Indeed's chief marketing officer shares advice on how to win at digital transformation

• It's a digital world, and organizations that show digital agility continue to win out.
• Consultants say that despite headwinds, CEOs must champion digital transformation.
• Jessica Jensen, an Indeed exec, shared how leaders can use a digital approach to boost growth.

When the founders of Netflix launched a mail-order service for DVDs in 1998, about a quarter of US households used the internet outside work.

How we entertain ourselves has changed since then — and so has how we find a job. It's a digital world now. Job-search platforms like LinkedIn and Indeed have become the primary means of landing a new gig.

Organizations that show digital agility continue to win out.

As economic headwinds swirl and C-suite leaders look to trim bottom lines, consultants say CEOs need to take the lead in championing digital transformation, strategy, and growth within their organizations.

"The necessity of digital transformation is critical for any company and leadership team that wants to be efficient and effective in reaching their business goals," Jessica Jensen, the chief marketing officer at Indeed, said in an email.

Indeed says that over the past three years, the number of job seekers hired on Indeed has doubled from 10 people hired every minute to 20 every minute. It says its platform now draws more than 250 million users from around the world each month, making it the largest job site.

Jensen said the focus on digital transformation has been vital to Indeed's success. "As part of this ongoing transformation, we are focused on automation to source, screen, and schedule interviews, connecting quality talent to hiring managers faster," Jensen told Insider.

We reached out to Jensen to learn how leaders can transform their digital approach to ensure long-term growth. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

What are you doing internally to foster innovation at Indeed?

We are providing products and tools that are matching people to the right roles, connecting candidates directly with hiring managers, enabling skills-based hiring, and leveraging automation to provide quicker end-to-end hiring while removing bias from the hiring process. Everything we do is in support of our mission of helping all people get jobs.

Our Indeed Hiring Platform, introduced during the pandemic, is just one example, as it's already automating more than 70% of recruiting steps to help employers interview screened candidates faster — making a better experience for job seekers and employers.

How is Indeed's job-search function different now because of the innovations you've made?

We're offering job seekers smart search filters to quickly narrow in on ideal roles; personalized career experiences based on qualifications and preferences; tools inviting job seekers to interview with employers within hours instead of days or weeks; assessments to ensure your skills stand out; and much more.

By automating the repetitive tasks in the hiring process, talent-acquisition teams can increase their efficiency and time to hire, saving recruiters up to nine hours per requisition, helping connect quality candidates to employers faster, and speeding up the entire hiring process.

Google recently worked with Kantar to survey dozens of Fortune 1000 leaders and marketers about what it takes to achieve the greatest gains in digital transformation. The one alliance identified as most essential was the relationship between chief marketing officer and chief financial officer. How have you used this partnership toward digital transformation at Indeed?

The CMO-CFO relationship is the secret to our success. Because we share business goals from the start, the finance team can in turn make smarter decisions on how to invest in certain business efforts. We work together to unlock the highest impact for business growth.

Courtney Rose, VP of sales in the services sector at Google, told Insider that Indeed is a great model of a company that has effectively leveraged the CMO and CFO alliance toward digital transformation. "Jessica and Sean exemplify this dynamic duo — they challenge one another beyond their traditional comfort zones to be more flexible with their investments and fund future growth opportunities," she said.

How does your partnership with Google fit into this model?

Working with Google and our finance team, it's much more about rolling out a campaign, testing, learning, and changing the investment depending on performance trends, and keeping our finance partners updated on where or if financial investment could change too.

Through this model, we've exceeded many of our business goals. We have a partner in Google that allows for this dynamic, performance-driven marketing, and we have finance partners that understand this and support it.