Which Job Site Gets The Best Candidates?
There have been multiple reports in the media recently of jobs receiving over a thousand applications from job seekers.
Receiving over 1,000 applications from job seekers doesn’t necessarily mean you have even one suitable candidate. Given the higher levels of unemployment seen at the moment, we saw that July-September 2020 was the largest increase in unemployment since May 2009 (Unemployment levels are lower today and it is now a candidate’s market, making it even more crucial to post jobs on the best job websites to find qualified candidates). The result of this statistic being, that sadly candidates are applying for any role in their efforts to find jobs which they think they might be vaguely suitable.
According to our research into the best job sites and top job boards*, we have found the following:
*Both internally and our clients can rate candidate suitability. We have used this data to produce this report but naturally varies from one job posting to the next.
The average number of job applications per advertised job by job site is:
You can view Hiring People’s job board directory here.
The job board data implies that on average you will receive 5.5 suitable job candidates and 9.8 potentially suitable candidates when advertising using our Corporate Job Advertising solution, which is one of our flat free recruitment solutions. This is from an average of 151 applications per role.
Even though Indeed receives the highest number of applications, from the data we have, the highest absolute number of suitable candidates per role apply on Reed, who get nearly half the number of total applications per role. Quality over quantity.
Volume of applications doesn’t mean much
Read: Advertising on Indeed
Solutions For Managing High Candidate Numbers From Job Posting Sites
Filtering through a hundred plus job applications takes time, with various solutions available on the market.
1. Programatically Filtering CVs
You can use automated systems, using machine learning to read through your job description, which then ranks CVs against the spec, to produce a shortlist that makes it easier to find qualified candidates. As with any technological solution, it is quick but can produce irregular results. A particular challenge can be where a job seeker produces a design lead CV to stand out, which isn’t then processed correctly.
2. Manual CV Filtering
The other option is to manually read through all applications generated from your job ads. This is naturally time-consuming if the job website has produced lots of interest. A compromise might be to review the first 40 or 80 job hunting candidates. If you successfully recruit from the first batch, great, otherwise you can then review later applications and still your job openings without reposting your opportunity on the top UK job boards.
Prospective employers can save some time by setting up an autoresponder for each candidate and keeping them informed of your process is good practice, which can be easily achieved with an applicant tracking system.
When you post a job title and job opportunities on the best job search websites with flat fee recruitment, you automatically gain access to our applicant tracking system. You can discover more about how this helps you manage job postings on multiple job boards and candidates in search of their dream job by reading Centralising Recruitment With An Applicant Tracking System.
Final Thoughts On Online Job Boards
If your goal is to generate the highest volume of candidates, you are likely to have success with a very high budget on Indeed. We imagine though you are more interested in a few, high-quality job applicants, in which case advertising on multiple sites, then manually filtering, is likely to result in a low cost, but successful campaign.
What do you do now? Head to our Job Description Library and our Job Description Template pages to explore the wide number of resources we offer when you are hiring through the best job boards. Once you have created your job description, choose a Job Advertising Package and let the talent come to you!
Next, read Should I advertise My Job On More Than One Site?
Job Board FAQs
Here we answer your questions on job board job listings.
SHOULD I ADVERTISE ON FREE JOB BOARDS?
Paid job posing options are required to attract applicants through a job board or job search engine. Most free job sites are paid job boards and if you post a job for free, when job seekers make a job search or sets up job alerts, your new job listings appear below paid job listings, making them less likely to be viewed.
SHOULD I ADVERTISE ON NICH JOB BOARDS?
If you have a specialised role that requires expert knowledge, you should consider posting on a niche job board. For example, a tech job board is designed for tech jobs. You can find job sites with a specialty in our job board directory. You can also post relevant jobs on your company websites, including social media platforms And save job listings for future use.
