Reducing the Time to Get Hired by Half

Commitment to Society

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

We’ve been working to get closer to the hire by helping job seekers through every step of the process. We get there by building an employer platform to let them post jobs, manage candidates, conduct interviews, and make offers. As we collect more data on Indeed, we can improve the quality and speed of job matching.

Improvement in matching means we can make the process simpler and faster, helping reduce job search duration. We do this in two main ways: First, we work to advance our measurement methodology and understand job search durations across the job seeking process. Second, we advance our products to reduce friction in each step of the hiring process through automation.

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 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 in the beginning. To calculate 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 and it became our “baseline” duration. Now we are making progress to reduce job search duration from 15 weeks in FY2021 to 7.5 weeks in FY2030.

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This self-reported data set has grown over time, and we are learning more about the job seekers and factors that impact their job search duration that are statistically significant.

While today we do have a growing and usable data set of self-reported durations, our long-term strategy is to measure the job search duration by identifying the start signal with actions on the platform. For example, we are collecting and studying more information from job seekers that is indicative of the start of a job search, which includes: creating a job alert, creating an Indeed account and conducting a search for the first time in a long time. Like the hiring signals, the goal is to collect the “start of job search” signal data from multiple sources to create the best measurement logic of strat signal.

Job Search Durations Significantly Vary by the Type of Occupations and Pay Ranges

As we continue to study our job search duration data available through the Indeed platform, we have uncovered notable variation in time to get jobs across occupations and pay ranges. For example, in the U.S., almost all job seekers in transportation, food & beverage occupations found a job within 8 weeks. Whereas the job search duration of job seekers in finance, PR and marketing occupations was more than double.

Time it takes for almost all^*job seekers get hired by type of jobs

*More than 90% of job seekers

We have also found that jobs with lower salaries exhibited shorter search times than jobs with higher salaries in the U.S. This trend held true regardless of occupation: for example, for both transportation jobs and marketing jobs, the lower the salary, the shorter the job search duration. We also observed that lower-paying jobs have shorter employee retention than higher-paying jobs. This may indicate that job seekers in lower salary bands do not have the luxury of time to wait to find the right job.

Time it takes for almost all^*job seekers get hired by salaries

*More than 90% of job seekers

We also found the impact of macroeconomic factors on job search duration. Our economic research team looked at data from CPS (Current Population Survey conducted by Bureau of Labor Statistics) and discovered that in economic downturns, unemployment duration increases.^*4 This data gives us some insights into how important our work is for those affected during such times.

How Our Technology Platforms Make Hiring Faster and Simpler

Alongside our efforts to measure job search duration, we have steadily been investing in our online products to aid job seekers and employers globally.

Recruiters’ Major Tasks for Hiring

For example, Indeed Assessments is an online resource for employers that helps identify and measure the skills needed for a role, and helps job seekers display their skills. We observed Indeed Assessments reduced time to hire for employers by 16% compared to job postings where employers did not use this product.^*5

Our comprehensive Indeed Hiring Platform automates sourcing, screening, and interview scheduling.^*6 More importantly, an employer can immediately determine if a candidate meets the criteria for an interview and schedule it on the spot. The average time from a job seeker expressing initial interest in a job posted on Indeed to the time they interview for this job is only 3 days, compared to weeks for the typical hiring process.

Furthermore, we found that our pricing model can also impact the time to get hired. Indeed’s Pay Per Application pricing model enables employers to pay only for quality applications so that they can make hires faster. We observed that this also shortens the job search duration for job seekers: job seekers hired to sponsored jobs on this pricing model had a 17% shorter search duration than those hired to Pay Per Click jobs.^*7

Time to Hire by Price Models

Our Journey Toward 2030

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