In many cases, a job opening will attract far more potentially qualified candidates than what the company behind the listing can hire. Google LLC hopes to take advantage of this dynamic to make it easier for recruiters to fill open positions.

The search giant today released a new iteration of Hire by Google, the job applicant management service that it launched last year, with features designed to help companies draw upon past resume submissions.

The system is receiving the ability to automatically create a shortlist of applicants to past listings who may be suitable for a position. Hire by Google prioritizes candidates based on how well each professional’s skill set matches the opening’s description and job title, as well as their location. If recruiters want to do the scouting on their own, the company has also added a set of new search features.

If a user types in a query such as “sales manager Bay Area,” Hire by Google can automatically look for candidates with appropriate qualifications in the relevant cities. That includes more than just precise matches. According to the company, the service can identify potential hires who have the needed skills but whose past job titles may not be an exact fit with what a recruiter searched for.

If there’s a need to narrow down the results, recruiters can filter candidates based on the circumstances of their original interaction with the company. New controls make it possible to identify job seekers who performed well in their interviews, or received an offer but ended up pursuing other opportunities instead.

The new Hire by Google features are available immediately. The service constitutes a core pillar of what is a relatively new push by the company to establish a presence in recruiting. Another piece of the puzzle is the job search tool that Google rolled out last June, which lets users browse openings from around the web with the help of special filters.

Image: Google