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Stuart Gentle Publisher at Onrec

Indeed launches ‘Job Spotter’ to bring crowdsourcing to local jobs

Brand new app supports company drive to get all jobs online

  • New app lets people post ‘help wanted’ signs online at world’s number one job site
  • 800,000 jobs uploaded with new mobile app, 100,000 since January
  • Launch to help employers and jobseekers find each other
  • Earn rewards for snapping pictures of local job ads

Indeed, the world’s largest job site, today announces the UK launch of Job Spotter, the first mobile app designed to bring offline local job postings online, and help employers increase visibility of their local opportunities.

In many parts of the UK, a large proportion of vacancies can only be discovered if jobseekers walk past a “Help Wanted” sign. Indeed estimates in the UK alone, hundreds of thousands of jobs are only advertised in storefront windows. Since most people explore new career opportunities online, “We’re Hiring” signs may never reach the eyes of jobseekers.

By downloading the Job Spotter app, anyone can snap pictures of local job ads and upload them to Indeed. Jobseekers then gain access to openings they might only have stumbled across had they been walking past a shop.

The app launched in the US and Australia last summer, where users have uploaded over 800,000 jobs. Job Spotter is already the #2 source of mobile clicks amongst US jobseekers.

Commenting on the launch, Chris Hyams, President at global job site Indeed said: “The ‘help wanted’ sign has long been a staple of high street windows, and they’ve performed an important role in getting people into work. But our high streets are changing, and this means those signs aren’t as effective as they used to be. It’s time to rethink how people find local jobs. Job Spotter can help.”

Job Spotter was initially conceived as a project out of Indeed University, Indeed’s internal training program in data driven product design for software engineers that also functions as a new product incubator. Hyams continues: “Aggregating jobs was Indeed’s first innovation, and we’ve succeeded in becoming the world’s largest job search engine.”

He adds: “But we’re constantly looking for new ways to help people get jobs and improve their experience. That means seeding innovation within our organisation, creating a culture of entrepreneurship and always thinking about the next product with the potential for big impact. Innovations such as Job Spotter are exactly the sort of linchpin we believe can help bring job search into the 21st century.”

The app is available on Google Play and the App store. Job Spotter users who submit photos of hiring signs can earn redeemable points. For those who earn enough points, Indeed will give them an Amazon gift card, with no limit on the number of local job ads they may submit.

To find Job Spotter jobs in your area, simply type “Help Wanted” into Indeed job search.  Indeed has noted significant spikes in the numbers of users searching “Help Wanted” on the site since launching in the US and Australia, where search has surged by twenty times on mobile, and fifteen times on desktop.