Get the best tips for your career, job search and your life. Subscribe today (we send one email every 2 weeks)

How to Monetize a Job Board Website

job Mar 15, 2022

On one hand, the main goal of any professional job board is to have a monetized website. You want to attract employers, who will receive valuable exposure to thousands of candidates, and you want to attract applicants who are interested in working for these employers. You have to work for both of these categories in order to be successful.

And on the other side, building a job board site is tricky because you will be competing with many other job sites for the same job posting. Don’t let this discourage you! You can still make money by focusing on the following steps which are displayed in detail below.

1. What is the business model of a Job board?

First, separate the target groups into 2 major categories. A simple one which most follow and a more complicated one. In the first we list the employers and in the second the job seekers. Most job boards focus on one of those two groups and often choose an employer. why? The employer must fill in the ability to pay. Some sites focus on job seekers, but for each site that is a "candidate payment" site, there are 10 sites that are "employer payment". Therefore, it is beneficial to follow the easy road for profit.

Check where they are charging based on the services:

For employers: Job postings, Resume access, Highlighted job listings, Site advertising, Company profiles, Targeted candidate emails, Newsletter advertising, Social media extensions, Cross posting and Packages.

For job seekers: Membership fee, Visibility, Reports and 3rd party services.

So, you can understand why most focus on the first ones. Making money has always been a priority for job board operators. After all, job boards are businesses, and if the business doesn't make a profit, they disappear.

2. Are job boards profitable?

Short answer: Yes. Long answer: You have to run it as a company. This means a clear metabolic rotation model, a firm marketing, candidate and employer's understanding of niche. Hundreds of studies mention that the majority of job boards are very profitable in general. And they can be profitable in the future as long as they have a big market with decent market share.

Example: The average job board has let’s say one hundred jobs posted in a month. If you charge employers 100 euro for each job posting, that makes a total of 10,000 euro in added revenue every 30 days. Leveraging job board software features like paid job postings can be a game-changer for your business and your future endeavors.

3. How can you start a job board?

Get to know 7 ways that can be your steps on creating your own job board!

  • Choose your focus or niche: One of the competitive advantages of a community organization is in-depth knowledge of a particular community and its key businesses, industries, and trends. You should use this information to select the industry or other niche you want to focus on the job board.
  • Choose the software that you will be hosted on: With your goals in mind, once you have set the goals for your job board, you need to choose a software platform that will help you reach those goals. You need to find a solution that addresses the specific needs of your economic development organization or a community like you. Don’t settle on this part. Research is the most important one. Also, don’t hold back from asking a professional for their advice.
  • Reach out to employers and request from them job postings: After choosing a job board solution, the next step is to start adding job ads before you start. Remember that you need to combine the two groups in one place to be successful. An employer who serves job seekers and the community. Without proper planning, the first job seeker to visit a new job board may not have a job to look at. Empty job boards can kill your chances of success before you start…
  • Create a promotional campaign: Having contacted your employer and created a group of quality classified ads on your job board, it's time to start planning how to attract and drive traffic to this new part of your site. Invest on social media, press releases, email marketing and of course on the advertising campaigns
  • Launch it and track it!: Keep in mind that continuous promotion and sustainability are essential to success, as it takes time to increase the number of viewers on the job board. Make sure the job board can track key metrics. From the basics of posting and browsing, to engagement indicators such as submitted applications to employers who fill in job listings. By tracking these metrics, you can see if your audience is growing over time and if you're meeting the goals you set at the start.

4. Simple ways to monetize your job board

  • Charge companies for their job postings: Employers usually pay to list their jobs for a period of time, often 30 days. The amount you can reasonably charge for a list will vary greatly depending on the niche you are targeting. You can add and sell different jobs with different restrictions for each category. For example, premium packages may have different prices depending on the offer. This could be an increased limit on the entries that can be published, an extended expiration date, or  other  premium package feature.
  • Charge users for viewing job details: Another great way to monetize a job board website is to limit access to certain job listings and charge users a display fee. This is a very effective monetization model. You can only view some of the information to get the user's attention, but you have to pay to get the important details of the rest of the offer.
  • Another common source of income for job boards is paid access to job seekers' profiles. Depending on the industry you work in, you may be able to charge your employer a monthly fee to  access a database of candidate resumes and  contact information. This strategy should only be used in an established field. Thousands of resumes need to be available before they can provide enough value.
  • Hosting Ads like Banner ads, which is a very common revenue model for job board owners.
  • Creative job board owners are constantly looking for new creative ways to increase their bottom line. Here are some examples: Email Blast, account management, procurement support. In general, job postings are the main source of income as a job board owner. However, as mentioned earlier, there are many other options  for increasing sales on job boards. Offering other services like: Resume writing. If you have enough experience, you can provide it yourself. Otherwise, you can work with a professional resume writer. Charge this service as much as it can cover your investment and work for this.

5. Alternative way to monetize your job board website!

Are there any alternative ways to Monetize your job board website? Of course! Here we have the Loopcv whitelabel product that companies can use to make money by helping their candidates to find a job faster. Check the link here.

In the whitelabel you can add your own logo and brand and start selling the product of Loopcv under your own domain and with your own colors and brand.

6. Examples of the Most profitable job boards

For 2022 the following are the 10 best Job search websites. They are well-known, so we don’t believe you’ll be surprised seeing their names here: 1. Indeed, 2. Monster, 3. Glassdoor, 4. Flexjobs, 5. Ladders, 6. Angelist, 7. LinkedIn (world’s largest professional networking platform), 8. Getwork, 9. Scouted, 10. Snagajob. Additionally, we could also include Facebook Job search.

When it comes to their revenues: LinkedIn is having an explosive increase on people that find through its platform a new job. And for employers that find the best fit candidates for their job listings. All these platforms feature thousands of job listings. Indeed is listed first for this reason mostly. So even with a small charge you can imagine their profit only from one option out of all the rest we mentioned.

7. Affiliate with Loopcv to make money

You can also affiliate with our platform, where you get a unique link and get paid by signup. If you own a blog, a newsletter or an application with hundreds of job seekers, then don’t miss this chance. You can make money by helping your audience find a job faster while promoting LoopCV. Click the link here.

The opportunities and benefits of having a job board are clear. However, if you want to capitalize on it and make your job board website a viable revenue stream, it’s important to be realistic. Understand your audience as it is understanding your business goals. Keep this in mind when asking yourself how to monetize your job board website!