Finding the right talent is the first step to a prospering business, and there are plenty of good job sites for employers out there to help you out. They make it easy to find the right candidates quickly. Each platform we’ll outline in this article has its different benefits: Some are better for specific skills, while others are great for reaching a wide range of candidates. Knowing your options and selecting the right job board can speed up your hiring and connect you with ideal candidates.

Top Job Sites In Australia For Employers

Here’s a detailed list of some of the most popular job search websites in Australia, with their pros and cons weighed. We hope you find exactly who you’re looking for!

Seek

Seek is Australia’s leading job site, with over 14 million candidate profiles. It also operates in Australia and New Zealand, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, Brazil, and Mexico. If you’re hoping to attract many applicants, this is the place to be. It’s one of the most popular sites across a range of sectors, meaning you have a wide reach.

More candidates to wade through isn’t necessarily a good thing. It means you have to spend a lot more time finding the right one. To counteract this, Seek also provides an advanced job search engine and filter tools. You can use them to sort candidates based on specific criteria, making it easier to find the perfect fit for your business in less time. Here are some more of Seek’s best features: 

• Detailed job posts: You can include essential qualifications, experience requirements, and company information in your job advertisements.
• Candidate Management: You can use Seek’s tools to sort through candidates and schedule interviews directly through the platform.
• Company Profiles: Showcase your company culture, benefits, and job openings one one centralised profile.
• Market Insights: Data and analytics that covers market trends, salary benchmarks, and competitor analysis. This can help you ensure you have competitive offers, or at least in line with the Australian job market.

We’ve used Seek many times in the past, and it’s one of the best places to post job ads. The downside is that posting a job listing on Seek is one of the more expensive options, and there is no option for free job postings.

It’s hard to get a clear idea of the price for one job listing upfront. They don’t give you a cost estimation until you post the ad. Pricing varies from industry to industry and fluctuates depending on demand. You can save money by paying upfront for many job ads at once. As of April 2024, posting 2–3 job ads over 12 months costs $1,150.

Indeed

Indeed is a US-based job board with over 350 million monthly visitors from across the globe. Unlike Seek, indeed offers both free and paid listing options. This flexibility, along with its powerful search tools, makes it a great option. It’s easy for both employers and job seekers to navigate.

Here are some of the features that make Indeed so popular:

• Free Job Postings: You can post jobs for free. This is particularly beneficial for small businesses or those with frequent hiring needs.
• Sponsored Jobs: You can opt to sponsor posts if you need an extra visibility boost. This ensures your listings appear near the top of search results.
• Resume Search: Access to a vast database of resumes means you can proactively search for candidates who meet specific job requirements.
• Screening Questions: You can add customised screening questions to job postings to weed out unsuitable candidates.

Indeed’s huge reach and easy application process does have a downside. You might find yourself with lots of unsuitable candidates. This is why it’s important to use their custom screen question feature.

It’s also important to note free job listings run this risk of getting lost under sponsored posts. According to Indeed, employers are 4.5 times more likely to make a hire if they sponsor their job listings. 

Paying for sponsored posts also allows you to unlock the ‘Matched Candidates’ feature. This automatically creates a list of candidates whose resumes on Indeed fit your job description. You can then invite as many of these candidates as you’d like to apply. Sponsorship runs on a CPA (Cost Per Applicant) pricing model, and you set a daily budget. 

LinkedIn

We all know LinkedIn is a great professional networking platform. It also doubles as a recruitment tool, thanks to its comprehensive job board feature. It goes without saying LinkedIn’s focus is on professionalism. As a result, it tends to draw in more serious candidates for white-collar jobs and senior positions.

Another advantage of LinkedIn is that it’s easier to find passive candidates. These are people who may not be actively job hunting but might jump on the right opportunity. This can expand the pool of candidates and increase your chances of finding the right fit.

LinkedIn also allows you to see more detailed candidate info than other job sites. You can see their full list of skills, peer recommendations, and social posts. Deeper insight into your candidate like that means better hiring decisions.

Here are some of LinkedIns best features for employers on the lookout:

Features:

• Targeted Job Ads: You can use LinkedIn’s advanced targeting tools to post jobs to specific groups, like people in your industry with the right level of experience.
• InMail: This premium feature lets employers send personalised messages directly to potential candidates, including those not actively hoping to find a job. This helps you tap into the passive job seeker market.
• Company Pages: You can use your business profile to showcase your company culture, values, and employee testimonials. This will help candidates better understand your business and whether they’re a good cultural fit. Your company page might make them realise you’re offering their dream job!
• Applicant Tracking System (ATS) Integration: An ATS is a hiring software tool that helps employers manage candidate data. If you use an ATS, LinkedIn makes it easy to integrate. This helps you keep track of candidate data and track the recruitment process efficiently.
• Recruiter Profiles: As a recruiter, you can create a detailed profile. This makes you more visible and more credible to potential candidates.
• Analytics: LinkedIn provides detailed analytics on job post performance. This includes the number of views and applications for each post. It also includes the demographics of the applicants. This helps you tweak and further refine your job posts over time.

You can post jobs on LinkedIn for free, but you’ll have limited reach and fewer features. For starters, free job posts are only active for 21 days and have a cap on the number of applicants. Before that, the post drops down in search results every day that it’s up.

In contrast, paid ads always appear at the top of search results and can stay up as long as you want. You also gain access to the InMail tool we mentioned above and instant mobile job alerts to qualified candidates. Paid ads on LinkedIn run on a cost-per-click model, meaning you can set the budget to suit your needs.

CareerOne

CareerOne is a joint venture of NewsCorp Australia and Monster Jobs, a global job board. Its focus on AI features and career resources has made it one of the most popular job sites in Australia.

There’s one thing that makes it stand out on this list: The ability to post interactive multimedia job ads. You can post virtual office tours, pictures of your teams, and video job descriptions. This is great for getting candidates’ attention. It also gives them a better sense of your workplace. It’s great if you work in a creative field and want to show prospective candidates a bit of your style.

Here are some more of CareerOne’s best features:

• Match Score: CareerOne uses AI to assess how well a candidate suits your job listing. It provides a ‘Match Score’ out of 100 to reflect this. You can sort candidates by match score, from highest to lowest. This means less sifting through unsuitable candidates.
• Career Resources: CareerOne has a wealth of articles and tools to help job seekers improve their employment prospects. This also benefits employers by attracting more informed and prepared candidates.
• Customisable Search Filters: You can tailor your search for candidates using filters like location, industry, people looking for work from home jobs, and expected salary. This makes it easier to find the best matches for job openings.

The biggest downside to CareerOne is its limited reach, with a much smaller user base than global sites like LinkedIn or Indeed. Fewer applicants can limit your chances of finding just the right fit. On the flip side, it can also make your job listing stand out more among less competition.

CareerOne allows you to post either free or paid ads. The paid ads are a bit more affordable than other job platforms, starting at $185 for a 30-day ad. You can also try it free for a 14-day trial period.

Adzuna

Adzuna is a job search engine that compiles listings from multiple job sites in Australia to help job seekers find work. This gives a full view of the job market for job seekers and employers in Australia. Pulling many listings into one place has earned Adzuna quite the following. They get 155 million site visits each year and 1 billion job postings. Although Adzuna is more geared toward job seekers than employers, it’s still a great place to post if you want to cover all your bases. 

Features include:

• Smart Search Options: You can filter candidates based on specific criteria, like experience, location, and expected salary.
• Salary Stats: You can see current salaries from other companies in your sector and whether they offer flexible job opportunities. This allows you to gain a better understanding of industry standards and set competitive salaries that attract the right talent.
• Adzuna Connect: This feature allows employers to connect directly with potential candidates, making the recruitment process more direct and personal.
• ACM Coverage: Adzuna distributes all job ads to the regional Australian Community Media (ACM) job boards.

To maintain uniformity on the site, Adzuna standardises all listings. This means it offers a lot less customisation than other job search sites. There’s also no candidate management dashboard available. Lastly, there’s no free way to post jobs online with Adzuna – instead, it’s $199 per post.

ArtsHub

ArtsHub is a large membership organisation catering to creative professionals. One of their membership offerings is their industry job board. The ArtsHub job board gets 130,000 unique page views each month and 36,000 subscribers to its job newsletter. While not as large a viewer base as a more general job board, that’s nothing to sniff at. It’s the perfect place to help you find the right candidate if you want someone with plenty of experience in the creative industry.

Here are some of the best features of ArtsHub’s job portal:

• Industry-Specific Listings: ArtsHub connects job seekers with employers in the performing and visual arts, writing, publishing, film and music industries. This is a pretty wide scope for an industry job board, increasing the visibility of your job listing. 
• Networking Opportunities: The platform hosts industry events and news, providing a space for employers to connect with potential candidates and industry peers.
• Resource Centre: ArtsHub provides articles, career advice, and sector reports that help employers stay informed about industry trends and best practices.
• Targeted Audience: By catering to the arts community, your job posting can reach a relevant audience, ensuring better alignment with job seekers’ interests and qualifications.

You can’t post a job listing on ArtsHub for free. Instead, they have a tiered pricing system: Standard, Premium, and Featured. If you’re not already a member, only the Featured tier is available, which costs $825. Your ad remains active for 30 days, appears in two job newsletters, and shows on the homepage.

Conclusion

Choosing the right job site is essential to find the right candidate without too much hassle. Each platform we’ve discussed has different features that cater to different hiring needs. You have to decide what matters most to you. Is it reaching lots of candidates? Or only those with specialised skills? Do you need a cost-effective solution above all else? Knowing the features and drawbacks of each job site will help you make an informed decision.

For hard-to-fill roles, post your job on multiple job sites. This will maximise your reach and increase your chances of finding the right candidate. Remember, the goal is not just to fill a vacancy. It’s to find someone who will help your team and business thrive. If you can, take your time making a decision and trying different job boards!