A job seeker recently went viral after she called out Indeed, the employment website for job listings, for allegedly telling her current boss that she was applying for other roles.
Nicole Crawford (@nicoleecrawford) said she was pulled into her department director’s office after Indeed supposedly alerted them that Crawford was looking for work elsewhere. “Hey Indeed! Thats really weird!” Crawford wrote in the accompanying video caption.
She doubled down on her frustration with the job-posting site on the accompanying text overlay. “Good morning to everyone except the person at Indeed who thought it would be a good idea to alert your current company when you apply to other positions,” Crawford wrote.
As of Sunday morning, her TikTok had amassed more than 1.6 million views.
Will Indeed tell your employer if you apply elsewhere?
In a 2022 forum, a worker asked whether employers are notified when job seekers start applying for other roles via Indeed. At the time, a representative for Indeed said that it doesn’t.
“We have a very conservative/strict culture when it comes to sharing job seeker data between employers,” it wrote. “Legal would never allow what you described.”
“Worst thing I could see happening,” it added, “is us recommending you to your current employer via matching.”
And, the Indeed representative wrote, it wouldn’t be in the best interest of the site to share employees’ personal business with other employers.
Still, other workers have logged complaints similar to Crawford’s. Last year, another worker said on Quora that their company knew when he applied for other jobs in the same province or state.
But if Indeed isn’t sharing this information—who is?
One commenter offered a few possibilities: Their current job was tracking his work computer, their Indeed application wasn’t marked as confidential, or the job they were applying for—before interviewing the worker—contacted his or her company to confirm employment history.
In other words, job applications should be confidential.
@nicoleecrawford Hey indeed! Thats really weird! I had my department’s director pull me into her office to talk to me about it! #indeed #sketchy #jobhunt #psa ♬ Girls – The Dare
Commenters react
Stories from Crawford and other job seekers, such as the one on Quora, affirm that, somehow, their current jobs have found out that they’ve applied for work elsewhere.
A few recruiters said this was likely because Indeed “alerts employers when you update your resume if they check.” However, they said this feature could be turned off via the Indeed app.
Another viewer said this was true.
“Indeed isn’t telling them, the company recruiters are while seeing you recently activate your resume,” they said. “It’s a catch 22 unfortunately as that also helps you find jobs faster.”
This led other workers to come forward with horror stories similar to Crawford’s.
“I was pulled aside twice by my managers and asked why I’m ‘active’ on Indeed,” one person wrote. “Indeed shouldn’t be notifying my employers. Why not keep my activity private.”
“I will never forget when my manager asked my coworker in front of everyone how her job search was going at a meeting it was so awkward and petty,” another added.
“My old manager always used to gossip about which girls had been updating their Indeed recently and started cutting their hours,” a third person wrote.
And if Indeed is sharing employees’ information with their current employers, some commenters questioned whether there were grounds for a lawsuit.
“Honestly it should be illegal for them to even check,” one woman said.
“Wow this needs to be more known if true,” another echoed. “Or possible lawsuit, people’s livelihoods at stake.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Crawford via TikTok comment and to Indeed by email.
Update Sep. 1, 2024:
In an email to the Daily Dot, Indeed shared the following statement:
“Indeed does not notify an employer when one of their employees is searching for a new job. When creating a job profile and resume on Indeed, job seekers can select their desired searchability setting: one for keeping their resume and job profile nonsearchable, and a setting to make their resume and profile searchable. The searchable resume option can be beneficial because it allows hiring managers and recruiters to find it through candidate searches.”
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