Indeed is one of the most popular job searching platforms available, with millions of users visiting it every month. But after looking into some reports, it transpires that Indeed may accidentally notify your employer when you update your CV.

Here, we'll look at when Indeed may be notifying your employer about your CV changes and why this is even happening.

Note: It's essential to stress that this isn't an intentional Indeed feature but rather a byproduct of another feature and user error. It also will only happen under specific circumstances, as we'll explain below.

How Does Indeed Notify Employers About CV Updates?

One of Indeed's features for employers is notifications about applicants. This feature certainly sounds completely harmless at first, but it can have one unintentional fallout.

As part of Indeed's notifications to employers about candidates for any open roles, the job search site updates hiring companies on candidates. such as when they update their CV.

Indeed Employer Dashboard Screenshot
Image Credits: Indeed

If employers don't change candidates' status to Hired on the platform, they'll continue to receive these notifications, as the platform assumes the role is still open. Of course, whether or not an employer marks a candidate as Hired after employing them can vary–it's certainly the case that some don't.

Due to these continued notifications, your current employer could get notifications when you update your CV in your current position. Naturally, some people are good at admin and might update their CV for their records, but it could lead to awkward conversations at work.

Why Does Indeed Have This Notification Feature?

Right now, you may be wondering why Indeed would even have this feature with this accidental byproduct. The feature is handy and may even help you for getting roles in the future.

Employers want open positions filled as quickly as possible. And even more so when an employer is spending money on recruitment and job ads. Also, potential employees want to find a job as quickly as possible, whether it's to leave their current role or to re-enter the world of work.

Indeed Notification Screenshot
Image Credits: Indeed

Indeed's notification feature can prove very useful in this recruitment process. For example, when an employer overlooks someone for the role by mistake, or a candidate gets an additional qualification that will help in the position they just applied for.

In these cases, the notification that the candidate has updated their CV may make the employer take a second look. This increases the hiring odds for that person, which is beneficial for everyone involved.

Should Indeed Be Notifying Employers About CV Changes?

So, while we've established why the notification feature can be helpful for everyone involved, should Indeed be notifying employers about CV changes?

The answer gets a little complicated. As we've seen, these notifications aren't intended for your current employer, rather potential employers for job roles you've applied for. Unfortunately, Indeed only sends out these notifications to current employers due to user error on the employer's part–and Indeed can't help that.

When reaching out to Indeed, the company explained that the feature isn't designed to report on employees:

Indeed's mission is to help people get jobs. We put jobseekers first in everything we do, and protecting their privacy is of the utmost importance. Indeed does not provide insights to an employer on their employees' job search activity.

If a jobseeker chooses to make their CV public on Indeed, then an employer can access that person's publicly available CV. When a jobseeker applies to an employer's open role, an employer can leverage Indeed's hiring solutions to manage where candidates are in the employer's recruiting process.

It's pretty clear that Indeed isn't reporting on employees on purpose, but it can have consequences for you in your career. The onus to correctly use Indeed is certainly on employers, but perhaps both the company and Indeed can do more to prevent this accidental issue.

Be Cautious When Applying for New Positions

Indeed is still an excellent option for your job search, so don't let this accidental consequence deter you from using the powerful platform.

But just in case your employer isn't using Indeed correctly and receives these notifications, be cautious when applying for new positions.