The Good, Bad, and Ugly of Your Job Search on Indeed.com

Over the last decade Indeed.com has become a major force for job seekers. They have become the "#1 job site worldwide" (this is, of course, according to indeed.com). Many organizations, publishers, and HR experts would at least place it in the top ten for job search engines. Let's explore some of its strengths and weaknesses for you as a job seeker.

The Good

Indeed.com has many things it does well. The site brings together an amazing volume of job postings, a simple way to search for postings, an easy application process, and valuable research tools.

Indeed is an aggregator. As a job search site it pulls open positions from a variety of job posting sites as well as career sites from company websites. The amount of openings you will find on this site is typically larger than any other job search site.

In addition to the volume of postings, the methodology in which it compiles all of these openings makes it easy to search by many criteria. Not only are you able to limit the results by keywords and position titles, you can limit the results by level of experience, salary, distance, and the type of role (contract, part-time, full-time, etc.). If you have specific requirements or want to truly target your search, this functionality truly makes your life easier.

If you goal is pushing out as many applications as possible, Indeed also has the functionality to help you in that respect. Some organizations choose to make it possible to apply with your Indeed resume, which is set up when you register with Indeed. It essentially becomes a one-click application. There are some downfalls that come with this option, which we will soon discuss.

One function that is often overlooked and undervalued is Indeed's research capability. Recently moved, the research tools can be found on the top left-hand side of the homepage. You have the ability to research companies, their reviews from past and current employees, their average salaries, additional openings at that organization, and additional information that may be useful during the hiring process. One caveat, take the reviews in as a whole. You will find overly negative reviews from disgruntled employees and overly positive reviews from current employees seeking to improve the company's image. Another research capability is researching your desired position's average salary. You can see what the average pay is in your region, across the nation, or at a specific organization. This will give you a better idea of what your value is in the marketplace.

Overall, a lot of benefits that come from using Indeed. There are a couple of gaps that could be improved, so lets continue our review and get a bigger picture of your search on Indeed.

The Bad and the Ugly

There are some limitations that come from the sole use of Indeed. For every positive attribute there is the unfortunate limiting condition. Too much of a good thing can be bad.

Yes, the amount of positions on Indeed makes the site überconvenient, but it creates an over reliance. Some job seekers will solely conduct their job search on Indeed and miss out on opportunities that are yet to be posted, only posted on the company site, posted on social media, or are only posted on traditional print (flyers, billboards, newspapers, etc.). Make sure to extend your search past one sole job search tool. You might miss your dream job just because it was easier to search on Indeed.

And yes, job seeking can be tiresome and it is easy to target the one-click application process that Indeed has, but in turn, your resume may never be seen. The increased visibility and ease of use for hundreds of applicants makes it easy for those that are overqualified, underqualified, and just the right fit to create an overwhelming amalgamation of resumes for any recruiter. The likelihood of being lost in the stack of applications greatly increases when using this tool. Just be aware that it may be a possibility and that you may have to follow up.

Conclusion: Indeed should be in your job search tool belt, but it should not be your only tool.

Have you had any success with Indeed? What other tools do you use? Are there any additional questions you have about your job search, interviews, or resume? Please comment below or on our Facebook page. You may see your question featured on one of our posts!

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This post was sponsored by Stallion Consulting Group, LLC.

Stallion Consulting Group provides one-on-one career coaching and partners with companies to improve their recruiting processes