Belgium's employment offices have turned to Google for help as they seek to remain one step ahead of an expected wave of unemployment following the coronavirus pandemic.
The country's regional unemployment offices in Brussels, Wallonia and Flanders have gone into a partnership which will allow America's digital giant to sink its teeth into the country's job market by streamlining job seekers' search for work.
Private job posting and human resources companies Randstad and Jobat have also joined in the partnership, which comes amid warnings that the unemployment ranks in Belgium are expected to swell significantly in the wake of the pandemic.
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As part of the collaboration, Google will pull up offers matching a job seeker's search and automatically direct the latter towards a potential employer's offer, 7sur7 reports.
The new feature will also offer users the option of fine-tuning their job search through location, skills or desired salary filters and could potentially offer a nationwide view of available job postings, contrasting with the current regionalised functioning of employment offices.
"Despite the impact of the coronavirus crisis on economic activity, Forem currently has 49,900 jobs openings to fill," Yves Magnan, director of the Walloon employment office said.
The new feature was announced by the company on Tuesday and will be progressively implemented and will be available to all users of its search feature located in Belgium in the coming days.
The Brussels Times
