How to get the best results from online job advertising

Should you post your job adverts on to job sites to directly attract your own candidates? You’re certainly not short of options when it comes to advertising vacancies online. But given that there are over 1,100 job boards in the UK, where do you start?

One job board is unlikely to be enough

Some employers hope that posting a job advert onto a single free job site will be sufficient to attract the right level of interest. But this isn’t an ideal approach. Free sites can generate a high volume of applications, but their relevance can be very hit and miss – meaning employers then need to invest many hours trawling through CVs and still don’t necessarily end up with a particularly good shortlist even after they’ve done that. 

And in reality, posting onto just one site is scratching the surface of the potential talent pool of candidates looking online for a new role. 

So what should you consider when choosing job boards?

The network of job boards within the UK is vast and varied. Leading job sites include TotalJobs, Jobsite and CV-Library, and there are also many regional job boards and specialist job sites for all industries. 

You must consider the nature of the role before you choose which job sites to advertise on, and it’s inevitable that the responses you receive will differ from one job board to another. The user experience on each job site varies and this will affect the quality of relevant applications you receive from them. 

Reaching your target audience

Be aware that many job seekers will use just one or two job boards in their search. Standout CV suggests the average number of online job sites visited is five. 

The job boards they’ll use will of course vary, depending on where they’re anticipating the kinds of roles that they’re looking for will be advertised. Online job advertising across multiple job boards will always provide you with an increased chance of uncovering your superstar but it must be done in a well thought-through way. Consider using a combination of leading, regional and specialist job boards and take the time to research the ones you are considering using thoroughly so you have an idea of the type of results you can expect to receive from the outset. Advertising a job vacancy on relevant job sites isn’t cheap so it requires striking a balance between identifying the best job boards for your specific vacancy, and the cost of posting. 

Does it matter if your advert is employer branded or not?

When advertising a job online, you’ll sometimes be presented with the option to either have a ‘branded advert’ (which includes your company name and logo, and space to provide details within the advert about what makes your company such an amazing place to work!) or a ‘non-branded’ job advert (so no name, logo or mention of who your company is).

Non-branded adverts are the cheaper option when advertising jobs online. But you must think like a marketer. When it comes to online job advertising, there are a vast amount of job adverts out there. You need yours to stand out from the crowd – and employer branded job advertising with your company logo, eye-catching imagery, and job advert content that has a lasting impression on job seekers will be far more likely to achieve that. And more often than not, applicants want to know who they are applying to – so you need to consider whether applicants could immediately be put off if your job adverts are non-branded.

Write engaging job advert content

It’s no good gaining all the exposure for your vacancy if your job advert content isn’t written effectively for job boards in the first place. There are plenty of elements to consider when it comes to writing an effective job advert, and it’s not only about making it sound great. It’s a technical process too. 

Think about keywords that are relatable to your desired audience and search engine optimised (SEO) to ensure your job advert ranks highly on job site search engines. The advert content needs to be relevant, informative, and concise, and in a mobile friendly format structured for easy reading.

Promote your job adverts on social media

Around 79% of job seekers will use social media for their search. And it’s not just active job seekers who are present on social media – there’s a huge passive job seeker market on there too. They might not be intending to look but if they happen to see your vacancy advertised and like what they see, their application could very quickly be sitting in your inbox.

Our advice would be to always consider incorporating social media (Facebook, LinkedIn and X) into your recruitment strategy for a comprehensive approach. And pay very careful attention to how you’re promoting your employer brand on these channels through your company pages. This could well be one of the first points of communication a job seeker has with your business, so you need to make sure they are left with a positive impression!

Make the visuals count

We’d also highly recommend designing visuals to really catch the eye. 

Every job vacancy we advertise for clients includes a comprehensive social media recruitment marketing campaign because we know that maximises the likelihood of reaching the ideal talent pool. And bringing opportunities to life through employer branded visuals and engaging posts is extremely effective for capturing audiences across social media. 

Feeds are likely to be flooded with content, so you must make sure your posts stand out to encourage your intended audience to stop and look. (For some inspiration, have a look at a few examples of our social media recruitment marketing campaigns.)

As recruitment advertising and marketing specialists, we’re here to help!

At JVP Group, we leave no stone left unturned when it comes to advertising vacancies for our clients across the UK. We utilise a network of 200+ job boards that have been tried and tested for the best possible reach and results, taking a tailored approach to advertising vacancies dependent on the type of role, level, location, and industry.

To discover how our employer branded job advert writing service and multiple job board advertising and social media recruitment marketing solutions will help you quickly attract the best people and remove the hassle and high costs from the recruitment process, get in touch! Call the JVP Group team on 01745 774 955, or click here to schedule a 20-minute consultation call.

Special offer - October only!

Place an order for a job advertising campaign, and approve the ad content to go live on or before the 31st October 2023, and you will receive it at the significantly reduced rate of £495 + VAT (usually £795 plus VAT).

There is no maximum limit to the number of job advertising campaigns you can purchase with this offer, so if you have multiple vacancies to hire for, take advantage of this incredible offer while you can! You'll find more details here.