Indeed CEO Hisayuki Idekoba says he regularly hears the same complaints from both sides of hiring. Job seekers tell him they apply and get nothing back. Employers complain about unresponsive candidates and surging application volumes, driven in part by AI bots that flood open roles with résumés. He wants Indeed’s matching tools to break that cycle by working more like a recruiter for people applying cold, he told Business Insider.
Idekoba said Indeed data show only 4% of US job changers with at least a high-school degree switched jobs last year because a recruiter contacted them. The other 96% apply on their own, often dozens of times, without hearing back. Better matching, he argued, could steer people away from fruitless applications, such as a restaurant worker applying for a $200,000 engineering job instead of a restaurant-management role that fits.
“How can we make sure job seekers are a real person, and it’s not an AI application, and they’re serious, and they’re qualified,” he said. “And how can we have real employers who are really trying to fill positions?”
Indeed has run into the same tension itself. In July it began a limited US test of Apply For Me, which could submit applications automatically on a job seeker’s behalf. About a month later it paused the feature after feedback and said it would focus instead on drafted applications that users review before submitting.
Recruiters are under pressure too. Applicant-tracking company Greenhouse analyzed about 640 million applications from more than 6,000 companies between 2022 and 2025 and found that applications per job more than doubled while the average number of recruiters per organization fell 56%, BI reported.
Verification is part of Indeed’s answer. The company said it verifies employers before new postings go live, which can include checking a work email and a third-party identity check, and it limits how long roles can be posted for free. Job seekers are verified by phone among other measures, and Indeed is testing a feature with select employers that lets candidates show independently verified professional licenses. Idekoba said employers also need to rethink how they screen. “You got 1,000 applications, and you think all 1,000 people are not qualified?” he said. “Something’s wrong.”
The push toward matching is also the theme of Indeed’s new global brand campaign, “Jobs need people,” made with agency 72andSunny, Marketing-Interactive reported. Indeed said it now facilitates 31 hires a minute, and its matching engine draws on more than 665 million job seeker profiles. About 70% of sponsored applications now come through tools such as Smart Sourcing and Smart Screening, with traditional keyword search accounting for less than 30%.
The company cited an April Harris Poll survey it commissioned: 81% of job seekers have applied for roles without getting a response, and 45% are unsure whether they qualify for the jobs they apply to. “Hiring shouldn’t feel like a search. It should be a discovery,” chief marketing officer James Whitemore said.
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