what indeed buying Workopolis means for recruiting data

What Indeed Buying Workopolis Means for Recruiting Data

Scroll down to read more!

What Indeed Buying Workopolis Means for Recruiting Data

Scroll down to read more!
what indeed buying Workopolis means for recruiting data

Table of Contents

Recruiting Holdings Ltd, Indeed’s parent company, announced last week its acquisition of Workopolis.com, a leading Canadian job board founded in 2000 and was even named the Official Supplier of Online Recruitment for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

The press release, dated April 4th, was followed by a notice to Workopolis users that they should retrieve their resumes from the platform before April 11th, after which point they will lose access.

While this abrupt turn of events is not entirely surprising, given that Indeed has been eating away at Workopolis’s market share in Canada and the aging Workopolis platform may not have been keeping pace, it does raise concerns over the consolidation of recruiting platforms and the centralization of candidate data.

What Indeed Buying Workopolis Means for Recruiting Data

Every time Indeed or LinkedIn (or Google or Facebook) eats up another smaller player in the recruiting space, it seems as though the ability for others to innovate and compete is somewhat diminished.  Some of the casualties of this acquisition are the 40 or so Workopolis Niche Network job boards, co-owned by various Canadian organizations and professional associations, which serve to help diverse communities and niche industries with hiring and recruiting.

In recent weeks and months, following the public outcry surrounding the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal and preparations being made for GDPR, we are all becoming more aware of how large corporations are collecting data on individuals, including those who are not direct users. People are also starting to ask questions about their own data, what happens to it, and where their rights to it begin and end.

If you apply to a job on one website, where does the information you submit travel and to how many different companies’ databases does it eventually reach? Did you agree to this? Should those companies have the right to buy, sell, and transfer it without your consent?

As more  data is collected and analyzed by the largest companies and developers raise concerns about designing software ethically, it is not hard to imagine a dystopic future where your standard Google search on health symptoms plays a part in precluding you from consideration for a job or advises your employer that you’re not a rising star thanks to AI-powered algorithms that compound pre-existing human biases.

Yet another job board being bought up by a big company may not be earth-shattering news to the recruiting industry, but it does reflect some common themes of change that are worth examining. Those of us in the recruiting and recruiting technology space should think about what truly helps with hiring and employment, and what tools (like GDPR?) can be used to benefit and protect job seekers, employers, and the overall recruiting industry.

Did you like this post? Share it!

A Word From Our Sponsors

Ads help make Workology resources free for everyone. We respect your privacy. To see our Privacy Policy click here.

Recommended Posts

27 Companies Who Hire Adults With Autism

List of companies who hire and employ adults who are neurodiverse. ...
Workology’s Learning Portal Gets a Major Upgrade

Workology’s Learning Portal Gets a Major Upgrade

After months of building and testing, our new learning portal is ready! Ace the HR Exam students now have access to more resources than...
SPHRi vs GPHR: Choosing the Right HR Certification for You

SPHRi vs GPHR: Choosing the Right HR Certification for You

Picture this: you’re at a crossroads in your human resources career, standing between two significant certifications – the SPHRi and GPHR. Which way do...

The Costs of Form I-9 Software

In the intricate landscape of U.S. employment eligibility verification, businesses face the challenge of remaining vigilant and compliant. As their workforce expands, the manual...

Episode 415: Registered Apprenticeship Programs in the Clean Energy Sector With Dr. Janell Hills

In this episode, we interview Dr. Janell Hills from IREC about developing registered apprenticeship programs in the clean energy sector....

Checkout Our Products

Ads help make Workology resources free for everyone. We respect your privacy. To see our Privacy Policy click here.

More From Workology

Episode 415: Registered Apprenticeship Programs in the Clean Energy Sector With Dr. Janell Hills

In this episode, we interview Dr. Janell Hills from IREC about developing registered apprenticeship programs in the clean energy sector.

27 Companies Who Hire Adults With Autism

List of companies who hire and employ adults who are neurodiverse.

The Costs of Form I-9 Software

Click on read more to open this post on our blog.
SPHRi vs GPHR: Choosing the Right HR Certification for You

SPHRi vs GPHR: Choosing the Right HR Certification for You

Click on read more to open this post on our blog.