Reducing the Time to Get Hired by Half

Commitment to Society

Reduce the time it takes to get hired by half by FY2030 compared to that of FY2021^*2

We have been working to get closer to the hire by helping job seekers and employers through every step of the process. With the power of our hiring platform, job seekers are able to search for a job, apply for a job, have an interview, and get hired faster and simpler than ever before. What’s more is through the combination of rich data and product advancement, we are improving the quality of job matching, too.

Advancement in Measurement Methodology

Establishing Job Search Duration Measurement

“When does a job search begin and when does it end?” To date, there has not been an established measurement method available to capture exactly how long it takes for job seekers to get jobs on a job platform. Therefore, our journey started by developing a methodology to enable us to answer this question. Since we launched this goal in May 2021, we started a phased strategy to advance our measurement methodology.

We had a measurement logic in place that shed light on when a job search ended (what we call “hired signal”), but we did not have a way to know and measure when a job search starts. To calculate the overall search duration from when a job search starts to when a person is hired, we began gathering self-reported data on job search duration directly from job seekers who found their jobs on Indeed ― this data formed the basis for our methodology. In May 2021, we shared that it takes approximately 15 weeks for most people to get jobs on Indeed.^*3 In the long term, we are evolving our measurement methodology to identify the start of job search from actions on the platform to measure the time it takes to get hired more easily.

Learn more about job seekers’ self-reported data

Employer “Time-to-Hire"^*4

In pursuit of our long-term goal to halve the time it takes to get hired, we need to understand the process of both the job seeker and employer. In FY2023, we focused on the "Time-to-Hire" for employers, a metric that can be measured at each step of the hiring process, up to and including the hire, based on Indeed data. As shown in the diagram below, many of the steps that job seekers follow in the job search process parallel those that employers follow in the candidate search process, and employers' actions significantly impact the time it takes to get hired.

The Hiring Process of Job Seekers and Employers

We measure the time it takes for an employer to hire by using the date that the job was created on Indeed as the start point, and the date that a successful hire was made as the end point. Each step of this process can be measured on Indeed.

Based on data collected on Indeed for jobs that led to a hire, the average time to hire is around 55 days.^*5

Average Employer Time to Hire

Simplifying and Speeding Up Hiring with Platform Evolution

We are beginning to see signs of reduced "Time-to-Hire" on Indeed through improved matching, reduced friction, and process automation.

Matched Candidates^*6

Indeed's "Matched Candidates" feature uses Indeed’s matching AI to provide a list of qualified candidates to employers using a combination of data found in resumes, job seeker profiles, and the details provided in the job posting. Employers can then send candidates a personalized invitation to connect.

As a result, out of the job seekers who responded to the invitations, more than half did so in less than 5 hours.^*7 Based on this success, since April 2024, the Matched Candidates feature became available to a wider pool of business clients by being included in subscriptions of Smart Sourcing, a product enabling faster matching and a cohesive hiring experience. Employers can connect with job seekers before they apply for the job through this feature.

Indeed Assessments

Indeed Assessments helps job seekers to display their skills and helps employers find quality candidates who they want to contact for an interview by providing multiple ready-to-use skill tests. We observed that Indeed Assessments reduced time to hire for employers by an average of 17% compared to job postings where employers did not use this product.^*8

Our Journey Toward 2030

We will continue to deepen our knowledge about the time it takes for job seekers to get a job and for employers to make a hire, further develop products to shorten job search duration while advancing measurement methodologies to help create a world where opportunities for life are available to all.