In a surprise move, Indeed will no longer offer pay-per-application pricing beginning 18 December, the company confirmed in a statement to SIA.

It had been rolling out the pay-per-application model starting last year and in April 2023 the company announced it would be available to all employers in the US and UK. At the time, the move caused some disquiet among customers who criticised the company’s poor communication. 

In a complete reversal of the company’s policy, Indeed issued the following statement on Wednesday:

 “At Indeed, our mission is to help people get jobs, and we are committed to helping employers hire more quickly and easily. As part of this commitment, we have two updates to further help employers.

“Today, we are sharing that employers who have an Indeed Resume subscription will now also have immediate access to Matched Candidates. This will allow employers to not only search Indeed’s millions of résumés, but employers will also be able to instantly match and connect with candidates whose skills and experiences fit their job qualifications. This includes the option to invite qualified candidates to apply as soon as an employer posts their job.

“In addition, a core component of our commitment is our ‘pay for performance’ value, where employers are charged only when they see meaningful results. To uphold this commitment, we are continually exploring and testing innovative approaches. Pay-per-application (PPA) was one recent test aimed at providing greater value to employers. Over time, we found that this option required additional effort from employers and was not easy enough to support the different needs of employers. Starting Dec. 18, we have decided to no longer offer PPA. Our journey remains focused on delivering exceptional products to help both job seekers and employers.

“We look forward to continuing to test and learn to help employers everywhere hire faster and easier.”

Until yesterday’s announcement, pay-per-application had never described by the company as a ‘test’. When pay-per-application was introduced in April, Indeed justified the move by citing “research showing a majority of employers (52%) selected “pay for results” as the top pricing model when compared to “pay for clicks” (22%) and “pay a flat fee per job post” (22%). In addition, 84% of employers also report they believe they should only pay when they receive a quality candidate from an online job site”.

In a separate note to SIA, the company said pay-per-application users will need to switch to pay-per-click by 15 January 2024. Indeed also confirmed that pay-per-started application pricing will continue. 

According to AIM, Indeed’s move earlier this year to make pay-per-application the only option for small and medium-size employers caused ‘havoc’ as customers complained of surprise bills that dwarfed their usual job post expenses.

Indeed responded by reinstating pay-per-click pricing as an option, and it stopped making pay-per-application the default choice on its customer interface. The company also created billing caps that would automatically turn off a job campaign when billing reached a certain threshold.

The billing cap and a clearer explanation of how pay-per-application worked improved customer acceptance, the company told the AIM Group in September. It cited data showing just 2% of customers who read the payment option dropped off on that page after reviewing their potential spending.

“[Those two changes] have certainly led to a much happier client base than we had when we introduced PPA,” Indeed EVP Raj Mukherjee told the AIM Group, while also conceding that “nothing’s perfect.”