How to set up Seek and Indeed job alerts that surface the right roles

Most people set up a job alert once, get buried in irrelevant emails, and either turn it off or ignore it. That is a waste of one of the most useful features both Seek and Indeed offer. A well-configured alert means relevant roles arrive in your inbox within hours of being posted, before the application pile grows. Here is how to set them up properly on both platforms.

How Seek job alerts work and how to configure them well

On Seek, you run a search with the filters you want, then save it as an alert. The filters that matter most are: keywords, location and radius, work type (full-time, part-time, contract, casual), classification and sub-classification, and salary range. Spend time on each of these rather than accepting the defaults.

For keywords, use the job title you are targeting rather than a broad category. If you are a data analyst, searching for 'data analyst' will surface more relevant results than 'data' alone. Seek uses its own classification system, so also set the classification to match your field (for example, Information and Communication Technology, or Accounting). Using both the keyword and the classification filter together tightens the results significantly.

Seek lets you choose how often you receive alert emails: daily or immediately. If you are actively searching, choose immediately for your top two or three saved searches. That gives you a meaningful head start on new listings. For broader exploratory searches, daily is fine.

You can save multiple searches on Seek under your profile. It is worth having two or three running at once: one tight search for your exact target role, one slightly broader search in case your ideal title varies by company, and possibly one for a related role you would also consider. Review and update them every few weeks as your search evolves.

How Indeed job alerts work and how to configure them well

On Indeed, save a search by running it with your preferred filters and then clicking the 'Get email alerts for this search' option that appears. Indeed's filters include: job title or keywords, location, date posted (useful to filter to last 24 hours or last 3 days), job type, and salary estimate.

The date posted filter is particularly useful on Indeed. Because Indeed aggregates from many sources, some listings are old by the time they appear in a default search. Filtering to the last 24 or 48 hours keeps your results fresh. When you save an alert, set the email frequency to daily rather than weekly if you are actively searching. Indeed also offers an option to receive alerts immediately for new postings that match, which is worth using for your most targeted searches.

One common issue on Indeed is location drift. The default radius can be wider than you expect. Always set a specific location and a radius in kilometres that makes sense for your commute or relocation preferences. Leaving the radius unset often pulls in results from cities you are not targeting.

Keywords and search strings that sharpen your results

Both platforms respond well to specific job titles over generic terms. 'Senior project manager' returns more relevant results than 'project manager', and 'civil project manager' is better still if that is your field. Avoid stuffing the keyword field with multiple terms separated by commas. Each saved search should represent a single coherent role type.

On Seek, wrapping a phrase in quotes (for example, "project manager") forces an exact match rather than a broad keyword match. This is useful when your target title is commonly confused with adjacent roles. On Indeed, the same quoted-phrase technique works in the keyword field.

If you find your alerts are still surfacing too much noise, look at which words keep appearing in the irrelevant results and make your classification and sub-classification filters more specific to narrow the results down.

Managing multiple alerts without getting overwhelmed

The problem with running several alerts at once is inbox volume. A practical approach is to route all alert emails to a dedicated folder in your email client, then check that folder once in the morning and once in the afternoon during an active search. This keeps your main inbox clean and gives you a structured time to review new listings rather than reacting to every notification.

Archive or delete saved searches that are not producing useful results after two weeks. A search that surfaces nothing relevant for two weeks is either too narrow (loosen a filter) or targeting a role with low supply in your area (broaden the location or consider remote options).

How Karmik connects to your Seek and Indeed search

Once your alerts are surfacing the right roles, the next bottleneck is application quality and volume. Karmik is built around Seek and Indeed. It helps you generate cover letters tailored to each job description and optimises your resume for ATS systems so your applications get past the initial filter.

If you are on the Pro plan, the desktop auto-apply app can submit applications on Seek using your own browser while you manage other parts of your search. Your computer needs to be on and connected. It does not apply blindly. It works from the criteria you set and applies with tailored documents rather than generic submissions.

Set your Seek and Indeed alerts up properly this week. Then try Karmik free with three applications to see how much faster the actual application step can be once your search is dialled in.