Recruit Group is in the midst of celebrating its 65th anniversary — marking over six decades of connecting people to opportunities. How has the company changed over the years, what’s top of mind for its leaders, and what future are they striving to create? We spoke with Indeed CEO Chris Hyams to find out.
Indeed CEO Chris Hyams
Indeed’s Transformation From Search Engine to Two-Sided Marketplace
Since our founding twenty years ago, Indeed’s mission has always been to help people get jobs.
When Indeed was launched in 2004, the online hiring landscape was dominated by job boards like Monster and CareerBuilder, which primarily served as digital versions of classified ads. Upon its launch, Indeed transformed the classified ads model into a search engine for jobs — bringing jobs together in one place.
But to further simplify the hiring process, we needed to understand what happened after a job seeker clicked on a job, and thus embarked on a journey to evolve into an AI-powered two-sided marketplace. The scale of the marketplace is evidenced by the 580 million job seeker Profiles*1 and the 3.5 million employers that use Indeed to hire. Across Indeed and Glassdoor, people search for jobs, create and update profiles, and research and engage in real-time conversations about companies and jobs.
*1 Indeed data (worldwide), job seeker accounts that have a unique, verified email address
The Power of Trust and Autonomy in Leadership
Upon Indeed’s acquisition in 2012, the first question posed to us by Recruit Holdings’ leadership team was, “What do you want Indeed to be in 20 or 30 years?” This focus on the future shaped our decision-making, allowing us to think beyond immediate sales targets. Though Indeed was an eight-year-old tech company at the time, Recruit’s decades-long perspective allowed us to think about the future and invest in areas where we could take big risks.
Importantly, Recruit didn’t just acquire us – they trusted us to lead ourselves. They allowed us to stay true to our mission of putting job seekers first while scaling to meet the demands of a global workforce. Since joining Recruit Group, Indeed has grown from around 500 employees to just over 11,000 today. This growth is a true testament to Recruit’s approach to autonomy.
Their approach also mirrors one of the most impactful lessons I learned as a leader from Deko, Recruit’s current CEO – that true leadership comes from responsibility without authority. It’s the ability to inspire action and build trust, regardless of your title. The decisions and actions that come from this sense of ownership are far more impactful than those made solely to fulfill a job description.
Connecting People to Opportunity Through AI Innovation
A job is a source of dignity and pride. It is where we find meaning and purpose in our lives.
While getting a job is significantly easier and faster than it was 20 years ago before Indeed launched, the truth is, it is still too hard. Our vision for the future is that through Indeed, every worker in the world will have their own personal talent agent. We believe that AI can help bring everyone the kind of career champion that today is only available to the very few.
In 2025, HR Technology SBU will embark on a new journey, joined by the HR business of Matching & Solutions SBU. Our future lies in creating a seamless experience for job seekers and employers, where technology and human expertise come together to simplify hiring and make it more efficient. Despite how far we have come, we are just getting started. We will continue building and innovating to connect people with opportunity and better lives.
Chris Hyams
Indeed CEO
Chris joined Indeed in 2010 as Vice President of Product. He was appointed President — where he was responsible for improving Indeed’s profitability and the client success area — before being appointed CEO in April 2019. Chris is a sponsor of Rising Voices, a gateway to success for young underrepresented filmmakers. He is also a board member of DivInc, a technology accelerator whose mission is to create social and economic equity through entrepreneurship, and a board member of Huston-Tillotson University.