For years, Indeed has been one of the go-to job posting sites for businesses and staffing agencies looking to find qualified candidates. However, as 2024 rolls around, there are growing concerns that Indeed may be losing its effectiveness as a recruiting tool.
The Frustrations with Indeed
Numerous companies and staffing firms have been voicing complaints about diminishing returns on Indeed. A common grievance is spending significant money on sponsored job postings, only to receive very few applicants in return.
“I’m getting screwed on Indeed this year!” laments one frustrated staffing firm owner. “I’m getting next to nothing for applicants no matter if I run jobs with a huge budget or post for free. I get the same miserable results.”
This person, who runs a medium-sized direct hire staffing agency, reported posting over 10 jobs recently and only receiving a single applicant who wasn’t even qualified. Despite the lack of applicants, they still racked up over $400 in charges from Indeed in just four days.
The anecdote reflects a clashing contrast to previous years when the same job postings submitted around 100 applicants. “Last year I would post the same amount of jobs and get 100 applicants, this year NOTHING!!!!!” they exclaimed.
Others have similarly failed to show the experiences after relying on Indeed in the past. “Last year off to care for my Mom who had cancer…not getting any better results on the other ones (job boards),” commented a software developer with 5 years of experience.
What Are People Using Instead?
With Indeed potentially becoming an inefficient option, businesses and staffing firms are turning to alternative job posting sites and methods:
LinkedIn: Multiple companies touted the professional networking site as a better resource, citing higher-quality applicants. “LinkedIn. So much better,” focus one user.
Other Major Job Boards: Job seekers also reported trying ZipRecruiter, Dice, Glassdoor, and Google Jobs without dramatically better results than Indeed lately.
Headhunting: Rather than passively posting openings, some companies and staffing agencies have pivoted to more proactive candidate searching. “I’m having to headhunt people by all means necessary,” said one exasperated firm owner.
Indeed’s Struggles
While personal story shouldn’t be viewed as universal truths, the story of complaints points to Indeed grappling with serious issues impacting its recruitment effectiveness:
- Oversaturated with job postings, reducing visibility for individual listings
- Outdated platform failing to adapt to changing recruitment needs and methods
- Lack of responsiveness or efforts to improve user experience
The Road Ahead
As businesses continue to air wrong over Indeed’s shortcomings, the road ahead for the job site looks rocky. Recruitment firms and companies seeking top talent may be forced to diversify their strategies even further by double-downing on active recruiting via LinkedIn, leveraging AI-powered talent intelligence tools, improving their employer brand, and more.
For Indeed, stakeholders will be looking for major upgrades and a renewed focus on delivering return-on-investment for employers. If the issues aren’t adequately addressed soon, the concerns about Indeed’s demise could become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Only time will tell if the job board is able to course-correct and reclaim its position as a leading recruitment platform.
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