Should You Pay for Job Listings?
There is a difference between web sites that provide a service i.e. the site searches for jobs for you to apply to and/or applies to them for you. If you can afford the service, web sites like this can be a way to save time and get more qualified job leads. I’m not complaining about these types of sites, because you are getting something for your money and you're paying for the service, not to access jobs.
The sites I have an issue with are those that charge job seekers for job listings. The job seekers, in many cases, don’t have a clue that they can find the exact same job listings on other sites - absolutely free.
There is no need to pay a monthly or quarterly, or any fee, when you can access the exact same jobs posted on company web sites free on the job search engine sites. Here's more information on whether you should pay for job listings, or not.
If you're not sure about a site, ask on our Forum and we'll do our best to check it out for you.
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Comments
I wish there was a way to warn job seekers en masse about these types of sites. They are a whole bunch of these out there, mostly owned by the same parent company (hound.com). They call job boards “useless” but say nothing of job search engines, on which most of their “job postings” can be found.
They have also attempted to infiltrate their listings to our site, multiple times using several domains and IP addresses. That is their only creativity, not finding job leads. Oy.
DON’T PAY!!!
This is a tough one. In general, I am against it, in principle, but for-pay sites like TheLadders have great listings that tend to be exclusive. However, I got really annoyed at one exec recruiter company that solicited me to join their site for their free listings, because of the quality of my academic background, and then switched their model to one where they are charging jobseekers. And this after they “invited me” to extend an invitation to some friends and colleagues. Felt very bait & switch, and exploitative to boot.
I run a job board – two, actually – and I’ve honestly never heard of such a thing as paying for job listings. Absurd. So absurd I think I’ll blog about it. Robin’s right – DON’T PAY!!!