Dive Brief:

• Google advances into the recruiting arena with Hire, a new app for talent hunting. Hire is aimed at small to midsize employers and can be used with Gmail, Calendar and the rest of the G-suite, the mega tech firm announced on Google Blog.
• Google developed Hire to help recruiters identify talent, build strong relationships with candidates and oversee the interview process.
• According to the company, the new app automatically synchronizes Hire with Gmail; includes the entire interview schedule and focus questions from each interviewer within Calendar contact information; and tracks and analyzes candidate data and visualizes it in Sheets.

Dive Insight:

These days, it's not unusual for innovative companies, especially tech companies like Google, to venture into new markets that don't at first seem aligned with their business objectives. But the introduction of Hire seems like a natural extension of the expertise gathered for Google for Jobs, which also promises transformation of the job search.

Google's interest in recruitment points to the profit potential of the industry, especially as talent shortages press companies of all types to change up their tactics. Many companies already use the Google suite, making a potential shift to Hire for simpler, especially for smaller businesses. 

HR tech is starting to catch up to its customer-facing counterparts. By synchronizing the masses of data HR departments oversee and streamlining functions, like applicant tracking, hiring, retention, training and benefits administration, technology has curtailed the more time-consuming and burdensome HR tasks. Google Hire is just the latest app that aims to give HR professionals fingertip control over more functions.