Indeed uses OpenAI GPT models to personalize job recommendations, which helps candidates find the best roles and drives higher apply rates for employers.
Key Takeaways
- Indeed leverages OpenAI’s GPT models to give job seekers greater context for why they’re receiving a particular recommendation.
- In A/B testing, this approach increased started applications by 20% and uplifted interviews and hires by 13%.
- Indeed continues to leverage GenAI in new ways to help connect job seekers and employers. Other GenAI-powered Indeed tools include a job description generator and a resume analysis engine.
When job seekers get recommendations for roles that don’t match their skills or interests, employers waste time and money. Recent advancements in AI — specifically generative AI (GenAI) — help match job seekers to relevant jobs in new and exciting ways.
Indeed has been leveraging AI since its inception to power millions of connections between job seekers and employers through features such as Invite to Apply, which sends AI-based job recommendations to job seekers based on their resumes, Indeed profiles and other qualifications.
More recently, Indeed enhanced the personalized language in its Invite to Apply feature by using OpenAI’s GPT models and fine-tuning capabilities. This enhancement helps better explain why a candidate’s background or previous work experience makes them a good fit for the job.
The upshot: Thanks to Indeed's close collaboration with OpenAI, job seekers receive more personalized recommendations and employers see an increase in started applications and hires. It’s just one of several ways Indeed incorporates OpenAI technology to fulfill its mission of helping people get jobs.
“Invite to Apply is a great example of how fine-tuning OpenAI models can deliver better results in job matching,” says Brad Lightcap, COO of OpenAI. “We look forward to working with Indeed to support their mission to help people get jobs.”
Register now for the Indeed FutureWorks 2024 virtual experience, when Indeed CEO Chris Hyams and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will discuss AI's impact on the future of work.
New AI Models Provide Better Context for Job Recommendations
Indeed’s early AI models effectively matched job seekers with employers’ job postings and provided brief explanations for these matches. However, Indeed’s product and engineering teams believed that OpenAI’s GPT models could do even more by ingesting natural language to help more clearly explain why a candidate is receiving a specific job recommendation.
Working with OpenAI, the Indeed team aimed to add a more insightful “why” to job recommendations. Starting in 2023, Indeed’s engineering team rigorously conducted A/B testing and continuously monitored and evaluated every change throughout the development process and post-launch.
“We’re always testing ways to improve the Invite to Apply experience and find relevant opportunities for job seekers,” says Horatio Lun, Indeed Matching Explainer Platform Product Lead. “Now we can deliver recommendations that are more personalized, even as we scaled from 1 million to 20 million messages a day.”
AI Personalization Leads to Immediate Hiring Benefits
Indeed initially developed — and then enhanced with OpenAI’s GPT — the personalized job recommendation messaging. A multi-stage experiment over several months demonstrated the messaging's effectiveness.
In the A/B tests, the Indeed team put a traditional job-matching version of Invite to Apply up against the GPT-powered version, which gave the job seeker additional customized context. The performance uplift was immediately noticeable, resulting in:
- A 20% or more increase in started job applications
- 13% or more greater success further along in the hiring process — specifically, not only were more candidates likely to apply, but employers also found those applicants to be a good fit, ultimately leading to more hires
Indeed experienced an increase in both quality candidates and hires – and a positive impact on revenue – by leveraging GPT-powered context for its Invite to Apply feature.
“We have invested in our own AI matching technology for decades to help connect job seekers and employers,” says Chris Hyams, CEO of Indeed. “Regardless of how good our matching is, explainability is key to any successful recommendation system. Combining OpenAI’s GPT with Indeed’s own proprietary AI and vast marketplace data allows us to connect more people to jobs, faster — a win for job seekers, employers and society.”
Indeed experienced an increase in both quality candidates and hires – and a positive impact on revenue – by leveraging GPT-powered context for its Invite to Apply feature.
Invite to Apply is just one example of how Indeed is finding success with OpenAI technology. Nearly a dozen Indeed products incorporate OpenAI technology to deliver more personalized and compelling experiences, helping job seekers discover new opportunities and enabling employers to hire faster.
A few examples include:
- Indeed’s AI Job Description Generator combines the power of OpenAI’s GPT with Indeed’s own proprietary AI to create compelling job descriptions quickly. An initial description, which OpenAI's GPT creates, is tailored with specific phrases and details. This helps attract relevant candidates using Indeed’s unique and vast data on what it takes to hire successfully.
- Candidate Highlights, a GenAI capability of Indeed’s Smart Sourcing, analyzes and summarizes each resume to suggest why a candidate could be a great fit for a role or to point out potential gaps in their experience. This accelerated evaluation helps employers make better-informed hiring decisions to preserve both their employer brand and the candidate experience.
- Once it’s fully rolled out, the OpenAI-powered Work Experience Writer will use AI to create and update a job seeker’s work experience descriptions on their Indeed Profile.
For more insights, check out the latest on AI and hiring on Lead with Indeed and download Indeed’s free global AI survey.
