Indeed CEO Seeks to Utilize AI to Develop ‘Cyborg’ Recruiters
Chris Hyams, the CEO of job site Indeed, aims to help individuals secure employment opportunities. Indeed, a platform that features over 30 million job listings across various industries and countries, has transformed over the years. Originally a simple job listing website, it has now become an online hub where jobseekers and recruiters can interact, evaluate each other, and even conduct interviews. This evolution has been facilitated by its ownership under Japan’s Recruit Holdings Co.
Today, the recruiting industry is facing a double whammy of layoffs, which is hitting corporate recruiters particularly hard, and the emergence of generative artificial intelligence, which threatens to move beyond just scanning resumes to writing job descriptions or even negotiating salaries. In response, Hyams analyzes how AI can complement these roles, not replace them. The CEO recently visited Bloomberg’s New York office to discuss his company’s return to the office, how he handled Indeed’s first layoff, and his plan to create “cyborg” recruiters that leverage the strengths of both humans and AI. (Answers have been edited and condensed.)
When we last spoke in February, you said the job market was slowing, but still strong. What would you say now?
Recent job vacancy reports show some signs of weakness, but the overall picture still points to a solid job market. Except for marketing and software development: These are the first two fields where demand is lower than before the pandemic. From December to July, Indeed’s marketing job postings have decreased by 10%. And copywriter job postings have been impacted even more, at 35%, due in part to ChatGPT.
Jobs have also decreased within Indeed. You laid off 15% of your staff, i.e. 2,200 people, in March. Looking back on it, what, if anything, would you do differently?
When we were busy, we kept hiring more people. We had never had layoffs in the company before. But we didn’t just cut—we cut almost nothing from our AI team or our security team. We made bigger cuts [in recruiting]. I am sorry to have such an impact on people’s lives.
How did you manage the cuts from a diversity perspective?
We didn’t specifically do last in, first out. We looked at the criteria and said, what would be the demographic impact of each criteria? We’ve done a really good job of increasing diversity at all levels over the past five years. If we had finished first, it would have negated everything.
Many companies ask people to come back to the office more often, which some employees consider a secret layoff. What do you do at Indeed?
We believe that there is no one experience – every day in the office or completely remote – that works best for everyone. About a third of our employees are customer-oriented sales teams and they come on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. And here’s the interesting thing: teams that have to come on Tuesdays and Wednesdays come about 2.05 days a week. Another company that doesn’t have to come to the office at all, comes three, three and a half days a week. It’s kind of weird.
How do your prices for returning to the office vary by city?
No one is going to the San Francisco office; The average utilization rate is 12%. But we have about 40% occupancy in Austin.
How does it affect your real estate needs?
We have closed 12 offices and another eight corporate floors. In the Bay Area, people don’t come in anyway, so they can’t come in to fewer offices now. In Austin, we go to two offices out of four.
How do you use AI to improve your job search?
We’ve moved about 50 of our own recruiters to a product called Indeed Hire, which is a full-service agency that helps other companies hire. We use artificial intelligence to enhance this role. What are some recurring, annoying aspects of recruiting? I think of it as a cyborg model – machines and people working together. We are not trying to replace you with robots. I want to build an Iron Man suit for recruiters.
Do you know what happened to Tony Stark in the last Avengers movie?
He saved everyone, didn’t he? He died that we might live. And the suit lives on.
