2: Old job ads

In the previous article in this series we looked at the lack of contact info as being a way of spotting bad job sites. Another one of quickly spotting bad job sites is to see if they have old jobs. If you see lots of old jobs then stay well away.

Most job sites carry jobs for about a month. There are a tiny minority of job sites that carry jobs for 90 days. Whichever the case, however, most quality job sites will remove jobs after their advertising period.

Some jobs, it is true, can take a long time to fill. Indeed, a job could take up to 90 days to fill. However, most job boards will update/refresh/repost a job if it is struggling. As a consequence, the ‘job posted’ date will be changed and updated. It’s to make the job appear new that the refresh is done in the first place.

Most quality job sites, therefore, will not have many jobs on their site much older than a month (or, at a push two.) If the job site you are looking at has lots and lots of jobs from months ago, then be careful about advertising on it.

Even more obvious is when job sites leave jobs on even after the closing date has passed. Out of date and old jobs like this are a sure sign of a bad job site.

The reason many bad quality job sites keep old jobs live on their sites is to make it appear like they have lots and lots of jobs. They do this because they don’t actually have lots and lots of jobs. And, crucially, if they don’t have lots and lots of real jobs they’ll be of little interest to real candidates. So they’ll be of little interest to real employers like you.

Search though the jobs and see what kind of dates start showing up. If a job board is carrying jobs that a lot of jobs are more than two months old then be careful about advertising on it.

< How to spot bad job sites part 1′

How to spot bad job sites part 3 >