LinkedIn at a Glance
LinkedIn offers businesses the ability to access the largest professional network in the world via job posts that are easily searchable. These job postings give businesses the ability to cast a very wide net, but not all jobs are a good fit for the platform. LinkedIn’s users tend to lean towards professionals and “white-collar” types of workers more than anything else.
The platform offers industry-leading profile tools for both job seekers and businesses. You can add multimedia to your profile, giving the normal résumé a bit of 21st-century flair. Searching through applicants is a breeze, and many search functions are available for free whether you post a job or not.
LinkedIn offers you the ability to post one free job at a time. When posting a job, you’ll get a recommendation on promoting your job post for either a daily or total budget amount. Within that offer, you’ll see how many expected job applicants you will receive if you keep the job posting free compared to what you are expected to get if you promote the job. Keep in mind that the free job applicant predictions can be very low.
Featured Partners
1
BambooHR
Yes
Yes
ATS
2
Pinpoint ATS
Yes
Yes
24/7 customer support, easy-to-use interface, fast and flexible workflows, hundreds of integrations
3
ClearCompany
Yes
Yes
Employee engagement
Other Benefits
Not only can you easily search for applicants, but you can also see a variety of information beyond where they worked and went to school. This includes things like recommendations from their former co-workers, skill assessments they’ve passed on the platform or any content they’ve created and put out on LinkedIn for all to see. This can give you a better idea of a candidate’s potential beyond just looking at a résumé.
The best thing about using LinkedIn beyond its reach is the fact that it is extremely easy to use. You can get a job posted in a matter of minutes, with fewer steps involved than other job boards. You can also navigate your applicants very easily, rejecting each or reaching out via the platform’s built-in messaging system. This can greatly speed up your ability to hire.
Fine Print
If you need to post multiple jobs or aren’t getting enough applicants with your free posting, then you’ll need to use the promotion feature. The costs can vary greatly depending on your budget, where you live and what type of job you’re hiring for.
The cost to post a job on LinkedIn can range anywhere from $5 to well over $100 per day. LinkedIn will tell you if you are spending too much or too little on your type of job. We suggest staying on the low end and ramping up as needed so that you don’t overspend to get more applicants than you even have time to go through.
LinkedIn is also not a great fit for every type of job. While you can find retail, hospitality and manual labor jobs on the platform, it’s a better fit for white-collar types of postings.
How LinkedIn Stacks Up
LinkedIn is the best option for office-type jobs, hands down, with the largest professional network available in the world. You won’t find more active applicants looking for those types of jobs on either of the other two platforms. The costs are in line with the competition but aren’t necessarily predictable when it comes to determining how much you need to spend to find the right number of applicants for your open role.
Indeed and LinkedIn both let you control how much you spend, with a few limitations, but your daily budget can be spent quickly if you’re not careful. With ZipRecruiter, you pay for the post and not the reach, so your post won’t be taken down because of how many times it has been viewed on any given day.
Overall, these are all solid options, depending on what type of job you’re hiring for. But LinkedIn is the best option to try out because you can post a job for free for 30 days.
Featured Partners
1
BambooHR
Yes
Yes
ATS
2
Pinpoint ATS
Yes
Yes
24/7 customer support, easy-to-use interface, fast and flexible workflows, hundreds of integrations
3
ClearCompany
Yes
Yes
Employee engagement
Is LinkedIn Right for You or Your Business?
Whether LinkedIn is right for you is going to depend on a number of factors such as the type of job you’re looking to hire for and how large your hiring budget is going to be. If you have a single job opening that leans towards professional work or “office” type of work, then LinkedIn is going to be almost impossible to beat. You can post that job for free and you may be able to get plenty of applicants.
However, if you have many job openings to post, then you’ll have to weigh the costs of the platform with the potential reach. If all of the jobs are a good fit for the platform, then it will still be difficult to beat by going to another job board because of the reach of LinkedIn and comparative costs. You should keep an eye on how much you’re spending so that you don’t incur unexpected costs.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is a LinkedIn job posting worth it?
There is no one answer to this question because whether or not the job posting is worth it is going to depend on a number of factors such as who you’re looking to hire and how much you spend. If you hire someone who makes your firm a lot of money, then it was probably absolutely worth the cost.
You should also keep in mind that some roles are more difficult to fill than others. This typically requires a supplement to posting on a job board like LinkedIn in the form of talent acquisition efforts. There are too many factors that are specific to your individual situation to know for sure if it is worth it or not.
How much does it cost to post jobs on LinkedIn?
Posting jobs on LinkedIn can range from free to over $100 per day. You get to set your own budget and determine the max you’ll either spend per day or as a total budget for each individual job post.
How long does a job posting stay on LinkedIn?
A free job posting will last for 30 days. A paid post either needs to be removed manually or it will be removed after six months of being live on the platform. As long as the paid post is live, you will be charged according to your budget settings. Paid posts will drop down in search rankings if their budget is maxed out.
What criteria should organizations consider when deciding on a recruiting software tool?
When choosing recruiting software, consider overall pricing, how well the platform scales, how easy it is to use and whether its features align with your specific hiring requirements. Most recruitment software comes with a free trial so you can check out the platform before you invest in it.
