How to delete your Indeed account permanently
By Otabek Mamadaliev · Sources last reviewed · What this means
How do I delete my Indeed account?
In account settings, click Close my account below your email address. That closes the account but does not erase your data — for that, submit Indeed’s personal data request form, which can take up to 30 days.
Closing your account is not the same as deleting your data. Indeed treats them as two separate requests. The button in settings closes the account; erasing the personal data behind it means submitting the personal data request form, which Indeed says can take up to 30 days. If your goal is erasure, doing only the first step leaves the data in place.
Before you delete
- Request a copy of your data first. Indeed recommends this explicitly, and the same form does both — ask for the copy and the deletion together so the copy reaches you before the data goes.
- Download your CV if the only copy lives on Indeed.
- Note which jobs you applied to. You lose access to saved jobs, application history, saved searches and job preferences, and none of it is recoverable.
- Set your CV to private first if the goal is to stop recruiters contacting you. That is often the real problem, and it does not require deletion.
Close the account
- Sign in and open your account settings.
- Click Close my account, below your email address.
- Complete the survey — it is optional.
You cannot reactivate a closed Indeed account, though you can register a new one with the same email address.
Delete the data behind it
- Open Indeed’s personal data request form, linked from the help centre.
- Ask for deletion, a copy of your data, or both.
- Confirm your identity by email when Indeed asks.
Allow up to 30 days. One form covers Indeed, Indeed Agent, SimplyHired, Syft/Indeed Flex and Workopolis — but not Glassdoor, even if the accounts are linked. Delete that one separately.
What deletion cannot reach
Applications you already sent sit with the employer, in their own recruiting systems. Deleting your Indeed account does not recall them, and neither does the data request — Indeed cannot erase records held by another company. If your worry is one specific employer, contact them directly. Employers who downloaded your CV while it was public keep their copy for the same reason.
Those copies are held under the employer's own retention policy, often for a year or more, and in some jurisdictions employment law requires them to keep recruitment records for a period. That is a request to their HR or privacy contact rather than anything Indeed can action.
Making the recruiters stop is a setting, not a deletion
The most common reason people close an Indeed account is the volume of contact, and closing is a slow, permanent way to fix something a toggle fixes today.
- Set your CV to private. It stops appearing in recruiter searches immediately, while your saved jobs and application history stay intact.
- Turn off job alerts individually — these are usually the actual noise rather than recruiters.
- Remove your phone number from the profile if calls rather than emails are the problem.
- Unsubscribe from marketing email, which is separate again from alerts.
These take effect at once; a data request takes up to 30 days. Even if you fully intend to delete, do the privacy settings first — otherwise you spend a month still being contacted while waiting for the erasure to complete.
Timing it around a job hunt
Closing is not reversible, although you can register again with the same email address. What you cannot get back is the history: saved jobs, saved searches, job preferences and the record of where you have already applied.
That last one is worth more than it sounds mid-search. Without it you lose track of which companies you have approached and when, which is how people end up applying twice to the same role.
If you are finishing a job hunt rather than pausing one, note the applications somewhere of your own before you close — a plain list of company, role and date is enough, and it is the only part you will actually miss.
Common questions
Does closing my Indeed account delete my data?
No. Closing the account and deleting your personal data are separate requests. Submit Indeed’s personal data request form for erasure, and allow up to 30 days.
Will deleting Indeed remove my applications?
No. Submitted applications sit in the employer’s own systems, beyond Indeed’s reach. Contact the employer directly if you need one withdrawn.
Can I reopen a closed Indeed account?
No. Indeed says a closed account cannot be reactivated, but you can create a new account with the same email address.
How do I stop recruiters contacting me without deleting?
Set your CV to private in settings. It stops new recruiter contact while keeping your application history.