Indeed always strives to put job seekers first. One way we encourage our tech teams to focus on the job seeker is through Indeed University (IU), our program of onboarding new hires into Indeed’s development culture.
Who ultimately benefits from IU? You do. Experiences that help job seekers are also good for employers. And we train our new hires to always consider job seekers during IU’s product brainstorming and development sessions.
Indeed University’s 12-week program follows a startup business model. Participants have the freedom to innovate in creating and selecting product ideas. They form teams to start developing the strongest possibilities, all of which are eligible to eventually become Indeed products. Teams test, analyze, and iterate with coaching by senior leadership, including Indeed’s CEO, CTO, and president.
IU participants learn the value of data-driven decision making. They create measurable goals to monitor their project’s impact on job seekers. Teams have the opportunity to fail—we cultivate the ability to recognize and admit failure, learn from mistakes, and strive for positive user impact.
Teams that demonstrate value and are excited to pursue their idea can pitch to our Incubator Investment Committee for funding. The JobsNearby project from IU 2015, for example, ultimately became Job Spotter, a successful and popular Indeed app in the U.S., Australia, and the U.K.
By creating innovative solutions based on job seeker needs and verified by data, Indeed creates WOW experiences for our customers. We believe it’s vital to instill this principle in our new hires from the beginning, which is why Indeed University is so important to us.