Product Introduction
- Hidden Job Search Helper is a free, open-source Chrome extension designed to automate the discovery of unadvertised job opportunities by scanning business websites listed on Google Maps. It eliminates manual effort by extracting company website URLs from Google Maps search results and analyzing them for job-related content. The tool operates locally on the user’s device, ensuring privacy while providing exportable data for further analysis.
- The core value lies in its ability to uncover roles not posted on traditional job boards, leveraging Google Maps’ geographic and industry-specific business data. It streamlines job hunting by processing multiple websites simultaneously, saving hours of manual research, and enabling targeted searches based on location, keywords, and industry preferences.
Main Features
- The extension performs automated Google Maps business searches using user-defined keywords and geographic parameters, extracting website URLs directly from map listings. It processes up to 100 businesses per session, with adjustable result limits to control search depth.
- Advanced job detection scans websites for career pages, job listings, and role-specific keywords in 15+ languages, including English, Spanish, and German. It identifies contact information like HR emails and application portals, even when jobs are not explicitly advertised on third-party platforms.
- Users export structured CSV files containing company names, URLs, detected job opportunities, and contact details. The extension saves custom search preferences locally, allowing repeat scans with preconfigured settings for ongoing job searches.
Problems Solved
- It addresses the inefficiency of manually checking individual company websites for hidden job openings, which are often absent from LinkedIn, Indeed, or other aggregators. Traditional methods require hours of repetitive browsing and data organization.
- The tool targets active job seekers prioritizing local or niche industries, recruiters building talent pipelines, and career changers seeking roles in specific sectors like healthcare or tech. Professionals exploring relocation opportunities benefit from its geographic filtering.
- A typical use case involves a user searching for "software engineer roles in Berlin" via Google Maps, running the extension to scan 50+ tech company websites, and exporting a CSV with direct links to unadvertised junior developer positions on corporate career pages.
Unique Advantages
- Unlike job board scrapers, this tool sources opportunities directly from business websites, capturing roles before they reach public platforms. Competitors like Hunter.io or SimilarWeb lack integrated Google Maps scraping and job-specific parsing.
- The multilingual detection engine uses NLP to identify job-related content across diverse website structures, including single-page applications and legacy CMS platforms. Simultaneous HTTP requests enable batch processing of 10+ sites in parallel.
- Privacy-focused architecture ensures zero data transmission to external servers, differentiating it from cloud-based tools. Open-source code allows transparency and customization for developers, while non-technical users benefit from one-click CSV exports.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- Does the extension work outside Google Maps? No, it is optimized specifically for Google Maps pages where business listings include website URLs. Users must initiate searches via maps.google.com for proper functionality.
- How does it handle password-protected career portals? The tool detects login pages but cannot bypass authentication. It flags these instances in CSV exports for manual follow-up, prioritizing publicly accessible job content.
- What languages are supported for job detection? The NLP model recognizes job-related terms in 15+ languages, including major European and Asian languages, with accuracy varying based on website text complexity.
- Can I schedule automated daily scans? No, searches require manual initiation, but saved preferences allow rapid re-scans. Users may export CSVs and combine them with automation tools like Zapier for recurring workflows.
- Why does scan speed vary? Performance depends on website response times and server load. Scanning 50 sites typically takes 2-8 minutes, with slower results from unresponsive domains or media-heavy pages.
