5 minBusiness
Indeed CEO Warns Hiring Market Trapped in a Vicious Cycle
Indeed CEO Hisayuki Idekoba says the hiring process has become a vicious cycle as job openings slow, applications surge, and AI-generated resumes and fake candidates overwhelm recruiters.
The chief executive of one of the world's largest job-search platforms is acknowledging what millions of job seekers already suspect: the hiring process is broken. Hisayuki Idekoba, CEO of Indeed, said the labor market has fallen into a «vicious cycle» in which job openings have slowed while the number of applicants competing for each position keeps climbing, leaving qualified workers applying to dozens or even hundreds of jobs without hearing back.
Idekoba pointed to the sheer volume of applications as evidence that something has gone wrong in how companies and candidates find each other. «You got 1,000 applications, and you think all 1,000 people are not qualified?» he said. «Something's wrong.» His comments reflect a growing frustration that cuts across both sides of the hiring equation.
Employers face their own set of problems. Applicant pools are increasingly flooded with AI-generated applications, and scams involving fake candidates, including North Korean IT workers, have made it harder for companies to identify legitimate applicants. Recruiters are left trying to determine whether a submission comes from a real person who is serious and qualified, while job seekers struggle to stand out in an ever-expanding pile of resumes.
The strain is not limited to Indeed. Daniel Chait, CEO of hiring software firm Greenhouse, said the current market is failing everyone involved. «This is the first time when really both sides have been unhappy,» Chait said. «The market just isn't working for either side.» He confirmed that the perceived «black hole» of job applications is real, and the data supports that view: applications per job rose 111% between 2022 and 2025, while the number of recruiters fell 56%, creating a perfect storm for both job seekers and employers.
Some recruiters, including Indeed, have turned to AI tools to manage the growing workload and better match candidates with jobs. But applicants are using AI as well, to tailor resumes, write cover letters, and improve their chances of getting noticed. That dynamic has created another layer of complexity in an already strained process. «We've called that the AI doom loop,» Chait said. «Everyone's using their own AI to solve their own problem, but it's making the whole system worse.»
For candidates looking for a way through, Chait advises looking beyond the most prominent companies, where competition for openings can be especially fierce. «Don't just apply to, you know, OpenAI, because they're in the news every day,» he said. «Think of the job you want and apply to less-known companies who do that type of work—you'll find a lot more success.»
Getting hired often takes more than submitting an application. Business professor and entrepreneur Scott Galloway has argued that networking can be the difference between simply applying and having someone inside a company vouch for you. He noted that when Google posts a job opening, it can receive 200 CVs within minutes and narrow the field to the 20 most qualified candidates, yet 70% of the time the person chosen has an internal advocate. Galloway added that networking creates advocates who will recommend you for positions even when you are not actively job searching.
Sanjay Beri, CEO of the software giant Netskope, echoed that advice, saying that building relationships can pay off long after the initial introduction. «Who you know, how you get to know them and building your network will pay off over time,» he said. «Sometimes those jobs you want, they're never published.»
For now, the hiring market remains caught between slowing demand for workers and a rising tide of applications, with AI adding new complications on both sides. Idekoba's admission from the helm of Indeed suggests that even the platforms designed to connect employers and job seekers recognize the system is not working as intended—and that fixing it will require more than another round of automated screening.
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