* Senior leadership has proven to be unable to "right the ship" and consistently shows how out of touch they are at this point. One of them (who, granted, is no longer there) is quoted as stating that an entire business unit "never did anything." Insulting, and objectively incorrect. I think being faced with that error is why they're no longer there, tbh.) Let me be clear: layoffs are a management failure. Period. It's not that the people "impacted" were under-performing, it's not that their business unit wasn't producing, and it's certainly not due merely to "market forces" and "economic hardship." It is a direct causal relationship from poor management decisions and lack of leadership. Every single problem Indeed has had that they say led to these decisions can be traced back to bad management decisions and/or lack of oversight in every area, going back potentially years. I used to think pretty positively of my time at Indeed, but after yet another round of layoffs (first 2023 and again early 2024), it's clear to me that leadership is utterly lost or just coasting. There was clearly far too much spent on marketing and over-hiring throughout the pandemic, and that was never going to be sustainable. Even prior to that, though, none of the "big bets" the company had strived for over the last several years had paid dividends they expected. (I assume at least part of this is that they cut the project(s) before they could really find their footing. Seriously, launching a whole new platform was never going to turn a profit in <1 year. That's an unreasonable expectation -- yet another poor management decision, IMO.) So this is all to say that I'm disappointed in how things have shifted from what used to be a really great place that I would wholeheartedly suggest people work at. Now I steer people away at every chance I get. Until there is fundamental change, this is not the place to be. It's just not worth the risk of having the rug pulled out from under you. And, truthfully, I think the company became far too complacent as the de facto job search platform of the mid 2010s. I do not foresee a world where market share expands here any further. Internationally, everywhere already has their preferred platforms, so I don't see that really taking off, either. Unless Indeed can rebuild its tarnished image in its primary markets, I don't see them rebounding, at least not any time soon.
* Morale here is a huge problem at the moment. Obviously this is directly caused by the layoffs the company now seems way too comfortable with doing unexpectedly, despite positive signals from the parent company stock. I don't know anyone who is happily going to work here anymore. They do it, sure, but the looming threat of a layoff is mentally taxing to even the most resilient, and I can't imagine it translates to hiring the best people.
* The marketing approach here is....bad right now, IMO. I'm not talking about the commercials on the radio or streaming services or whatever. I'm talking about all the hype and pomp surrounding when senior leadership puts on some sort of conference, or goes to speak at some sort of convention touting how they're "looking to the future." I keep seeing these things across the internet, and these, to me, are wildly at-odds with how things are actually going. I assume it's mostly an act, and fair enough. They need to be at least publicly stalwart, if nothing else, to convince people they're doing well. Given the general attitude towards the economy and the job market as a whole, I just don't buy it. Even more than that, though, I find these things to be so tone deaf. Even if we ignore that Indeed is directly causing problems for their (now former) employees, I don't think these events and all the hype they're signaling from them send the messages they intend for them to send. The market is tough. Indeed of all places should be aware of what's going on, and they should see how painful it is to their average user. Yet do they try to solve problems to help alleviate that burden? No. Instead, they go rambling on about how they're "making the necessary decisions" and how AI is going to help "match people to jobs better." (If that's true, then show some evidence instead of just throwing around the buzzword du jour.) When in reality, all AI has done so far is created a bubble that negatively impacts the very people Indeed claims to be serving (the job seeker). (In perhaps the epitome of irony, as I came to write this review, Glassdoor was showing me one of the latest news articles directly from Indeed where the CEO shares the struggle of one of his children in the job market and then spinning that into a puff piece around their new "AI-powered matcher" -- which I assume is basically the same ML model they've been using for years, perhaps enhanced by generative AI. Just a guess, though.) Basically, I think these events are them stroking their ego more than anything, and I find it to be in very poor taste, especially given the extremely grim situation in which Indeed has left some of its strongest supporters.
