Want to master a job site before spending your recruitment budget on it? Learn where to start with this roundup of the top sites for posting jobs for free. This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps...
Free job posting sites give recruiters and employers the opportunity to test the effectiveness of a job board or resume database — who’d want to launch a major recruitment campaign on a site they haven’t learned to use?
Not all job boards will let you post jobs for free. And the majority of the free job posting sites will want to be compensated at some point.
There’s something so invaluable about having the latitude to learn how to have success on a new job board before dipping into your recruitment budget to post jobs.
We’ve rounded up 15 of the top free job posting sites to help you get an idea of which ones you could have success with before even creating an account with them.
11 of the Best Free Job Boards
Here’s a rundown of 11 of the top job boards for posting a free job listing, along with details on just how free they really are.
ZipRecruiter
Some job sites only let you post jobs to their job boards. Others let you post to several other job boards with one listing. And then there’s ZipRecruiter, which lets you post to over 100 job boards around the web.
Want qualified resumes to hit your desk ASAP? ZipRecruiter has tens of millions of resumes in its curated database. You can search resumes by keyword, proximity, upload date and more — plus, you can create job alerts to notify you when relevant resumes are uploaded to this job site.
If the number of resumes hosted on the site feels overwhelming, it’s fine — really. ZipRecruiter’s AI can help you wade through the resumes and find the most qualified candidates for your job opening.
That powerful AI can also help candidates find your job postings. And it can promote your job ads, help you determine where to focus your recruitment efforts and even invite qualified candidates to apply.
Some of the factors ZipRecruiter’s AI matching technology considers include the terms a candidate has searched, qualifications, certifications, past applications, experience and more.
How Free is it?
ZipRecruiter is free to try. Its pricing model compares favorably to performance-based, free job postings because those job sites typically hit you with a paywall as soon as your job ad generates any amount of interest from anyone — qualified or not.
Indeed
Not everyone is on Indeed. But, for better or worse, plenty of people are.
Indeed has grown into one of the most visited of the free job posting sites around. Despite its heavy traffic, a perceived overabundance of low-end jobs and unskilled job seekers has hurt the job board’s reputation among some recruiters and hiring managers.
While this job board is big, you’ll only reach candidates who choose to join the fray and spend significant time on this job site. While sites like ZipRecruiter will share your job to over 100 other job boards and use AI to help you determine which job sites to focus on.
Still, there’s plenty of good to balance it out.
Indeed offers a suite of screening tools to make it a little easier to eliminate unqualified candidates sooner rather than later. You can send automated questionnaires to applicants via voice or text. And you can prompt them to complete assessments related to your job description.
The site supports third-party applicant tracking systems and includes a native tracking system. However, you might find its native solution a bit lacking in comparison to popular tools you’ll find on the market — there’s no solution for managing offers or onboarding new hires.
How Free is it?
Indeed uses a pay-per-performance model for job postings. You can post jobs for free, but you’ll have to pay when a candidate engages with your job posts.
Features like resume search require a monthly subscription, while its applicant tracking integrations are quote-based.
SimplyHired
It compares favorably with free job posting sites like ZipRecruiter and other sites that share your job postings across multiple job boards and social networking sites.
Unlike ZipRecruiter, which houses over 30 million resumes, SimplyHired doesn’t include a resume database. So you can’t pursue candidates by searching them out.
SimplyHired brings a suite of HR tools to the table to assist in onboarding new employees and managing the ones already on board, but it doesn’t include an applicant tracking system to help get them there.
How Free is it?
There’s no upfront charge for posting job openings on SimplyHired. You can even view the resumes of job seekers who apply to your job posting. However, the fees kick in if you want to see who’s behind the resumes your job postings attracted.
Glassdoor
For many job seekers, Glassdoor’s biggest draw is the ability to peek inside of an organization to get a feel for what the culture is like there. Its company pages offer insights from current and former employees.
Glassdoor lets you post jobs for free in addition to providing inside details about companies and job openings. But recruiters and hiring managers may miss some of the requisite tools, such as resume search, found on other free job posting sites.
How Free is it?
You can post up to 10 jobs for free, for seven days. Once the trial period ends, you’ll have to pay for those job postings or pull them down.
Monster
Monster has to be commended for its staying power. This job board has been around since 1994, making it the oldest of the free job posting sites that are active today.
Posting a job ad to Monster is made easier thanks to a collection of more than 2,000 job description templates. And you can keep track of interested job seekers with Monster’s native applicant tracking system, though there is no support for third-party ATS solutions.
Another important point to consider about this job board is its monthly visitors. It draws significantly less traffic than rivals like Indeed and ZipRecruiter.
How Free is it?
Depending on the subscription level you sign up to test out, you can post one to five jobs for free. However, you don’t get a lot of road to ride this free test drive, as the trial period is only four days long.
Social networking can be a pivotal part of the recruitment process, and no social network attracts more users than Facebook.
However, don’t expect to learn intimate details about job seekers on Facebook. Many of them will only share a limited amount of information publicly, if at all — and don’t hold your breath expecting any of them to accept a stranger’s friend request.
Beyond attracting throngs of site visitors, Facebook’s marketing tools can help you promote your job ads to relevant audiences. However, you’ll have to pay to promote your ads.
How Free is it?
It’s completely free to sign up for a Facebook account and post ads. But if you want to reach anyone, you’ll have to pay just like you would with any of the other free job posting sites in this roundup.
Post Job Free
Yep, Post Job Free is a free job posting site. You won’t get charged for free job ads after a certain amount of time has passed or once someone expresses interest in one of your job openings.
However, you’ll need to pay for key tools and features needed to bring new talent aboard.
How Free is it?
It’s completely free to post job ads to this free job posting site. But you’ll need a premium subscription to fully view a resume, access contact information, export contacts lists or reach out to job seekers directly.
Talent.com (Formerly Neuvoo)
You can post as many jobs as you want, free of charge, to this free job posting site. Though, you could face serious problems attracting any real interest in your job postings if you don’t promote them, which isn’t free to do.
How Free is it?
This is one of the more straightforward of the free job postings sites. But if you want to get any promotion to boost your job postings, you’ll need to pay for it. Its sponsored jobs are based on a pay-per-performance pricing model.
Chegg
If you’re looking for a free job posting site, then there’s a chance you’re looking for interns rather than full-time employees. Chegg, an education-focused community, facilitates internships and you can post your gigs to the site for free.
How Free is it?
It’s completely free to post a job on Chegg, but you can only post internships. While you can view the full details of those who apply, you won’t find a native applicant tracking system on the site.
AngelList
More of a niche job board, AngelList is like LinkedIn for tech companies and startups. It offers a full host of hiring tools that includes a resume database, support for applicant tracking system integration, templates, advanced search and more — but much of that comes with a price tag.
How Free is it?
It’s free to post jobs to AngelList, but you’ll only have limited access to its core features. You’ll have to subscribe to a premium plan to fully view resumes, candidate profiles and other essential elements.
Hubstaff Talent
Looking for freelancers? Hubstaff is a free job posting site built to bring employers and contractors together.
How Free is it?
You don’t have to pay a single cent to post jobs to Hubstaff Talent. So how does this site make money off of a bunch of free job listings? It offers premium tools for managing freelancers — you can track time, collect screenshots of work, monitor team analytics and more.
Comparing the Top 5
We’ve put together this chart to help you visualize the key differences between the five best free job posting sites.
| Features | ZipRecruiter | Indeed | SimplyHired | Glassdoor | Monster |
| Screening Tools | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes, some services outsourced |
| Native Applicant Tracking System | Yes | Limited | No | No | Yes |
| Third Party ATS Support | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Free Trial Period | Yes | No | No | No | Yes |
| Pay-Per-Performance Pricing | Yes | Yes | Yes | Ues | Yes |
Frequently Asked Questions
Where Can I Post Local Jobs for Free?
You can place a free job post locally on popular job boards like ZipRecruiter, Monster and Indeed — or even on popular social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn. However, you’ll have to pay for the critical tools needed to interact with qualified candidates.
Can I Post Jobs on Craigslist for Free?
Most employers can post jobs on Craigslist for free, but in certain areas you’ll have to pay for each job posting.
How Can I Recruit Employees for Free?
Popular job boards and social networking sites provide the broadest reach for connecting with job seekers of all levels. However, these free job boards and social networking sites may limit your job ad’s visibility or your ability to interact with candidates, unless you pay to do so.
To recruit talent entirely free, consider leveraging the free components of job boards and social networks.
Bottom Line
The best free job posting sites all want to make money from the massive amount of web traffic they attract. If you want to fill job listings within a certain time frame, you’ll have to pay to make any meaningful progress.
Job search engines and aggregators like ZipRecruiter and SimplyHired are some of the more balanced free job posting sites around. Their business models make it cost-effective to reach large numbers of job seekers at various watering holes around the internet.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.