Clear pricing on UK job boards

Many job boards still do not outline their prices on their sites. There are many reasons for this. Sometimes it’s a decision based on competitive considerations. Sometimes, it’s because the job board isn’t really going after the direct employer market. Sometimes, it’s because they simply haven’t got around to it.

However, when a job board has a credit card posting service that asks recruiters to post the job themselves and yet still does not inform recruiters of the actual price of the credit card posting until they have set up their account, one has to wonder why.

Ryanair are constantly in trouble for not having transparent pricing. They say, for example, that a fare is £5 but when you get to the end it is £120 with all the charges. And they get into all kinds of trouble for this. Now, imagine if Ryanair were like some job boards and didn’t even give you an indication of price of the flight to start with? Imagine you had to create an account, provide all your personal details, input your credit card details and then they gave you the price? Well, that’s what some job boards expect of clients.

Such practice by job boards would seem to be flouting the legislation. But it also seems like bad practice. Why would a job board go through the effort of creating a e-channel and not providing a clear price for the e-channel?

This is a frustration for us at whatjobsite —and baffling too. So, as part of the ‘Whatjobsite Approved Website 2010‘ initiative, we have set clear pricing as one of the criteria for approval. For job boards to carry the whatjobsite approved website 2010, job boards must provide clear pricing either on their website or on their whatjobsite profile.

Already we’ve had positive feedback from job boards that don’t currently meet the requirements —and they are good websites too! So, hopefully, over the next couple of months as we approach more and more quality job boards, we’ll be able push them to offer clear pricing to employers.