February 2025: Indeed – The Beatings Will Continue, ZIP Downgraded & Other TA News
Happy Friday, Job Board Doctor Friends!
Lots to cover this last week of February. We’ve nearly survived, and perhaps thrived, the second month of 2025 and are heading into March with a mix of economic uncertainty and—hopefully—some spring flowers.
This week, we cover Indeed’s new jobseeker experience, ZIP’s downgrade, and Money Moves, People Moves and of course, a reality check. Let’s do this! First up, Indeed.
Indeed: The Beatings will Continue
Following the largely unreported but widely whispered “renegotiation” of Indeed’s partner agreements late last year—and the well-publicized strategy of squeezing publisher margins to boost its top line revenue—it appears the company has now turned its bullying tactics toward the other side of the coin: jobseekers.
Sometime since the dawn of our blessed recruitment year, 2025, Indeed has quietly made job searching less intuitive on its homepage. The company has removed the search box—a core function of the platform since day one. Instead, the homepage now pushes, though doesn’t outright require, registration.
The footer still includes a “Browse Jobs” link, and jobseekers who land on the site via search engine results are taken directly to job listings and search results.
However, clicking the “Browse Jobs” link only makes the experience worse. Check out the flow below and tell me what you think—is this really the user experience the world’s #1 job search board intends to thrive on?
Alexander Chukovski notes on his LinkedIn post discussing the revelation as a play for total domination….which made me chuckle, but doesn’t seem too far off.
To save you, Dear Job Board Doctor Friends, from the clicking marathon required to actually view a job on Indeed- I created a small visual walk through of the experience.
Enjoy –
Indeed by The Job Board Doctor
ZIP – Downgraded… Again.
In case you missed the news a few weeks ago about BlackRock buying—and then immediately selling—massive positions in ZIP (in two different calendar years), here’s the recap.
This week, ZIP reported earnings and was subsequently downgraded by both Barclays and JPMorgan. On Wednesday, ZIP stock hit an all-time low—and then kept falling—hitting a new 52 week low of $5.26 per share with a 52 week high of $12.88 in Q1 2024. By market close on Thursday, shares had rebounded slightly to close at $5.76.
On the bright side, the ZIP reports the outlook for 2025 remains sort of positive, as ZIP’s share of job search activity is outpacing its rivals. Meanwhile, Indeed continues its transition from a job search engine back to a basic job board.
Talk around the Job Board Doctor water cooler on Wednesday had us gossiping on ZipRecruiter’s next logical move. The ideas included look to be acquired and delisting. ZIP’s next move? Looking for more funding. Yes, you read that right.
🔗 ZipRecruiter stock falls on downgraded outlook
🔗 ZipRecruiter to Participate at Upcoming Investor Conference
Money Moves
- Mercor, an AI recruiting startup founded by 21-year-olds, raises $100M at $2B valuation (Techcrunch)
- Perfect, an agentic AI Recruitment Startup Lands $23M (HR Tech Feed)
People Moves
- Serge Boudreau appointed CRO for CV Wallet/Resume Wallet (AIM Group)
- Dustin Adona – former lead buyer at ZipRecruiter and Jobget – starting a new venture called ShiftClicks. A “traffic network” working on CPA/CPC basis. (RUMORED)
Worth a Read
🔗 Zety: 46% of Gen Z Has Secured a Job Through TikTok
Reality Check
Does the past present no prologue to the execs at Indeed/Recruit Holdings? Do they think that the same old played out we own this market and a middle finger to the rest is really going to keep them on top?
BUT THE REAL QUESTION: What is our opportunity as job board operators and TA Tech vendors? I certainly see some – I hope you do, too, and you tell me about it.
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