Updates to Indeed’s Job Search and What this Means for You

By Kellie Lail

Indeed has always made it clear that candidates are their number one priority. Because of this, all of their posting guidelines are in place to make the job search as seamless as possible for candidates. Recent updates to Indeed’s platform have made it even easier for candidates to find not only the job, but the benefits that they are most interested in. So what does this mean for you, and how do you make sure that your perfect candidate is able to find your ad?

While the intent of these updates was to make the job search easier for candidates, this is actually incredibly exciting for you, because it makes it easier for candidates to find your ad – as long as you’re offering a competitive and relevant position. When you’re looking for your “unicorn” perfect candidate, you need to put yourself in their position. What do they want out of the job? What benefits are most important to them? Where do they want to work? How specific do they want the ad to be? How much should I be paying them?

Before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s back up a bit and talk about the way the search feature works. Previously, you would put the title of the job you were searching for in the “What” bar, and the zip code or city name into the “Where” bar to find available jobs in your area. Once you did that, you could use filters for things like “Remote,” “Salary Estimate,” “Date Posted,” “Job Type,” “Company,” etc. While those filters are still available for use, the “What” bar has expanded and now works much like a Google Search bar. What this means is that your keywords, which were already incredibly important in catching a candidate’s eye, are now your best friend. To show up in the most searches, giving you the best chance of finding your unicorn, you need to make sure you’re offering all of the things they want.

How Can I Search for My Ad?

What if I put my job as remote and there are 4,000 job results in my search?

This is where your salary and benefits are going to come in handy as candidates make their searches more specific to find the job that they’re looking for.

For example, if I want to work in Sales, make $60,000 a year, have PTO, Supplemental Insurance, Weekends Off, a 401k, and work Remote, my search will look a little something like this.

Is your ad one of those 144 results? If not, why isn’t it? What should you do to make sure that it is?

Here is what candidates are looking for: Remote, Salary, and Benefits.

Remote: 85% of candidates are searching for remote positions. That means that in order to be successful in your hiring efforts and attract the best candidates possible, you need to offer your position as Fully Remote. Check out this video post from our Client Relationship Team Manager, Faith Dawson, talking about candidates wanting to work remote.

Salary: You want to make sure your salary is competitive for not only your area, but the entire country. With so many businesses moving to remote work, you want to ensure your salary can attract a worker from Southern California to the tip of Maine and everywhere in between. Check out this article on creating a competitive salary range.

Benefits: The additional keywords that candidates will be using to narrow their search are going to come straight from your benefits section. This means that you should be including every single benefit that you offer in your job ad. Check out the benefits Keyword Checklist here to see what you should be including.

If you’d like one of our awesome customer support representatives to take a look at your ad after you’ve posted it to make sure it is in it’s best shape, send us a message using the chat feature on the website and we can take a look for you! Happy hiring!