How Indeed Has Remained One Step Ahead of the Virtual Job Market

Jodi Kasten is the General Manager and VP of Sales at Indeed.com

Jodi is the General Manager and VP of Sales at Indeed.com in Canada, the largest online platform for job seekers and job listings in Canada with 8 million job-seeking visitors every month. Having worked in sales for eBay and Kijiji in the past, Jodi got a call from a recruiter at Indeed to come and work for them but having never heard of Indeed before, she originally said no. After a few more calls, Jodi finally took a meeting with them and learned a little more about what they do before taking the opportunity to build the brand in the Canadian market.

“Because we’re In the world of Covid, so much is happening virtually,” Jodi explains “so a lot of our employers are really leveraging Indeed virtual hiring events where we’re able to do interviews.” This allows for employers to conduct interviews in a safe environment and in a timely manner. Although Covid-19 has sped up the virtual landscapes of the day to day, Indeed has already been on this move to digital for the last 5-6 years. The move to virtual job seeking has grown exponentially not only for the seeker but also for the employer because of the mass screening process, branding tools, and resume databases. “So much of that recruitment effort and job-seeking effort on both sides is really done in the digital world now,” she says.

The virtual work life is becoming more of a reality these days, and Jodi thinks it's here to stay. “I don’t know how many will go 100% virtual but I think that a lot of employers and a lot of our customers are saying when its safe to go back to the office it won’t necessarily have to be a full-time thing,” Jodi theorizes. This could be a great benefit for employees because you can eliminate the commute to work or after-school babysitters.

Those looking for jobs on Indeed receive quite a few tools that allow them to have the upper hand in the online job-seeking world. You can easily create an updated Indeed resume so you can apply to jobs without having to manually input your information, be a part of the Indeed resume database that allows recruiters to find you, or you can even apply to listings through your mobile device with ease. Indeed also has the functionality to send you updates about new listings and companies you have saved.

On the other hand, employers get the benefits of having not only manually listed job listings but also automatic listings that they pull from your own company site within hours of the same day. They are also able to sponsor job listings so they are at the top of the search results, or add in screening questions so the applications you receive have the most context you can get without speaking with the applicant directly.

Jodi says one thing to remember is you must be patient when applying, especially in these times, make sure our applying to jobs that you want to go after, and if you don’t see anything you like then you should consider how your skills could work in an adjacent industry.

In terms of employers looking to hire, Jodi also has a few pointers:

1. Be really specific about what the job title is, you want to be as specific as you can and not use an internal job title.
2. You want the job seeker to be able to discover you so be clear about expectations and requirements
3. Be sure to set up your Indeed company page so that job seekers and discover a little more about your company with employee reviews, pictures, and more detailed workplace information. Jodi says there is a 5x increase in application rates for businesses that have this company page set up

Written by Juliana Bermudez