I Never Use Indeed To Help Felons Get Jobs

I often hear of people using Indeed to look for jobs. In fact, Indeed says that it gets 140 million unique visitors to its website every month. Out of that number, I wonder how many real job leads are found there and out of that number, how many people actually get jobs. When you click on the "apply" links on the Indeed website, what happens? When you click the "apply" link you are asked for your personal information but I'm not really sure if the application actually reaches the employer.

My experience is that when you sign up with Indeed your email address is sold and you will get tons of emails from career schools, how to make money at home schemes and other things that have nothing to do with getting jobs. I never encourage the ex-offenders and felons I work with to use Indeed. A lot of the job listings are stale and the jobs are no longer there. I have also seen instances where the job didn't even exist. For instance, I saw one job listed that I always see in my area here in southern New Jersey. I mean that I see the same job listed all the time. It was for a job at a nationwide retailer. It was one of the companies on my list of companies that hire ex-offenders and felons. So, I went to the store to talk to the manager, who I have known for years to see if the job was actually open. The manger told me that he had no openings and that Indeed has had that job posted for months.

I Never Use Indeed To Help Felons Get Jobs

Can Indeed be valuable in any way? I teach my students that if they must use Indeed, never sign up for their website so they don't get bombarded with a bunch of spam emails. Secondly search for jobs their area but don't click the links on the Indeed website. Instead of clicking the link, look up the company on your own. For example, if Indeed lists a job at XYZ company, don't click the link on Indeed, go directly to the XYZ website. Once you get there look for the link to the company's own employment section. It often is at the very bottom in small print and it may say "Employment" or "Careers." Click on the link. You will be surprised at what you will find. You will find all of the actual open positions along with the job descriptions, requirement and how to apply. If the company is nation-wide the job listings will be listed by geographical location. You will often find more jobs than are listed on Indeed.

You will find that this will result in more and better job leads.

Best of luck in your job search. Please feel free to comment on this article.

Eric Mayo