Google is taking the “birds of a feather” concept to a whole new level when it comes to finding qualified candidates. See how the company’s new patented technology plans to locate prospective employees by using data from its current employee gene pool.
(Photo Credit: Robert Scoble/Flickr)
It’s safe to assume that the people you surround yourself with will, to some degree, tend to have similar interests, lifestyles, and ethics as you. Google recognizes this fact and is trying to capitalize on it by applying it to the daunting task of finding competent candidates. The innovative tech company has filed a patent under the name “Identifying Prospective Employee Candidates via Employee Connections,” to use their existing employee roster to find the apples that haven’t fallen far from the tree.
Think of this new system as a typical employee referral program combined with social networking, with the selection pool consisting of the current employees’ connections. The candidate selection technology (or “engine,” as Google calls it) will rank candidates based on the “strength of connections of the employees to other professionals, professional experience of the employees, and skills of the employees.”
Google believes this system to be advantageous because, as the patent reads, “the employer can initially identify the candidate without involving the employee,” as well as automatically ranking potential candidates based on the level of connection to other Google employees. Does that not sound like it’s teetering dangerously close to invasion of privacy for the company’s employees?
You would probably be taken aback if your employer approached you out of the blue and inquired about something or someone he or she discovered after searching your social media networks. What else did they “happen upon” during their quest for the perfect candidate from your friends list? These issues will probably be sorted out with a few additions to the fine print of Google employee contracts, but it may still leave a funny taste in their employees’ mouths.
In theory, the candidate selection technology seems like a great way for Google to streamline their hiring process and, potentially, hire more efficiently. However, are the candidates getting the short end of the stick in all of this? Sure, they could skip the whole job searching process, but they’d also miss out on a chance to impress recruiters if their experience and connections didn’t bring them to the engine’s attention.
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Do you think Google’s proposed candidate selection technology is a way to hire smarter or invasion of privacy? Share your thoughts with our community on Twitter or in the comments section below.
Seems dope.