How to choose a job site

As an employer, choosing the right job site for your vacancy is crucial to the success of your online recruitment campaign. If your job ad is on the wrong job site, you won't ever fill it. So, how do you choose the right job site?

The right job site is the one that has the right candidates for your job ad. But with many hundreds of job boards in the UK claiming to be the leading site in this job function and that sector, it's important for employers to cut through the claims and find quality sites. Following the simple guidelines below will help you indentify quality sites and, we beleive, find success with online recruitment.

1. Is it free to search for jobs?

Check that it is free to search for jobs. Popular sites offer free job searching for candidates and do so because candidates will seldom pay to look at jobs. A small number of executive-level job boards do charge candidates to use their sites or to use premium services on them but, in spite of all the fanfare and the blather, there is little to suggest that they offer any truly compelling advantages to employer recruiters over their free-to-use cousins.

2. Does the job site offer a 'jobs by email' service?

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. This is another basic for a job board. All job sites should provide this service to their candidates and offer options to advertise via this channel to recruiters.

3. Is there Account Management?

While many job boards offer the option to post a job yourself via their e-channel, this isn't always the best option for employers. Most employer recruiters aren't experts in online recruitment, or job board SEO, or salary levels, or choosing the right keywords to make their ads work on a job board. For this reason, a job site Account Manager can be a great source of advice and assistance; and can help make sure your recruitment campaign is successful.

Even though the account managed service on job board tends to be more expensive than the DIY option, the expertise available can mean the difference between success and failure. What's more, even if you don't use the account managed service, the fact that a site offers it, is usually a sign of quality job site. Check that the job site you are considering provides a person who can look after you during your recruitment campaign.

4. Check the job site traffic.

A job site is only as good as the job seekers and candidates using it. Before you advertise on a job site, you have to establish that those job seekers are the ones you are looking for. Most job sites will be able to give you a good picture of who uses their site — what is known as 'site traffic'. In general, site traffic is described in terms of site visitors, unique users and registered users etc. so knowing what these terms mean will help you choose quality sites. (Check out our articles below for more on this subject)

However, at the end of the day, choosing the right job site comes down to choosing the one with the most job seekers looking for jobs like yours and to find that kind of information out, there's nothing else for it but to ring job sites and ask them for specifics.

5. Check the job site for vacancies like yours

If the job site doesn't carry jobs like yours then it won't be attracting people looking for jobs like yours. So there is no point in advertising on it. Do a search on the site to ensure that it is advertising jobs like yours.

In addition, if there are jobs like yours make sure that there are a good number from other employers and not just recruitment agencies. If a job site only features jobs from recruitment agencies it's best to avoid it. Most job boards that only feature jobs from recruitment agencies tend either to be just starting off or on their last legs. Whichever the case, they are best avoided. Having other employer jobs listed means that the site has been around for a while and has established itself as being reliable. Look for an established site with a healthy sprinkling of real employer jobs.

6. Is there candidate screening or filtering?

One of the most irritating aspects of recruiting online is applicant overload. That is, simply too many unsuitable applicants apply for your job. Many job sites now offer the ability to pre-screen applicants to ensure that only those that match your requirements go on to apply for your job. This simple tool can help to reduce the number of unsuitable applicants and make your life a lot easier. So be sure to check out whether the site provides it.

7. How much does it cost?

What's the cost? And how does it compare with other job sites? Is it more or less expensive? If it's more, why is it more and is it worth it? If it's less, why? As a very general rule, specialist or niche job sites tend to cost more than generalist job sites. This extra charge can be worth it, but do check that the specialist has the audience you are looking for.

A word on free job sites: With our very long experience in online recruitment we have found very few free job boards of any real value. Much like job sites that only advertise jobs from recruitment agencies, free job boards are either new and trying to break into a market, or old and dying a death. Whichever the case, free job boards will have limited appeal for candidates and, therefore, limited appeal for you. It's not rocket science: if a site is good, people will pay for it.

8. Is there a CV Database?

Many job sites allow employers to search their CV databases for relevant candidates. This can be an efficient way of finding the right person for your job. However, before you commit to purchasing this service, be sure to find out how up-to-date the CV database is, how much it costs to use it, and get an indication of how many relevant CVs there are on the database.

9. What other advertising services does the job site offer?

Job posting is just the start. Banner advertising, home page buttons, company profile pages, online application management, candidate screening, job match services, keyword sponsorship, email shots: all these additional advertising products can help to increase your chances of online recruitment success. Be sure to ask about what else is available.

10: Use whatjobsite

Okay, this sounds a bit cheeky, but we really are trying to be helpful. The truth is that you could spend weeks and weeks finding, reviewing and checking all of the sites available —we did! And search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing aren't much help either. Search engines only give you the job sites that have put a lot of effort into appearing high up in search rankings. That is nothing to do with how good they are. We've asked all the questions above, and more besides, to ensure that we have the best online recruitment advertising options for employers.

What's more, with the Whatjobsite Approved Website Kitemark for job boards, we have created a brand of trust for employers. You can search all the approved job sites on our database via the search box above; if you are looking for a specialist and niche job site use the tick boxes. You can also find more job sites in our A to Z directory of job boards.

Next step? Try these:

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