Choosing A Jobsite

How to choose the right job site or job board
Choosing the right job site for your vacancy is important to the success of your online recruitment campaign. In this article we look at the things you should consider when choosing a job site or job board to advertise on.




10 tips for choosing a job site
The ten tips that follow should, we hope, provide you with enough information and background to be able to make a confident decision about choosing the right job site or job board for your vacancy.



1. Use whatjobsite
Okay, this sounds a bit cheeky, but we really are trying to be helpful. If you were to search the hundreds of job sites and job boards on the web, you’d spend weeks doing it ―we did! By using whatjobsite you’ll quickly be able to create a shortlist of relevant job sites to advertise your vacancy.

You can search all the job sites on our database via the search box above, or if you are looking for a specialist and niche job site use Advanced Search. Also, the whatjobsite job site profiles will answer many of the questions that follow. And remember, we have checked every job site in our search results, so you can be confident in the information.



2. Is it free to search for jobs?
Don’t even look at a job site that charges a candidate to search for a job. Simply move on to the next one. That’s what the candidate will do. Whatjobsite does not include job sites and job boards that charge for job searching.



3. Does the job site offer a ‘jobs by email’ service?
This is another basic. A site that offers a ‘jobs by email’ service ensures candidates are kept up-to-date with new vacancies as they are posted to the site. All job sites and job boards should provide this service. Check the whatjobsite job site profile to see if it provides this service.



4. Is there Account Management?
Does the job site provide a person who will look after you during your recruitment campaign? Make sure they are helpful, efficient and knowledgeable. Your job site or job board Account Manager can be a great source of advice and assistance and can help make sure your recruitment campaign is successful. Again, check the whatjobsite site profile to see whether the job site can provide an account managed service.



5. Check the job site traffic.
The whatjobsite search engine can help you create a shortlist of potential job sites but, as we have said before, you've got to talk to job sites to find out if they really are the right ones to advertise your vacancy. A job site is only as good the job seekers using it and you have to establish that those job seekers are the ones you are looking for.

Most job sites will talk about their job seekers in terms of website traffic, visitors, unique users and registered users etc... (read our article 'Unique users, audited users, relevant users, registered users, email subscribers' to find out more about this.) But, at the end of the day, choosing the right job site comes down to choosing the one with the most number of job seekers looking for jobs like yours. And to find that out, you have to talk to the job site.



6. Check the job site for vacancies like yours... from other employers.
If the job site doesn't carry jobs like yours then it won't be attracting people looking for jobs like yours. If there are jobs like yours, make sure that they are from other employers. Some job sites only advertise jobs from recruitment agencies while others allow recruitment agencies unlimited advertising in order to push up the number of jobs on their site. Such job boards have limited appeal to job seekers. Make sure the job site has real jobs from real employers on it. Whatjobsite does not include such sites.



7. Is there candidate screening or filtering?
One of the most irritating aspects of recruiting online is applicant overload. Simply too many applicants apply. Many job sites and job boards now offer the ability to pre-screen applicants (usually by means of simple questions) to ensure that only those applicants that match your requirements go on to apply for your job. This simple tool can help to reduce the number of unsuitable applicants. Check the whatjobsite job site profile for details.



8. How much does it cost?
What's the cost? How does it compare with other job sites and job boards? Is it more or less expensive? Do you think it's worth it? As a general rule, specialist or niche job sites tend to cost more than generalist job sites. This extra charge might sometimes be worth it, but do check that the specialist has the audience you are looking for. In other words, check those important user statistics before you commit.