Do you need job distribution software to post your job vacancy? Or is posting a job vacancy for free possible? Let’s find out!
This article is full of job posting tips and advice on finding free job posting sites, ready to help you attract the very best qualified candidates without spending too much money.
Before that, make sure you first read our article on writing a good job posting. Here you will learn how to construct a job posting that will attract A-Players.
Attracting A-Players is the ultimate goal of the hiring process. It will allow you to avoid micromanaging, unplug from your business, and claim more free time.
Isn’t that what you crave?
Do I need job posting distribution software?
Firstly, what is job distribution software? This is simply software that allows you to post job openings to multiple job sites – such as Indeed, Monster, and CareerBuilder – with just a few clicks.
This allows you to save time from manually posting to a job sites, which requires a lot of repetition (and a lot of passwords to remember!).
You can also use the distribution software to manage and direct budgets towards the recruitment sites that are delivering the best results, and more. All very useful features, but they do come at a cost.
But do you need job posting distribution software?
We say no.
In some circumstances it may be useful, primarily if you are a large company. However, in most cases, following our tips below will allow you to post your job for free and still achieve excellent results.
How to start posting a job vacancy for free
So, you have first defined the characteristics of a good employee and written a killer job post.
The time has now come to release your perfectly written job posting so that your desired candidates will find it and apply.
Before heading to job posting sites, here are a few methods to start job posting for free in ascending order of importance:
#1. Posting job vacancy free to your own network
Before you go anywhere else, you should first leverage your own network to find and filter candidates.
This is BY FAR the best way to source top talent for free because your friends and acquaintances know you, your company, and what you want to achieve far better than any job board.
Start by putting the feelers out there on sites like LinkedIn and reach out directly to your professional network. You will be surprised at the quality of recommendations that come back.
#2. Leverage the network of your team
In addition to your own network, another smart route to finding top talent is to incentivize your team to reach out to their network and source talent on your behalf.
This is great for several reasons.
Generally speaking, A-Players hang out with other A-Players. If you have some truly incredible people on your team already and they love their jobs, then they should be as keen as you to find fellow high performers when the time comes to grow your family.
You can offer your team a ‘finder’s fee’. Offering a modest bonus (around $1-3K) for presenting a candidate that you end up hiring will turn your team members into top recruiters. It’s cheaper than paying a recruiter!
Plus, because nobody wants a candidate to reflect poorly on them, they will be a natural filter and only recommend people who are likely to succeed.
#3. Posting a job vacancy for free to job recruitment sites
After putting the word out on your networks, you can post your job ad to some of the following recruitment platforms:
- Indeed
- CareerBuilder
- ZipRecruiter
- Monster
Many other sites do exist, although these are seen as the top companies in the world and a good place to start. We cover these popular job boards in more detail below.
Some of these job boards offer options to post your job for free. For example, is it free to list job postings on Indeed, but they do also have pay-per-click (PPC) options and other features that may deliver better results.
Finally, don’t forget to put your job posting on your own company website and social media – it’s just another way to spread the word for free.
#4. Harness the power of recruiters
Recruiters are by no means free! Yet they can be worth the spend if you are trying to poach top talent from your competition.
They are also useful when you are looking for high-level or specific positions. For example, use a recruiter when hiring a Chief Marketing Officer or VP of Sales, not a warehouse worker.
Finding the RIGHT recruiter for you can be a project in itself, as not all recruiters are created equal. Find somebody who will understand your company culture and has a stellar track record and recommendations.
The Best Free Job Posting Sites
As mentioned, there are many free job boards and paid job boards that thousands of potential candidates are searching on a daily basis.
Here are some of the biggest and most popular job boards in the world. Most of them offer the ability to post jobs for free but remember that the paywalled features are often the most useful.
Indeed
Indeed is often seen as the number one job site in the world (established 2004), with more than 250 million unique visitors searching the job ads every month. There is free access although it has excellent paid hiring features, an easy ATS integration, and the option to interview through the platform.
LinkedIn is a professional network with a massive candidate base of more than 690 million users hunting for job posts. While you can post jobs for free with a free account, the most useful hiring tools are paywalled. Keep in mind that recruiting is not the prime use for LinkedIn, so it may be better used as a supplement to other platforms and to make a personal connection with candidates before hiring.
Monster
With more than 25 years in business, Monster is a straightforward and powerful recruitment site to post jobs directly, with a huge database that makes it another very worthy platform. Monster offers candidate evaluation tools to help you sift potential time wasters, yet there are no skills assessments like Indeed.
CareerBuilder
The longstanding CareerBuilder remains a solid resource for SMBs and enterprises advertising jobs to more than 80 million job seekers across the world, making it one of the larger job boards on the planet. CareerBuilder has tons of tools that make it easy to attract more candidates and hire an A-Player, including a resume search feature and easy integration with ATS software.
ZipRecruiter
Founded in 2010, ZipRecruiter is another strong choice and is rated the number one job posting site in the United States, with a reported 30 million users each month. You can benefit from powerful AI matching tools that help you find the right candidate.
So, do you need job posting distribution software when recruiting?
We have answered the question – no, you can get away with posting job openings for free on many job boards and still achieve incredible results.
However, if you want the most powerful features, then you may have to part with some cash.
After reading this article and doing your own research on the best job boards for you, you can now move onto Step #4 in our seven-step system, which covers the best recruiting systems to automate hiring.
