A lot of people arrive at hackajob with the same questions. Is it a job board? Interview prep? Just for tech? It does a few different things, so it’s a fair thing to wonder.
This page lays out plainly what hackajob does, who it’s for, and what happens after you create a profile. If you’re deciding whether it’s worth your time, this should answer that in about five minutes.
The one-sentence version
hackajob uses AI to match you to relevant jobs at over 200 companies based on your skills, experience and preferences, so you apply to the ones that genuinely fit, and employers can reach out to you directly with interview requests too.
That’s it.
What hackajob is not
A few things people sometimes assume, and where we land on each.
It is not just a job board. Job boards show you every listing and let you apply to anything. hackajob is matching-first: you see and apply to the roles Archer matches you to, not a directory of every open job. So if you signed up to apply to one specific role you’d seen and can’t find it, that’s usually by design, and the FAQ below explains why.
It is not just for tech. Our brand history started in tech, and tech is still the largest category by job volume. The platform now works across every professional category: product, sales, operations, finance, marketing, legal, science, design, more.
It is not interview prep. We offer a free Interview Prep tool that helps you practice the questions you’re likely to get, but that’s one tool, not the whole platform. We also offer a wide range of blogs and articles to help you prep for your interviews for free.
It is not a CV writer. We have a free Resume Checker that shows you how a modern matching system reads your CV. We don’t generate CVs for you (we’d rather you wrote yours yourself; AI-generated CVs are increasingly being flagged by employers).
It is not free for employers. It IS free for candidates, always. Employers pay us. That’s the business model, and it means we care about getting the match right on both sides: people who genuinely fit for the employer, and roles genuinely worth your time for you.
What hackajob actually is
A matching platform with three core pieces.
Archer, your AI advocate in the job market. Archer reads your full profile, your skills, experience and the preferences you’ve set, not just keywords, then weighs it against open roles across hundreds of companies and surfaces the ones where the fit is real. You don’t browse listings; matches come to you with a reason for each one. We wrote a longer breakdown of how AI job matching actually works if you want to understand it more deeply.
A profile you build once. A profile is more than a CV. It includes your experience, your real skills, the salary you’re looking for, where you want to work (remote, hybrid, onsite, specific cities), the kind of company you’d consider, and the things you definitely don’t want. Archer reads all of it. The more complete your profile, the better the matches.
A dashboard where everything lives. Applications you’ve made through hackajob, interview requests from companies that reviewed your match and reached out directly, and where each conversation stands. No more juggling six inboxes to remember which company is waiting on you.
How Archer works in practice
A walkthrough of what actually happens after you create a profile.
Step 1: You build a profile. Roughly 10-15 minutes. Real experience, skills, preferences.
Step 2: Archer matches you to roles. Continuously. New roles appear in your feed when a real fit comes up, and each one comes with a plain explanation of why you match, based on your profile and what the employer is looking for. You can see the reasoning before you do anything, so you apply with confidence instead of guessing.
Step 3: You decide what to do with each match. You can apply directly through hackajob if you’re interested. You can dismiss the match if it doesn’t appeal. You can save it for later. Your profile stays private to the employer unless you choose to apply.
Step 4: Companies can also reach out directly. Some employers use hackajob to reach out to candidates themselves. When one sees you among their matches and wants to talk, they send you an interview request through hackajob, and it lands in your Requests tab. You choose whether to accept or decline, and they only get your contact details if you accept.
Step 5: You track everything in one place. Applications you’ve made, interview requests you’ve received, scheduled interviews, offers. The dashboard is the same view whether the activity started with you or with the employer.
That’s the loop. Profile in, matches and direct interview requests out, everything tracked in one place.
Privacy and control
Your personal details stay private until you choose to engage. Employers can’t browse a directory of candidates and pick you out. You see the roles Archer matches you to and apply to the ones you want, and an employer only sees you once you’ve applied, not before. Some employers also use hackajob to reach out directly: they can see candidates matched to their open roles and send an interview request, but they can’t get your contact details or contact you off the platform unless you accept it. So no recruiter can cold-call you just because you came up as a match, and you can hide or decline any request you don’t want.
Your current employer is blocked automatically. When we read your CV, we pick up where you currently work and block them by default, as long as your CV’s up to date, so they can’t see you or even know you’re on the platform. You can block more companies in your settings any time (anyone you’d never work for, or just want to stay hidden from), and check there that your employer is blocked. And if you go to block your employer but can’t find them in the list, that’s a good sign: it means they don’t use hackajob, so they can’t see your profile anyway.
This is important for passive candidates exploring without telling their current company. It’s also useful for active candidates who want to control where their CV ends up. Job boards make this harder - once you’ve applied somewhere, your CV is in their system. hackajob keeps the control on your side. You can also set your profile to “off the market” if you’d like to pause your job search, and in this way, you won’t be visible to any employers.
Who hackajob is for
A broader audience than most people assume.
Active candidates. You’re looking now, you want to apply selectively, and you want to spend less time on roles that won’t go anywhere. Matching saves you from chasing roles where the fit isn’t there.
Passive candidates. You’re currently employed but open to the right move. You want to know what’s out there without spending hours browsing. Match-based discovery is exactly designed for this. More on passive job search.
Anyone tired of applying and hearing nothing. If you’ve sent hundreds of applications and heard back from almost none, the issue is often the channel, not you. hackajob is the alternative to that channel. More on why applications get ignored.
Any professional category. Engineers, Product Managers, Financial Analysts, Marketing Managers, Operations Managers, Legal Counsel, Research Scientists, Product Designers, Sales Executives. If your role is a knowledge-worker professional role, the platform works for you.
Most career stages. Mid-career and senior people get the most out of matching (their experience is specific enough to match precisely). Early-career candidates can still use the platform, but volume of matches is usually lower because the supply of early-career roles is more concentrated in different channels.
Is hackajob free?
Yes. Always.
There is no premium tier or upsell. We don’t charge candidates for matches, for applying, for the dashboard, or for the Resume Checker and Interview Prep tools.
Our business model is that employers pay us. That alignment means our incentive is to surface relevant, real roles to candidates.
The free tools (Resume Checker and Interview Prep) are available without signing up for the platform at all, if you just want to use those.
Is hackajob legit?
Yes. hackajob has been around since 2014 and is used by 200+ companies to hire, from Wise, dunnhumby, Amex and Tesco to BT, BBC, Sky, Barclays, HSBC, GSK and more. We’re ISO 27001 certified, SOC 2 Type 1 and GDPR compliant; you can read how we handle your data in our privacy policy. You can also browse live jobs to see who’s hiring right now, or find more detail for candidates.
Mark Chaffey, CEO of hackajob, on what we’re building toward:
“We want to impact tens of millions of job seekers over the next decade. That ambition simply isn’t possible if we stay in one vertical.” — Mark Chaffey, CEO of hackajob
We’ll be upfront about the limits too: some industries and seniority levels see more matching activity than others, and a match doesn’t guarantee a job, the employer still chooses and the interview still matters. What we promise is that the roles you’re matched to have real reasoning behind them, and that the companies on the platform are real, paying customers.
If you’d rather hear it from candidates rather than us:
“Before hackajob, I was sending over 100 applications on Indeed and hearing nothing back. Archer picked roles tailored to my experience and qualifications, and it made all the difference.” — Lewis Cairns, Sales Executive
“The matching was spot on. Senior DevOps roles that actually aligned with my skills. No sales calls. No gimmicks. Pure job search.” — Niladri, Senior DevOps Engineer
Frequently asked questions
What is hackajob in one sentence?
hackajob uses AI to match you to relevant jobs across 200+ companies based on your skills, experience and preferences. You apply to the ones that fit, and employers can also reach out directly with interview requests. It's free for candidates, and your profile stays private until you apply.
How is hackajob different from LinkedIn or Indeed?
LinkedIn and Indeed are mostly search-and-apply platforms. You search listings, you apply, you wait. hackajob is matching-first: roles are surfaced to you when the fit is real. The dashboard also tracks both your active applications and direct interview requests in one view. Full comparison here.
Is hackajob just for tech jobs?
No. Tech is the largest category by volume because of our history, but the platform works across every professional category: product, sales, operations, finance, marketing, legal, science, design, and most knowledge-worker roles.
Is hackajob really free for candidates?
Yes, always. No premium tier, no upsell. Employers pay us. We don't charge candidates for any feature.
Can my current employer see I'm on hackajob?
Not if you block them (we also do this automatically!). The platform lets you block specific companies from ever seeing your profile or knowing you're active. Your profile is private by default until you choose to apply to a role.
How long does it take to start getting matches?
Usually a few days for the first matches, with more accumulating over the following weeks. Speed depends on your role, level, and location. Senior and specialist roles in tech tend to match fastest; some specialist sectors are slower.
Does a match mean I'll get the job?
No. A match means the fit between your profile and the role is real and an employer should seriously consider you. The interview still happens. The employer still chooses. The candidate still has to perform. A match just means you're starting from a real fit rather than a cold application. Everything after it is a normal hiring process.
I saw a role but can't find it to apply. Why?
This catches people out, because hackajob isn't a job board where you can apply to anything you see. Usually it's one of two things. Either the role isn't a match for your profile yet, since Archer only surfaces roles where the fit is genuine, which keeps the noise down for both sides (you skip the irrelevant roles, and employers skip the applications that don't fit); completing or updating your profile can change what matches. Or the employer is using hackajob to reach out to candidates directly rather than to collect applications, so there's no apply button, and if you're a fit they'll contact you with an interview request instead. Either way, if it's a genuine fit and the role is active, it should reach you, as a match you can apply to or as a direct interview request.
Is hackajob a recruitment agency?
No. We don't represent candidates to employers the way agencies do. We don't take a cut of your salary if you get hired. The platform connects candidates and employers directly. Agencies operate on a different model entirely.
Why do I have to make a profile instead of just uploading a CV?
A profile carries things a CV can't: salary expectations, location and remote preferences, what kind of company you want, what you don't. AI matching reads all of it. CV-only matching produces lower-quality matches because half the signal isn't there.