A Houston-based TikToker reached out to a company after wondering why she didn’t get an interview for a job she felt was perfect for her. In a TikTok video, she says she discovered Indeed didn’t send her resume to the company despite applying through the online job-hunting service.
The TikTok is from creator @kiahsvendsen and was posted Feb. 28, garnering nearly 2,600 views since going up on the platform.
In the clip, the creator responds to a comment from a fellow TikToker, theorizing about the AI-driven automated resume readers that might pass over qualified applicants, to a video she posted with more than 50,000 views chronicling her job hunt.
As she reveals in her follow-up TikTok, she had concerns about how Indeed handled one job application in particular.
“This rings to be true,” she says, pointing to the message from the commenter superimposed on the video. “And Indeed needs to do better.”
@kiahsvendsen Replying to @shikhastruth IM LOOKING AT YOU @indeed 👀 #unemployed #jobhunting #jobupdate #indeed #indeedjobs #jobinterview ♬ original sound – kiahsvendsen
She went on to explain, “Because I applied for a job a few days ago that I’m qualified for, and I feel like I would do well at, and I applied for it that night, then early the next morning it said I was not selected by the employer, and I questioned that a lot.”
The TikToker then shares that she reached out to the owner of the company employer directly, and said, “Submitted my resume on Indeed, just making sure you got it. Let me know if you have any more questions. And I have an interview tomorrow for that company now.”
She concludes by saying, “Don’t trust Indeed,” and again, “Indeed needs to do better.”
The person who sent the comment launching the response TikTok returned to the comments section, saying, “Always contact the company after applying for the job. So happy you got an interview!”
“As a recruiter, my number one tip is NEVER apply to jobs through a 3rd party (indeed, LinkedIn, monster, etc),” another person wrote. “Find the jobs there, then go to the company’s website and apply directly. Those website don’t always send us the people who apply or just keep their information!!”
A third noted that despite the advice to apply directly for the position, it doesn’t always work. “Damn, I did apply directly through the company site and still got, ‘While your background is very impressive, we have unfortunately decided to move forward with another candidate at this time,'” they said.
The Daily Dot has reached out to the creator via TikTok comment via email.
Update Mar. 22 11:25 a.m. CT: A Indeed spokesperson, responding to a request for comment on this TikTok, noted, “While we won’t provide specifics on an individual job seeker’s application, Indeed provides employers with the option to automatically reject an application if an applicant doesn’t meet predetermined requirements marked as ‘deal breakers.’ Deal breakers are set by the employer, not Indeed. If an applicant’s answers don’t match the employer’s deal breaker requirements, they are automatically moved to the Rejected tab in the Employer Dashboard.
Deal breaker questions are very clear to applicants, who are required to answer them to submit their application. Indeed sends applicants who do not meet deal breaker criteria an email informing them that their application was rejected.”
