Indeed's CEO wants to break this 'vicious cycle' in hiring

Indeed CEO Hisayuki Idekoba aims to break the vicious cycle of hiring difficulties faced by both job seekers and employers. He acknowledges that job seekers often apply for roles without hearing back, while employers complain about unresponsive candidates and an influx of application volumes, partly due to AI bots flooding open roles with résumés.

Idekoba wants to make Indeed's matching tools feel more like a recruiter's assistance for those applying cold, guiding job seekers toward roles where they have a better chance of success and helping employers focus on serious and relevant applicants.

Idekoba believes that better matching could discourage fruitless applications by ensuring that job seekers are real people, not AI applications, and that they are serious and qualified. He also wants to verify the qualifications of both job seekers and employers. Indeed has started testing a tool called Apply For Me, which automatically submits applications for job seekers, but paused it after receiving feedback and decided to focus instead on having users review drafted applications before submitting.

The labor market is experiencing AI-driven challenges, with a growing AI-to-AI loop in hiring. According to Idekoba, only 4% of US job changers with at least a high-school degree switched jobs last year with the help of a recruiter contacting them, while the remaining 96% are left to apply on their own and often receive no responses.

Greenhouse, an applicant-tracking software provider, found that applications per job have more than doubled over the past three years, while the average number of recruiters per organization has fallen by 56%. This imbalance can lead to employers relying on technology to automatically screen candidates, transforming the early stages of hiring into an AI-to-AI loop.