Being able to advertise your job for free is great from a cost perspective? But does free job advertising work?

Advertise Job for Free

Hiring People advertise 1,000s of jobs a year for our clients, both on paid and free job sites. We have crunched the numbers to look at the number of job applications you would get by only using free job sites over paid. 

Advertise on Google Jobs for Free

Recommended read: Should I Advertise My Job On More Than One Site?

The List Of Free Job Posting Sites We Are Examining Are:

1. Adzuna
2. Careers4a
3. Glassdoor
4. JobisJob
5. JobRapido
6. Jobs4a
7. Jooble
8. Locanto
9. Professional Passport Jobs
10. SugarJobs
11. Tip Top Job
12. Trovit
13. Zoek

The stark contrast is clear. Paid sites generate on average 88 times as many applications as free job postings.

Taking the free job posting sites where the average number of applications per job was over 0.15, we are left with these three sites:

1. Adzuna
2. Jobs4a
3. Tip Top Job

They give a combined average of 0.34 applications per job, or an expected total of approximately 1 job application per advert.

Advertise on Google Jobs for Free

Indeed hasn’t been included in this data as we are only able to provide sponsored job adverts on the site, so we do not have any data of our own. At the time of writing, there appears to be little data to suggest the average number of applications from a free Indeed job advert. 

Time Costs To Post Jobs On Free Job Boards

The next challenge with advertising on multiple free job boards is the time it takes to create accounts, upload your job advert and manage responses. Is repeating the same process 10+ times really a good use of your time, when you might only end up with 1 to 2 applications?

Which Free Job Advertising Sites Get The Most Applications?

From our data, the top 10 free sites, ranked from most applications to least are:

1. Tip Top Job
2. Jobs4a
3. Adzuna
4. Professional Passport Jobs
5. Careers4a
6. JobRapido
7. Zoek
8. Glassdoor
9. JobisJob
10. Jooble

Use An Application Tracking System To Distribute My Advert To Free Job Sites

There are pieces of software called Application Tracking System (ATS) which allow you to distribute your job advert to multiple job boards at once. This takes away part of the challenge of managing multiple sites. The catch is you might need to create accounts on the respective sites, which if you are only advertising a few jobs, might not be a good use of time. The ATS is likely to also charge a fee per job advert placed.

An ATS though does come with a number of benefits:

1. You can distribute the same job advert to multiple sites simultaneously
2. All job applications can be managed from one place
3. Ability to contact all candidates with a template email
4. Some systems allow scheduling of interviews

How Quickly Do You Need A Member Of Staff?

With a chronic staff shortage in the UK, if you need a member of staff quickly, using premium job posting sites to post jobs is likely to get a quicker and better response. 

Which Premium Job site Should I Use To Post Jobs?

From our data from the past year, our ranking of job posting sites would be:

1. Reed
2. Cv-Library
3. TotalJobs
4. JobSite
5. CW Jobs
6. LinkedIn
7. GuardianJobs
8. Monster

Advertise on Google Jobs for Free

With Reed being the highest performing site, if you were to only work with a single job board, our data suggests Reed would be a good place to start job posting.

Job Board Resellers – Multi Job Posters

There are companies which allow you to advertise your job on multiple sites (both paid and free job sites), and will include an ATS to help you manage the candidates.

Some job board resellers will also offer flat fee recruitment services, which offers a similar service to a traditional recruitment agency, but for a fraction of the cost. 

What Are The Benefits Of Free Job Advertising?

When we discuss the benefits of free job posting sites, it is best to view them as part of your hiring strategy and not your complete recruitment strategy. The goal is to reach as many active and passive candidates as possible.

As we have mentioned, the best results come from using a job boards reseller, who give employers free access to their ATS software. You can target multiple job boards and gain the broadest exposure to potential candidates, including full time job seekers, freelance talent, remote workers, and hourly employees.

Larger job boards are excellent for common roles, such as retail clerks, but what about specialist roles? Job board resellers will also help you post your job ad on specialist and industry-specific job boards. Maybe you need job seekers who were military veterans or have expertise in cybersecurity? If so, this is the job service you need.

Not Enough Applicants? – Our Job Posting Tips

If you are creating job posts and getting zero attention from job applicants, it is time to review your job posting techniques and methodology.

Tips To Help Employers Find Qualified Candidates:

1. Use the right job title: You can post jobs on the best free job advertising websites and get no job applicants if you haven’t used the right job title. Your job title should be clear and accurately describe the role.

2. Pen an amazing job description: You can use a job description template and a job advert template to create a job post that describes the role, responsibilities, and duties. The job description and job ad should also include the keywords a job seeker may use when making a job search.

3. Improve your employer brand: When you post a job, you need good employer branding and a reputation that attracts qualified candidates. To improve your brand, ask for feedback from current employees, discover the honest opinions on your team on employer review websites, and ensure the career page of your website describes your company’s mission, vision, values, and culture. Remember to include what makes your company unique in your job descriptions.

4. State a salary range: Whether you are seeking an individual looking for their first job or an established expert in their field, ensure your job postings on paid and free job boards include a salary range. Your job ad will return top talent who will accept a job offer and you won’t waste time and effort screening or interviewing candidates who would never fill your job opening.

5. Be less specific about job skills: You can cross post your job for free on other job boards but still get few candidates if your skills are too specific. When you post jobs on the best free job boards, consider what skills are must-have and which are nice to have.

6. Offer video interviews: Many job openings can be filled by remote workers, so it is crucial to mention virtual interviews on job posting sites and capture the attention of candidates from across the UK, or beyond.

For a detailed look into getting more qualified candidates through job ads on Indeed, read our article: Not getting enough job applicants from Indeed?

Free Job Posting Site FAQs

Here we answer the most frequently asked questions about free job posting sites.