Obviously being a recruitment agency, we do take an interest in how the job boards perform.
We did a little of our own research and asked clients, candidates and our social media followers where they would typically go to look for new jobs and opportunities.
This is what we found:
- CV Library: 4%
- Reed: 10%
- Indeed: 26%
- LinkedIn: 60%
Then we looked at our own placement analytics, and found that those results are in slight correlation with our own placements:
- CV Library: 2.3%
- Totaljobs: 2.3%
- Placing Faces organic: 8.4%
- Reed: 26.7%
- Indeed: 23.2%
- LinkedIn: 37.1%
As an agency ourselves, here’s what we think to the key job boards, and any advice we can give.
Reed
Ideal for banking, finance, education and HR roles.
Reed aren’t just a job board; they are one of the UK’s largest recruitment agencies and were the first UK recruitment agency to have an online presence, back in 1995! This was around the same time as Amazon launched and there were under 50,000 websites globally. Placing Faces’ aim was to operate differently to agencies like Reed, BUT that said, we are still huge fans of their job board. We actually make almost as many placements through Reed as we do LinkedIn, so we can’t snub them! We don’t get as many candidates coming through Reed, but the quality of the candidates we do get tends to be much higher, hence the higher percentage in placements! So whilst Reed are churning out good quality candidates, we’ll continue to rate them! Placing Faces ‘find a job’ rating, 9/10.
Ideal for anything desk based, or senior and management positions.
If you don’t have a LinkedIn profile… WHERE ARE YOU?! We strongly suggest you get one. Even if you’re not looking for a job right now, LinkedIn is a great platform for networking and keeping up with anything business related. Think Facebook but without your great aunt Susan liking your photos. It’s a social platform for business minded people. Memes and quotes are shared, people still comment and like. It also has its own jobs board, so you can apply for a job directly with your profile. So make sure you’ve updated your profile to include your work history and experiences. It’s like an ongoing interactive CV! Head-hunters and recruiters like ourselves can connect with you and directly message you with opportunities. This is where we make most of our placements. A lot of people connect with us, but we also use it to headhunt candidates to fill roles. Placing Faces ‘find a job’ rating: 9.5/10. (The only reason this isn’t a 10, is because Placing Faces are a 10!)
Indeed
Ideal for everything! Full time, part time, temporary. Warehouse, customer service, administration. Indeed opens up the market for everyone!
With 10 jobs added every second, Indeed is the largest job board in the world with 250 million monthly visitors. Whilst it seems very easy and convenient to apply for jobs using their CV template, this isn’t always a great feature when searching for your dream job. If you can afford to be picky and are looking for that really spectacular role, you need your CV and application to really stand out. Not look the same as everyone else’s, which is what tends to happen on Indeed. Its biggest advantages are that it’s so simple to use, for both candidates and recruiters; the advanced search options let you search for exactly what you want, and with the number of jobs they have, you’re bound to find a few you can apply to. We tend to fill a lot of our back-office/administration roles through Indeed. It’s not our fave – the graphical user interface is a little dated – but it’s got the volume. Placing Faces ‘find a job’ rating: 8/10.
Totaljobs
Ideal for IT, Technical and Construction.
Totaljobs were merged from Jobsite and many other job boards back in 2018 so that they could battle for the top spots in the recruitment market. The design of the site and the usability is a little “busy”, not as simple and clear as others. It has detailed search functions so you can narrow down your search, but the variety of jobs on here still isn’t very strong. It’s great for particular sectors, so if you fall into one of their specialist sectors, you’re bound to find a job worth applying for. They still have a quarter of a million jobs live at any one time, so there’s plenty to browse through. Placing Faces ‘find a job’ rating: 5/10
CV Library
Ideal for Retail, Administration, Design and Finance.
An overall ‘steady’ job board, not looking to take over the world but is incredibly focused on the UK. Companies and agencies that use CVLibrary to post jobs and search CVs pay significantly less than many of the other job boards. They have some huge household names that use it, such as Sky and Ocado. It is certainly worth having your CV uploaded onto for this reason, even if you don’t have the time to actively use it. Also, as a candidate, you can use their premium function for a tenner a month, which elevates your CV up the list when companies are running a search. A bit like a paid ad but in reverse; you pay to be seen by the company, rather than the company paying to be seen by you. Placing Faces ‘find a job’ rating: 6/10
To summarise, there are plenty of opportunities for you, as a candidate, to search for jobs. Social platforms like Facebook. Job boards such as mentioned above. Specialist job boards for certain sectors, and now, the powerhouse of the future, Google for Jobs. This makes job hunting a whole lot easier than ever before. The best advice we can give here is utilising all the job boards. We speak with so many people that just apply to a handful of jobs on one job board, and hope the work comes to them. Get ahead of your competition! Even if you are simply uploading your CV to as many job boards as possible, and not applying to the roles, recruiters can still see your CV and get in touch with you directly.