There are many options available to post a job for free online, or at least what seems free at first. Online job hosting platforms like CareerBuilder, Monster, Indeed, Google for Jobs, and even Craigslist all have their unique advantages and disadvantages.
But, what is the best place to post a job for free online and expect timely, accurate, and healthy results in the form of candidates? Did you know that there is a site that has the ability to pull in jobs across all of those different platforms into one unified job search platform?
We will be examining what are the advantages and disadvantages of some of the more popular job posting platforms and provide some insight so that you can make the most informed decision when looking to post a job for free online.
CareerBuilder, LinkedIn, and Monster – Oh My!
Let’s answer the most significant question first. No, you cannot post a job for free with CareerBuilder, LinkedIn, or Monster.com. The business model for the job posting on all three of these leading sites is to charge a premium on job posts. And, the total per-job cost for employers goes down with the more jobs they post each month.
CareerBuilder
CareerBuilder.com has a catchy (and straightforward) name, as well as quality brand marketing. But, is it the best resource to post a job free online? Not for free it’s not. There are no options to post jobs on CareerBuilder.com for free. Their minimum spend is currently $219.00 for their “lite” program, which only allows for one job posting per month.
CareerBuilder.com stresses that their AI job posting tools are the quickest and easiest way to get jobs posted fast and see immediate results, but just because a job description is quickly automated doesn’t mean the final product is a great job description.
The business model for the job posting on all three of these leading sites is to charge a premium on job posts
Relying entirely on AI to write job descriptions can leave the descriptions lacking and jobseekers unimpressed with the lack of effort and brand culture visible in the post.
LinkedIn has done a fantastic job establishing itself as the “Facebook for Professionals” and is cemented as THE professional’s networking website.
But is LinkedIn great for posting jobs? Aside from it costing between $300-$500 per month per job posting, LinkedIn doesn’t exactly carry the reputation as a job posting site for employers first. Because of its strong stance as a professional networking tool, the job posting platform seemingly comes in second.
Monster
Monster.com is one of the original job posting and career development sites on the web. Because of this, it has a very large audience. They also charge around $375.00 per post, and the cost is driven down with more postings per month.
This is great for employers, right? Well, not so fast. Because the audience is so large, Monster.com has a reputation for spam, redundancy, and annoying advertising. This can ruin the very important user experience, which certainly can turn off job seekers to the site in its entirety.
Indeed, Craigslist, and Google for Jobs
Indeed, Google for Jobs, and Craigslist are all very different job posting platforms but they do share a significant trait in common. They can all be used (mostly) free by employers.
Indeed
Indeed has done an excellent job at skyrocketing itself to be one the most popular and recognized job posting platforms today. Part of their success comes from the ability to post a job for free online, AND have the availability of paid promotion for job visibility too.
Jobs are consistently posted on Indeed for free all the time, though job visibility is questionable under the free model. Indeed will prioritize jobs by the relevancy of posting time. This means an employer could have a great job description up but if they’re not paying for exposure, it could be almost non-visible in ranking with Indeed after a short time.
Craigslist
Craigslist is considered the wild west for job postings, e-commerce, and service-based postings too. Anything goes on Craigslist, but it has gotten notoriety over the years for its free postings, non-commercialized website, and seemingly careless design motif. However, job ads in certain areas do come at a cost — albeit, much cheaper than others mentioned above.
Regardless of its design and archaic layout, Craigslist is consistently ranking in the top 20 most popular websites in the United States.
Typically, larger companies and businesses with resources and budget to place on attracting talent do not rely on Craigslist for results. It’s great for smaller businesses looking for quick hires, part-time help, or task-oriented help. The job postings are typically out of date and sometimes unreliable (scams) so top-tier job seekers are usually not browning Craigslist for their next career opportunity.
Google for Jobs
As it launched in 2017, it is relatively new in the world of job posting platforms, and not entirely a job posting platform in the traditional sense. Google, being the most dominant search engine on the planet, wanted to create a tool to show job seekers relevant job postings in their region, and they wanted all this job information to be accessible on Google search console itself. Thus, Google for Jobs was born.
Google for Jobs ranking signals are not only unknown by many employers — technically, they are often too difficult to input
Jobs are free to post and rank on Google for Jobs because Google pulls from internal career boards and a multitude of job posting sites. The trick for businesses is to get their data to align with Google’s schema requirements, to rank on their console, and have visibility to job seekers.
However the Google for Jobs ranking signals are not only unknown by many employers — technically, they are often too difficult to input. For talent acquisition teams that are overloaded, doing their best to place job postings ASAP and source candidates and interview people, figuring out the technical requirements is generally not something they have time for.
All Jobs, A New Place to Post a Job Free Online
A caveat to all the job posting platforms we’ve mentioned so far is that none of them can access all the job postings the web has to offer.
Currently, there are between 6-7 million job postings online — only 40-50% of these jobs are visible on the platforms we had mentioned before. Why does this happen?
There are three main reasons why jobs fall through the cracks on the popular job posting platforms:
- No monetary gain – For some of these platforms to host all the jobs they can identify on the internet, it’s simply not built into their business model.
- Technically limited in their resources – Some platforms do not have the tools to locate all the jobs posted online, which may be hidden within internal career pages and internal job boards.
- The data is not aligned for these platforms – Even if the job hosting/posting platform locates a job online, many job postings do not have the properly formatted schema, so the data does not transcribe to the platform.
All Jobs from Jobiak has been designed to rise above the challenges that job posting platforms have decided to side-skirt and create a job platform that is truly inclusive for all jobs online
Unlike other platforms, All Jobs can pull data from all websites, applicant tracking systems (ATS), and recruitment marketing platforms (RMP) to share all open positions online, not just some. It accomplishes this by identifying job posts, and if necessary, it aligns the post’s data to the correct schema so that it can be shared. All Jobs prevents job postings from being siloed on non-visible sites.
Also, All Jobs keeps job data updated in real-time, so details within the job description like salary and availability are never out of date. Seventy three percent of all job searches start on Google, and All Jobs will accommodate this by feeding Google the data it has not yet cultivated, thus adding to the bank of visible jobs ranking on Google for Jobs.
Between its capabilities and unlimited potential for job postings, All Jobs is the best place to post a job for free online.
