Advantages & Disadvantages of Using Job Sites for Advertising Jobs

A more comprehensive guide advertising jobs on job sites is available.

Advantages of Using Job Sites

• Broad reach: Job sites potentially have a large audience, usually more than any other Applicant Attraction Channel.
• Cost-effectiveness: Job sites are generally more affordable than traditional recruitment agencies and headhunters. This makes them a good option for businesses with a limited recruitment budget (especially those in the Toddler and Teenage stages of the business life cycle I discussed in chapter 2).
• Speed and efficiency: Once you’ve posted a job, you can receive applications within a few hours, significantly speeding up the recruitment process.
• Ease of use: Job sites are typically user-friendly, with straightforward processes for publishing job adverts and managing applications.
• CV database access: Many job sites offer employers access to a candidate CV database, allowing employers to proactively search for potential candidates. (However, I generally only recommend this service for advanced hiring managers and discuss this topic in the next chapter.)
• Reduced dependency on recruitment agencies: Recruitment agencies generally get their applicants from job sites, so cutting out the middleman makes sense. You can often source the same candidates directly for a fraction of the cost. 

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Disadvantages of Using Job Sites

• Complexity in choosing the right job site: With many job sites available, each with its speciality and audience, selecting the most suitable site can be complex and time-consuming for employers.
• Quantity over quality: Whilst job sites can generate a high volume of applicants, the quality of these applicants may vary. This problem is becoming more acute with jobseekers using AI applications! Employers often have to spend time sifting through numerous unsuitable applications, like finding a needle in a haystack! Fortunately, I have lots of advice in chapter 9 to help you quickly shortlist applicants.
• Highly competitive: An employer’s advert may get lost among competing job listings, reducing its visibility to potential candidates. To improve your chances, you need to use tactics to optimise your advert so it is seen by jobseekers (covered in chapter 5).
• Complicated pricing structures: As I also discuss in chapter 5, some pricing models can sound great value but be an expensive headache. You need to choose the right one for you to get good value.
• No guarantees: As job sites are advertising platforms, finding the right candidate is not guaranteed. (You'll likely get a poor response if you ask for too much, pay too little, or have a poor job.)
• Time-consuming process: It can take a while to find enough job sites, negotiate a good deal, publish a job, and then manage many applications. This can be a particular challenge for smaller businesses without dedicated HR departments.‍
• Damage to employer brand: If you’re constantly advertising, some jobseekers wrongly assume your company has a staff retention issue rather than growing and needing more staff.