Free job posting sites for Employers
Welcome to our series on making recruiting easy. We try to answer the most common questions from HR and internal recruiters. The series covers recruitment process, technology and regulation. Up next: free job posting sites for employers.
The great news is that free job posting sites / free job boards do exist. Employers can use them today, but the big question is whether free job advertising works. We take a look at which free job boards and job sites are best by comparing them.
We’ll be taking a look at the following free job posting sites and options:
- Indeed
- GOV Find a Job
- Google for Jobs
- Adzuna
- talent.com
- Jobrapido
- CVLibrary
How we compare free job boards
Free job adverts are a great way to save money, just so long as jobseekers can find them and apply for your jobs. To compare free job advertising options fairly, we used the same criteria for each one:
| Criteria | Measured As |
|---|---|
| Discovery | Appearance in job search results |
| Job types | Support for job types such as permanent, contract, etc. |
| Vacancies | The number of jobs advertised across the UK |
| Ease of use | Posting and application process |
| Unique features | Any that have merit |
Discovery – finding a free job board in search results
Most jobseekers start with an in internet search, so that’s where we started. We tested whether each job board appeared in our search results.by using the same search terms on two popular search engines; Google and Bing. We checked the results to find out where each free job board appeared in the results. Our search terms included:
- “Jobs”
- “Recruiter jobs in London”
- “HR Jobs”
- “Care jobs”
During our tests, some job boards appeared only occasionally on page one of the results. That is because some were paying for visibility and clicks. For fairness we measured only natural search results and eliminated all paid results from our tests. That is because individual job board adverts may be short-lived or outcompeted over time.
GOV Find a Job
Universal JobMatch was updated in 2018 to become GOV Find a Job. It is one of the most widely used free job posting sites and it is used by employers and agents alike. GOV Find a Job is owned by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).
A great feature of Find a Job is that every employer is approved by the DWP before their jobs can be made available in search results. That’s good news for an industry that suffers from a good deal of spam advertising.
GOV Find a Job is easy to use, well governed and allows employers to redirect applicants to their own application forms. It also supports automatic upload from a supporting Applicant Tracking System. It fares quit well in search results and has a significant number of job postings.
| Criteria | Result |
|---|---|
| Google Search | Fair |
| Bing Search | Excellent |
| Job Types | Fair |
| Vacancies | Good (200,000 +) |
| Ease of Use | Good |
| Uniques | Disability Confident employers get kitemark |
Indeed
Indeed has remained one of the best free job posting sites for employers since it first came to market. It supports 2 types of job listing; organic and sponsored. The organic job postings are Indeed’s free option.
A free job posting on Indeed declines in search results more quickly than sponsored jobs postings. However, optimising adverts is a good way to gain quick wins from any free job posting. Employers get some great results and most have successfully recruited new employees using free adverts alone.
Indeed may be successful because it performs well in internet search results. Most jobseekers have heard of Indeed and many have used it for job searches.
| Criteria | Result |
|---|---|
| Google Search | Excellent |
| Bing Search | Excellent |
| Job Types | Excellent |
| Vacancies | Excellent (700,000 +) |
| Ease of Use | Good |
| Uniques | None |
Google for Jobs
Google for Jobs is the newer kid on the block. We have included it in this review even though it isn’t a traditional job board. Other job boards allow employers to post and manage their adverts, but Google for Jobs is different.
Google collects jobs from lots of websites and aggregates them all in one, convenient online space for jobseekers. Each job on Google for Jobs must therefore exist elsewhere and it must conform to a set of rules. Those rules include the addition of structured data to the job and the inclusion of an application form.
The best Applicant Tracking Systems notify Google when a new job is advertised. That shortens the time it takes to place a free advert on Google for Jobs.
Google for Jobs is an increasingly important option for employers. It remains high on search results for jobseekers and it is mobile friendly. Whilst Bing users may not find Google for jobs easily, there are more Googlers than Bingers.
| Criteria | Result |
|---|---|
| Google Search | Excellent |
| Bing Search | Poor |
| Job Types | Good |
| Vacancies | Unknown |
| Ease of Use | Determined by destination URL |
| Uniques | Owned by Google |
Adzuna
Adzuna lets you post job adverts and receive applications for free. It also supports sponsored advertising. If you do sponsor your job adverts, Adzuna claims to publish them to over 100 job sites.
In our experience, Adzuna is a useful free advertising option, but applicant numbers can be low if you don’t pay to sponsor them. To their credit, Adzuna doesn’t try to hide this in any way. The benefit of posting might be small, but a suitable Applicant Tracking System (ATS) should post your vacancies to Adzuna automatically. If you have an ATS that posts to Adzuna you should use it. It takes no effort with an ATS and your next great hire could potentially come from Adzuna.
One point to note with Adzuna is that it may choose to upload your vacancies to LinkedIn. Depending upon the type of vacancy, this can prove valuable in attracting more applicants.
| Criteria | Result |
|---|---|
| Google Search | Fair |
| Bing Search | Fair |
| Job Types | Good |
| Vacancies | Unknown |
| Ease of Use | Easy |
| Uniques | Potential LinkedIn repost |
LinkedIn is owned by Microsoft. Keep that in mind as you review the search results for Bing, Microsoft’s search engine, versus Google.
The LinkedIn job posting section operates on a pay per click (PPC) basis. Post your job for free then set a budget to stay in control of overall spend. However, you can post a direct link to your job in company pages or discussion forums. Posting in this way might not achieve the visibility of a formal LinkedIn job, but it’s free.
Our measure of Bing and Google search results reflect the formal job postings on LinkedIn. Search results don’t recognise posts on discussion forums.
| Criteria | Result |
|---|---|
| Google Search | Fair |
| Bing Search | Excellent |
| Job Types | Excellent |
| Vacancies | Excellent (700,000+) |
| Ease of Use | Easy |
| Uniques | None |
talent.com
talent.com is a useful and increasingly popular free job board option for employers. With millions of unique monthly visitors and options for sponsored and free job postings, it’s one to watch.
| Criteria | Result |
|---|---|
| Google Search | Poor |
| Bing Search | Poor |
| Job Types | Fair |
| Vacancies | Unknown |
| Ease of Use | Good |
| Uniques | None |
Your Website
Our website is our shop window. Using Google Console and Bing Webmaster helps to identify who visits, how long they stay, the pages they read and so on. With most of our focus on selling our products and services, it’s easy to forget that our website is a key resource for attracting new candidates too.
We should all have a careers section on our website that is easy to identify and access. Try to make sure that every job is current and that each one reflects just a single vacancy. The advert title “Carers required” is less trusted than “Carer” among jobseekers. Allow people to apply for your vacancies online and with any device. All of this is easily achieved with an Applicant Tracking System.
Social Media
Using Social Media is free and can be effective if you have active followers. Try to make sure that new vacancies are published with #job, #jobs, #hiring or similar. Offer a few lines about your vacancy and a link to a page with the full advert and an application form. Again, a good Applicant Tracking System should help you with this.
Conclusion
Each of the free job boards we reviewed has genuine merit. The consistent top pick is Indeed. It is prominent in search results when looking for jobs and Indeed’s free job posting option delivers results.
Posting your job adverts to all of the available free job boards is a worthwhile strategy. The issue for most employers is time.
You should also include Google for Jobs. However, free job advertising here is most easily accessed via an ATS. That is because Google for Jobs does not support posting free job adverts by hand.
It is easy and fast to Post your jobs everywhere with a multipost solution. MultiPost allows you to write an advert once then automatically post it to a number of sites, including free job boards. After all, your next great employee could come from a free job posting on any site that can be discovered by applicants. You won’t want to miss out.
Want to know more?
Customers agree that CVMinder ATS is the best Applicant Tracking System for saving time and reducing recruiting fees. With multipost included, you can reach further to recruit faster and smarter than your competitors. If you want to know more about CVMinder ATS or any of the free advertising options in this article, contact us now.
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