Google Talk was officially launched yesterday as a free tool for non-Gmail users (even though Google Voice has been around for sometime and Google Talk has been free for Gmail users as well.)
What’s the difference between Google Voice and Google Talk? Not much. To quote Pablo Valerio from his article on Technorati.com:
Google Voice allows you to get a unique phone number for all your communications. It can be a local number in any area code in the US, and you can forward the number to all your phones (home, office, cell, etc.). Setting up some rules allow you to block certain calls, divert the call to only a phone depending on the caller, etc.. Also
allows to send and receive text messages (SMS) to any US cell phone number for free.
Google Talk has been available on Gmail for a while, but only as a way of communication with other Gmail users. Now a call button is incorporated in Gmail for the users of Google Talk: You can call from your computer
(a microphone and speakers are required), to anyone in the US and Canada for free. Google also offers cheap calls to foreign countries, and believes the revenue from those calls will offset the cost of the free US calls.
You don’t need to setup Google Voice to use the free Google Talk calls, but if you have a Google Voice number it will show up as your CallerID when you make a phone call. If you import your contacts to Gmail you can just type the name on the call box and the number will be selected.
One advantage is the possibility to call the US from another country for free if you use Gmail.
So, what does this mean? Well, if you use Skype (like many in the business world do…to video conference, share documents and work collaboratively) it means Google might be introducing a competitive product in the marketplace of Unified Communications. However, Skype won’t be outplayed in this UC market – they launched their own newest business product Skype Connect.
According to Mashable’s Christina Warren, “With Skype Connect, businesses can now integrate the service into their existing PBX systems. In addition to making outgoing calls at Skype rates from desktop phones, Skype Connect also lets businesses receive phone calls from other Skype users, landline or mobile phones, or from other phones on the corporate PBX. Also, Skype Connect can be configured to route calls to mobile numbers.” Read more on Skype Connect by clicking here.
So, my biggest question is: Are you using video conferencing within your own recruiting world? If not…why not? Imagine being able to work with remote team members quickly, easily and at no cost (Human Resource folks love to hear ‘free!’).
Turn your desktop into a video interview portal. Meet and greet with remote candidates for a first-round ‘phone screen’ – you can tell a lot about a candidate through a video conference that you can’t tell just from a voice on the other end of the line. Many (if not all) computers these days are built with video and microphone capabilities. Use the technology that’s there!
Have you ever video-interviewed a candidate? If so, how did you find the process? Pros vs. cons? Let us know! Post your comments or tweet me @JenHitchens
