Your next hire: ZipRecruiter vs. Indeed vs. everybody else

Expansion can be a stressful, time-consuming, and expensive process. Staffing and recruiting agencies come with very high costs, and for small businesses with limited resources, the task of finding the best candidate often falls solely in your hands as the owner.

But sometimes outsourcing isn’t necessary. A robust and informative “Careers” page on your company website can be very valuable when recruiting. And referrals from current employees and other contacts often make for the best hires. However, if you’re looking to hire an employee beyond your network there are a number of options you can consider.

The 10 best job recruitment sites

ZipRecruiter vs. Indeed? SimplyHired vs. Monster? There are numerous job boards available , each offering something a little different. The good news is that most job boards have a certain strength that makes them a great fit for the right company. The bad news? There are a lot to choose from.

Whether you want to create open-ended job listings for freelancers or tap into a particular job market to find your forever employee, the 10 following websites should help you find the perfect candidate and make your search for the best job recruitment site a breeze.

10. Craigslist

Craigslist is a good source to find local candidates without spending too much money. Posting fees range from free to $25 in larger cities and up to $75 in the San Francisco Bay area. These monetary savings come with a caveat, however, as the boards are loaded with poor jobs and scams, and as a result, with poor prospects. Keep this in mind and be sure to filter vigorously when hiring through Craigslist.

Craigslist is a good resource for entry-level and intern candidates, but for those looking for higher-level employees, it’s not the ideal choice.

9. Internships.com

Keeping with the theme of lower-level hiring, Interships.com is a useful resource for businesses looking for help from current students and recent grads. Internships are an inexpensive way to evaluate candidates through hands-on testing. According to Internships.com, 70% of companies make full-time job offers to interns.

Many interns are hungry for a new job and will work incredibly hard. Even better, interns often don’t have any preconceived notions about a workplace on account of their limited experience. This can make them easier to train.

Posting on Internships.com is free and unlimited. The site partners your company with over 400 colleges and universities. It also has a helpful resource section that gives employers guides on running an internship program, as well as tips on interviewing and compensating an intern.

8. SimplyHired

Boasting the “largest job search engine and recruitment advertising network,” SimplyHired offers posting to their site for free and job marketing services for a cost. Ranging from $99 to $199, SimplyHired’s paid services list job postings on over 5,000 sites, blogs, and social networks, including LinkedIn, Facebook, and even other job boards like Indeed.

SimplyHired partners with over 25,000 different sites, and it claims to reach 30 million job seekers. But its system lacks a searchable resume database, which makes it less attractive than other sites on this list.

7. Monster

The first public job search website, Monster.com boasts a network of over 23 million candidates. Monster’s free service offers employers the ability to create, edit, and post their jobs.

Among other options, Monster’s paid tools include a searchable resume database and a Target Slot program that include yearly subscriptions to post as many job openings as needed. It also offers a Complete Job Posting feature that provides access to all of Monster’s candidate pool and network of sites, including specialty sites targeting diverse, disabled, and minority candidates.

6. LinkedIn

LinkedIn is an essential networking tool for all businesses. LinkedIn’s network comprises professionals from 130 different industries and includes over 100,000 recruiters. The site offers access to high-quality professionals just for signing up. It’s the best resource for referrals and a very valuable source to find qualified candidates.

Their paid service, LinkedIn Recruiter, allows employers and recruiters to target passive candidates that match the qualifications they seek. Employers can also track candidates and use current employees’ networks to provide feedback on potential hires. This can all be done without the candidates’ knowledge. If employers are interested, candidates can be reached via LinkedIn’s InMail messaging service.

The caveat, however, lies in LinkedIn Recruiters’ price, which can reach the thousands. But if you’re looking for someone with experience under a specific job title or someone niche, like an a specialist for an advanced tech job, the fees on LinkedIn can be worth it.

5. Jobvite

Jobvite is another paid job marketing service that utilizes job-board networks, applicant tracking and social media to ease the hiring process. Jobvite offers three products: Jobvite Hire, Jobvite Engage, and Jobvite Refer.

Jobvite Hire is an automated applicant tracking system. It posts job openings to free job sites like Indeed and SimplyHired as well as to over 300 social networks, including Twitter and Facebook. Hire also sends your job postings to email and mobile subscribers. It provides calendar services to manage interviewing and offers branded company career sites with LinkedIn integration. It also provides custom applications and screening forms.

Jobvite Refer utilizes your employees’ networks to find candidates. Refer allows anyone to send out job invites through emails or multiple social sites from one place. It calculates compatibility with applicants based on their social media profiles. It allows you to manage and reward employee referrals, and uses several different Facebook apps to reach out to candidates. And like Hire, it automatically posts your job openings on over 300 social networks, online communities, and blogs.

Jobvite Engage is a tool that helps you search and utilize Jobvite’s online talent pool. It offers a resume database that allows you to score and rank potential hires. It allows you to import and manage resumes from other sources and provides customizable templates for job invites. Like Jobvite’s other services, it also posts job invites on social media sites and Facebook apps.

4. SmartRecruiters

SmartRecruiters is a lot like ZipRecruiter and Jobvite. It posts job openings on sites, mobile apps, and social media networks, including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. SmartRecruiters offers widgets for linking to your job posts and customizable, branded ads. It also provides employers with a searchable database of over 500 million profiles and offers applicant tracking and reporting.

So what makes SmartRecruiters stand apart from the competition? It’s completely free.

3. JazzHR

JazzHR streamlines your hiring process by syncing up with your existing HR tools, like Namely, Monster, and ZipRecruiter. It offers customizable job applications, questionnaires, and screening based on applicants’ responses. It sends automated responses when applications are received and when rejections are necessary.

JazzHR also allows you to create custom career pages, for both permanent or seasonal hires. This allows you to brand your pages accordingly, making sure your company looks appealing to the type of hire you’re wanting to land. You can even share your posts seamlessly through major social channels once the posts are live.

Their plans range from $39 to $309 per month. This makes it a little pricier than some of the job hunting sites above, but unlike the other sites on the list, it does allow you to sync up with existing HR tools and truly customize the application process.

2. ZipRecruiter

ZipRecruiter is an online job marketing service that posts your job openings to over 40 sites, including Indeed, Monster, Craigslist, SimplyHired, and eBay Classifieds. ZipRecruiter also includes your job postings in its daily emails, and posts your openings on social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

It also allows job seekers to post resumes. Employers are able to search ZipRecruiter’s database of over 2 million resumes for free and can receive contact information for up to 1,000 candidates a month with the paid services.

ZipRecruiter offers hosting for your company job pages, and provides application templates and customizable questionnaires. It also provides personalized email responses to applications and screening tools to prevent your inboxes from being bombarded.

ZipRecruiter offers a 4-day free trial, allowing you to try out the service with no risk. After the free trial period, ZipRecruiter will customize a plan for you based on your hiring needs — with plans starting from $249 per month. Your customized plan and pricing will be presented to you for review before you enter any payment information

1. Indeed

With over 100 million unique visitors per month, Indeed.com is billed as the “#1 job site worldwide.” Its easy-to-use interface, as well as its resources for company and industry trends, are what make Indeed the most-used job search engine on the web. Single, organic job openings are free to post on the site, and Indeed posts those openings on Twitter and Facebook at no cost.

It also offers a pay-per-click service that posts your job on over 25,000 partner sites, charging you only when a candidate clicks to view your post. Indeed also allows you to search its resume database and pay only when you want to contact prospects.

With free job posting, the ability to set up company profiles, integrated cover letter functionality, and more, it’s easy to see why Indeed is a top job posting site.

ZipRecruiter vs. Indeed

Why do these two get their own section? They’re both titans in the industry, and on top of that, they’re our top two choices. Choosing between the two could come down to a single feature, so let’s take a closer look at what sets these two apart and what they have in common.

ZipRecruiter

ZipRecruiter is known for its ability to blast a job posting across numerous job boards. This makes it great for ensuring you get your job in front of as many eyes as possible. But, what else does it offer?

• Mobile app for employers to use when looking over applicants
• Numerous tools for managing applicants, flagging them, reviewing them, etc.
• Ability to add pre-screening questions to applications
• Sends job posting to more than 100 different sites
• All postings come with unlimited candidate amounts

So, what’s the catch with all this greatness? A hefty price tag of $249 per month to start off. There is a free trial, but once that ends you have to pony up the money or take your job posting elsewhere.

Who ZipRecruiter is good for: If you have a larger company that needs to post numerous jobs at once, you can likely get your money’s worth with ZipRecruiter. If you’re an absolute bootstrapped startup that has no money, you should consider a free or cheaper alternative, especially if you aren’t looking to fill numerous roles.

Indeed

Indeed is essentially the Google of job boards. They’re free, incredibly popular, and function largely as a search engine. Indeed offers much more than basic job searching and posting, however:

• Free job posting
• Access to more than 120 million resumes
• Integration with more than 80 applicant tracking systems
• Ability to run pay-per-click ads for jobs you’re posting
• Can seamlessly schedule interviews through Indeed account
• Pre-screening questions can be added to postings, as well as specific qualifications

All of this great stuff for free? Yes, it’s free, sans the pay-per-click ads. Are there any downsides? Of course. For starters, unlike ZipRecruiter, Indeed doesn’t post your jobs across a variety of sites — it is the job board. This could result in a slightly smaller candidate pool, but you still have more than 120 million people.

Who Indeed is good for: Indeed is a great option for virtually any business needing to hire someone. With free posting and a variety of options like pre-screening questions and qualification filters, you can quickly weed out any unqualified applicants.

Finding your next hire

When it comes to the best job site, there isn’t any single choice. Every business is looking for something different, and no single job aggregator is going to have everything. There’s a lot of pressure when it comes to filling open positions, so take your time and look at your many options.

The top talent is out there, and with a quick Google search, the right job description and some patience, you can find just the person you need.

Check out each of the job websites on this list and do some additional digging. Talk to your hiring managers if you have them and see how they feel about the many job searching sites. Before you know it, you’ll be ready to post jobs, schedule follow up interviews and help some lucky candidate find their next job with your company.