found Google Jobs incredibly frustrating, more frustrating than LinkedIn. I didn’t think that was possible!
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