What is profile indexing?

Profile indexing is the process Eightfold uses to make employee profile data searchable across Career Hub. When an employee updates their profile — adding a skill, updating their work history, or changing their availability for mentoring — the platform automatically reprocesses their profile data and submits it to the search engine. This keeps their information current across People Search, job recommendations, and talent pool queries.

Audience

Admin / Customer Admin, Implementation Engineer

Why it matters

• Search accuracy depends on fresh index data: If a profile hasn't been reindexed after a data change, employees may not appear in relevant search results or talent queries until the next reindex runs.
  
• Custom fields only work if they're indexed correctly: Custom profile fields must follow the platform's naming convention to be searchable and filterable. Incorrect naming means the field won't appear in search results even if the data is present on the profile.
  
• Seniority configuration is a prerequisite: Without seniority levels mapped in Career Hub Core Setup, seniority-based search filters in the platform won't apply, limiting the accuracy of People Search and talent pool queries.

How it works

1. An employee updates their profile (skills, experience, preferences, consent settings).
   
2. The platform queues the profile for real-time reindexing via an internal queue.
   
3. The search engine updates its record for that employee within seconds to minutes.
   
4. Updated data becomes available in People Search results, job recommendations, and any talent query that uses the search or leads endpoint.

For bulk changes (for example, after an HRIS sync), profiles are reindexed in batch via scheduled jobs. An implementation engineer can also trigger a Reindex only operation using the Manual Ingestion tool to force reindexing without re-importing source data.

Configuration checklist

FAQs

Do employees control whether their profile is indexed? No. Indexing is system-driven. Employees control the visibility of their profile sections (who can see their skills, experience, and so on) through Profile Visibility settings — but visibility is separate from indexing. A profile can be indexed without being visible to specific users.

How long does a reindex take after an employee edits their profile? Real-time reindexing typically completes within seconds to a few minutes for individual profile changes. Bulk reindexes after HRIS syncs may take longer depending on the volume of profiles.

Why is a custom field I added not appearing in People Search filters? Confirm that the custom field's custom_field_name in available_custom_fields follows the efcustom_text_<field_name> convention exactly. Also confirm that a reindex has run since the field was added — existing profiles must be reindexed to pick up new schema fields.

What happens if a required seniority level is missing from the configuration? Profiles associated with job levels that have no seniority mapping may not appear in seniority-filtered search results. Configure seniority in Admin Console > Career Hub Core Setup before going live with People Search or AI-driven talent pools.

Can we exclude a specific employee from indexing? There is no per-employee indexing opt-out. The profile_indexing_config operates at the field level — excluding specific data fields for all profiles. Controlling which users appear in search is done through profile visibility settings and permission configurations, not through indexing exclusions.