ZipRecruiter

Is ZipRecruiter safe?

ZipRecruiter is reasonably safe for an ordinary job search, with two catches. First, it is a job board, so fake employers can reach you through it, and job scams cost Americans hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Second, its own annual report says it has had several data security incidents involving job seekers' resumes. We found no breach on record for Indeed or Glassdoor.

We score it 53/100, below Indeed (57) and Glassdoor (55) and above LinkedIn (48). ZipRecruiter beats Indeed on one point that matters: your resume is not searchable by employers unless you opt in.

How common are job scams on job sites?

The Federal Trade Commission says Americans reported losing $501 million to job and employment agency scams in 2024, up from $90 million in 2020, and the number of reports tripled over those four years. The figures cover every route, not only ZipRecruiter.

ZipRecruiter's app pulls jobs from more than 100 job boards, which is the point of the service, but it also means many listings were not written for ZipRecruiter. Its Job Posting Rules ban multi-level marketing, unpaid roles, franchise "opportunities", paid surveys and casting calls, and say ZipRecruiter may remove a post or suspend the account. Unlike Indeed, it publishes no count of fake employers or jobs removed.

The usual pattern is a "recruiter" who answers an application with a job offer after a short text chat, then asks for money for equipment, training or a background check. In the newer "task scams", you are paid small sums for rating products and then asked to deposit your own money to unlock bigger earnings.

ZipRecruiter's privacy policy says the service is not meant for anyone under 18, yet the App Store rates the app 4+ and Google Play rates it "Everyone". Teenagers looking for a first job can install it without any check.

What happened with ZipRecruiter's data breaches?

The best-known case was in 2018. On 5 October that year, ZipRecruiter found that employer accounts without permission to use its CV database could see the first names, last names and email addresses of job seekers who had uploaded CVs. It fixed the bug 90 minutes after finding it and told the UK Information Commissioner's Office on 9 October, The Register reported. Passwords and payment data were not involved.

That was not the only one. In its annual report for 2025, filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in February 2026, ZipRecruiter says it has "previously experienced multiple data security incidents involving the unauthorized access to personal information of job seekers utilizing our services (including their resumes)", and that some required it to notify the people affected or regulators. It does not give dates or numbers. Have I Been Pwned lists no ZipRecruiter breach.

On the positive side, the same report says ZipRecruiter has completed a SOC 2 Type 2 audit, runs a private bug bounty with outside researchers and hires a third-party tester every year. We could not confirm whether job seekers can turn on two-step login.

What ZipRecruiter does with your data

Apple's privacy label for the app lists identifiers as "Data Used to Track You", meaning they can be linked with data from other companies' apps and websites for ads. Location, contact details, search and browsing history, and your resume and messages are linked to your identity. On Android, the data safety section says approximate location is shared for advertising, and your files (such as an uploaded resume) are shared for app functions and fraud checks.

The privacy policy, effective 30 September 2026, is more careful than Indeed's. It says ZipRecruiter does "not monetize your Personal Data by selling it to third parties". But the California notice states that in the past 12 months it "sold or shared" identifiers, internet activity and geolocation with ad networks to show you ads for ZipRecruiter. That counts as a sale under California law. ZipRecruiter also uses AI, including large language models, to match job seekers with employers.

Your resume goes to the employers you apply to, including their outside applicant-tracking systems. It enters the searchable resume database only if you opt in. You can opt out at any time on the My Profile tab, but employers who have already saved your details keep them.

How to job hunt safely on ZipRecruiter

1. Leave the resume database off unless you want recruiters to find you.
2. Remove your home address and personal phone number from your resume.
3. Never pay to start a job, and never deposit money to "unlock" earnings.
4. Check any offer on the employer's own website before you reply.
5. Treat a sudden move to WhatsApp, Telegram or text as a warning sign.
6. Use the "Your Privacy Choices" link to opt out of ad sharing.
7. Use a unique password, since the account holds your full work history.

How we scored it

Regulatory record (87) is the strongest factor: we found no fine or order, but no large regulator has examined ZipRecruiter closely either. Transparency and control (60) reflects an opt-in resume database and simple deletion. Security (50) is lower than Indeed's because ZipRecruiter admits several incidents that touched resumes. Privacy (45) and scams and harmful content (45) are the weakest, because of ad tracking and data shared with ad networks, and because job scams reach users through aggregated listings.