Introduction
According to the latest statistics, the US job board industry is worth $14.7 billion. Some revenue generated by job boards is attributed to popular job sites such as Indeed.com, Monster.com, ZipRecruiter.com, etc. However, over the past few years, niche job board has emerged, generating significant revenue.
How do niche job boards profit and grab a piece of this $14.7 billion?
Below, You’ll discover some of the most lucrative strategies job boards use to generate income and how you can implement them on your own job board.
1. Charges for Job Postings
Job boards make the most money by charging employers to post jobs. Employers expect to receive the number of applicants that they are satisfied with. The more qualified applicants you bring to a job posting, the higher the fee you can charge.
Many job boards list the number of applications employers will receive using their service on their pricing pages. This is an excellent way to give employers a better idea of what they will get for their money.
For example, RemoteOK charges $600 for each job posting and guarantees at least 200 views. If a job announcement does not reach the target, they will boost it so the client gets the promised views.
How much should I charge for a job listing?
You can use the following factors to determine how much you charge employers for each job posting:
- The number of applicants: We have already mentioned that the more applicants you send to employers, the higher the price you can charge per job posting. If your job board is small, you may not be able to get 20 job seekers to apply for specific job openings. Therefore, the amount you charge for a posting could be less than $600.
- The Demand for Talent:The greater the demand for talent, the more employers are willing to pay higher salaries to hire professionals faster. For example, the demand for data scientists will grow by 36% between now and 2031. However, there are not enough data scientists available. A single job posting costs around $530 on job boards related to the industry.
- Average salaries in your niche: Average salaries of jobs posted by employers on your website. This is a good indicator of how much employers are willing to spend on a particular job announcement. For example, if you run a job site with an IT niche, you can charge more per job posting than a board that lists security guard jobs because the average salary is higher.
- The quality and quantity of applicants per job posting: While general job boards may have more applicants, not all will be qualified. Even though they can provide up to 40 applicants for a job, only 10 may be qualified. A niche job board may have fewer applicants, but because it is a website that caters to a particular industry, most will have the skills needed for the job. This will help employers find the right candidate more easily.
We’ve seen niche job sites charge, on average, $10 to $30 per application. If your job board can bring in 20 candidates of high quality for a single job posting, you should charge between $200 and $600 per job posting.
2. Upselling
In addition to charging employers to post job announcements, job boards can charge to make the post more visible on their site. A job board can earn more revenue by charging employers more to get more applicants.
We recommend creating multiple package postings on your website so employers can select the one that best suits their needs and budget.
Here are some ways that job boards have been able to boost a job post:
Featured Job Postings: usually pinned to the top of job listings and/or highlighted with a color difference. They are more visible and attract more applicants.
RemoteOK, for instance, highlights sponsored job postings with a different color on their homepage, which, they claim, results in 2x the views of normal job postings.
Promote job posts on social media if you have an audience of a large size.
Let’s look at the example of GirlBoss. Their standard plan costs around $300. However, if a company wants to advertise a job on their Instagram account with 1.8mln fans, they will need to pay an additional $550.
Email Marketing for Job Postings comes last, but is certainly not the least. It’s a great way to increase traffic to a job listing and make money. It also keeps your audience engaged.
The more exposure you give a job post, the greater the number of applicants and the higher the price you can charge.
3. Resume Database
Job boards are not only a way for job seekers to locate the job they’re looking for but also for employers to find candidates. One of the most common ways to generate income is to collect resumes from users and give employers access to their database.
This feature is highly sought after by employers, as it allows them to search through hundreds of thousands of resumes. They can also source candidates from the database. It will speed up finding professionals with the skills they need.
Usually, access to the resume database comes with a subscription plan billed either monthly or annually.
Monster charges $300 per month for employers to have access to 100 resumes. If you run a niche job site with a smaller database of resumes, you can charge employers the same amount or even more because you will be providing candidates who are mainly within their niche.
Due to privacy concerns, job seekers must consent to their profiles being made public to employers. Many job boards allow job-seekers to choose whether their profile is private or public. However, most will make it public to be available to employers for possible job offers.
4. Pre-Screening of Applicants
Job boards can also earn extra income by handling the entire recruitment process on behalf of their clients. The services can range from a simple surface-level screening of candidates for clients to a full-blown shortlisting of candidates to interview. This will reduce the time that clients have to spend in the hiring process.
Dynamite Job is an example of a job board launched in 2017 that initially targeted the remote job market. They now offer pre-screening as well. The Dynamite Jobs team can assess and interview candidates for employers in addition to posting a job on the website. If an employer asks them to conduct initial interviews, Dynamite Jobs will charge them around $5,500.
5. Advertisement of Jobs through Programmatic Media
Let’s first understand what they are.
Platforms that offer programmatic job advertising promote employers’ and recruiters’ job postings across different job boards and charge them for this service. The platforms pay job boards that promote these postings for every click or applicant they bring.
The amount that job boards earn from advertising platforms will depend on the industry, but the average price per click is between $0.1 and $0.5.
This is a good model for new job boards, which don’t have the branding to allow employers to post their jobs directly on their site but have enough traffic to monetize.
In some cases, we’ve seen that some job boards import too many job postings, which can ruin their website’s user experience. You must import only job ads relevant to your niche.
Appcast, Recruitics are two popular examples of job advertising platforms that use programmatic methods.
How can you integrate your job board with job advertising platforms that use programmatic advertising?
You can import these job postings automatically if they provide an XML file to job boards. Here is a Guide that will help you set up your XML job importer if you are using JBoard.
6. Google Ads and Banners
A job board is, after all, a website. And just like any website, it can sell space on its site to Google Advertisers. This is not the main business model for job boards, but it is a good way to earn extra money. Google Adsense is a great tool for job boards struggling to attract clients but receiving a lot of traffic from blogs and job postings imported from other websites.
If you’re interested in how to monetize your job board with Google Adsense, you can see it from Google. If you’re curious about how to monetize a job board using Google Adsense, then you can find out how by visiting Google.
7. Employer Branding Services
Companies need to establish themselves in highly competitive markets to reach potential applicants.
Job boards have a great opportunity to help companies build their brand and earn extra income. Employer branding services include everything from creating videos and articles to posting on social media about the employer. A job board with a large audience is required to make this appealing to employers.
BuiltinLA is a successful job board which excels at this. They focus on connecting LA-based tech companies with talented candidates. They help established and new companies showcase their culture by telling their stories and attracting potential employees.
8. Subscriptions
Subscriptions are the ninth and final way that job boards monetize websites. All the services mentioned in the article could be compiled into various subscription plans.
This is best for employers who constantly need to hire and seek more favorable packages. The primary benefit of job boards is that payments will come in more consistently. This will make your business more stable.
Summing up
It’s possible today to earn money by running a business. The amount of money you earn will depend on the traffic to your website and the quality of candidates you can provide employers.
This article aims to present the most common ways job boards have used to monetize their websites. You can select the ones that best suit your business model or niche.
Job Board Monetization FAQ
- How do you start a profitable job site?After creating your job board, it’s important to focus on generating enough traffic for you to generate income. You can get traffic by optimizing your job boards for SEO and/or creating a community where you can promote your job board.
- Are job boards profitable for employers? Absolutely! If a job site has enough traffic and can provide employers with quality candidates, they will continue to be in demand for as long as employers need to hire (*wink* forever*wink*).
- Can a job board generate passive income?Technically, yes. Some of the options are passive income opportunities, like ads, etc. If you already have a job board, keeping your traffic going is important.
- How much can I earn from a niche job site?It depends on your traffic. Some job boards sell only one or two jobs monthly, while others, like RemoteOk, make around $110K a month by selling 159.
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