When hiring employees, posting open jobs easily across multiple job boards and quickly finding the best candidates are two important objectives. ZipRecruiter will post your open jobs on 100+ job boards and allow you to search for the most qualified candidates directly in their database. To post a job on ZipRecruiter, start by creating an account, entering your job information (including salary range), listing company culture and benefits, selecting your subscription plan, and posting your job. Get started now with a free trial.
Step 1: Create Account
Your first step when posting a job on ZipRecruiter is to go to ZipRecruiter’s website and click on the “Post a Job” button located on the upper right of your screen. A popup will prompt you to create an account where you can input your business name and select the number of employees your company has via a drop-down menu. After choosing your company’s employee headcount, follow the onscreen instructions to create a ZipRecruiter account.
Once you create an account, you’ll see your dashboard. You can create and post your first job under the “Jobs” menu. ZipRecruiter allows you to post most job types—except multi-level marketing opportunities, unpaid jobs (e.g., internships), franchise/business opportunities, talent management services (e.g., casting calls), or opinion roles (e.g., surveys or focus groups).
Read our ZipRecruiter review to see if it’s right for your job posting needs.
Step 2: Enter Job Information
Input the job title, job location, and type of employment. If the job is remote, you’ll still need to list a company location, but you can add the word “remote” to the job title, as well as for the work address on your post.
Step 3: Add Job Description
Writing a good job description is important to attract the best candidates and keep those who do not qualify from applying. What’s key is to make your job description short, informative, and interesting. Use clear section headings and bulleted details that list job functions and any required education or work-related certifications.
Similar to remote jobs, if your open position is a commission-only job, the words “commission only” need to be included in the job description section. If not, ZipRecruiter will flag the posting.
If you’re lucky, ZipRecruiter will already have a similar job description for you to start with. You can use the templates and customize them for your specific job opening. You can even save previous templates in case you need to recruit for the same position multiple times.
Most job applicants don’t read past the first page, so try not to fit the entire job description in the job ad. Look for key attributes to the job, and leave out parts that can be addressed during the interview process.
ZipRecruiter also lets you select which benefits your company offers to potential employees. You don’t have to type in the information manually since its benefits options have checkboxes that you can easily select.
Step 4: Add Salary Info & Required Skills
Many employers decide to provide a salary range or hourly rate of pay for job roles. One of ZipRecruiter’s features is that it allows you to put in a compensation range for your job posting. Although entering a pay rate is optional, you get better results if you include at least a range.
After you have entered the compensation details, you can add skill keywords to help you target the job seekers you want. ZipRecruiter even provides recommended skills based on your job description. You can either use its suggestions or manually type in the skills specific to the job.
Learn more about skills-based hiring and how it can help you find the right talent.
Step 5: Provide Information About Your Company
The hiring company section is where you can input information about your business that will entice job seekers to want to join your company. Aside from providing a little background and company history, you can share what it’s like to work at your company and whether you have a flexible work schedule policy in place.
Step 6: Start Your Free Trial or Paid Plan
Before your job post goes live, you need to choose whether you want to try ZipRecruiter’s free trial or purchase a paid plan. If you choose the free trial, keep in mind it’s free only for four days and you need to provide your credit card information. You can sign up for a free trial of the Standard plan that includes only one reusable job slot or the Premium tier that comes with premium job placements and access to ZipRecruiter’s resume bank.
ZipRecruiter Paid Plans
Below are the ZipRecruiter costs to post a job. You can choose from a daily usage plan, or monthly packages.
Usage Plan | Monthly Packages | |
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Price | Standard: $16 per job post daily Premium: $24 per job post daily | Starting at $299 per month |
# of Active Job Slots | 1 reusable slot |
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Features |
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Step 7: Post the Job
Before you can post your job, you have to let ZipRecruiter know which user will receive the system’s new applicant email alerts. Note that this defaults to the system administrator, but you can easily add new users into the system—provided your plan allows multiple seats. Once you do that, choose the “Save & Post Now” button and ZipRecruiter will automatically distribute your open jobs to its network of more than 100 job boards.
Step 8: Maximize Your Job Posting Results (Optional)
ZipRecruiter has several online tools to help increase traffic to your job post and encourage passive job candidates to apply to your job ads. Here are some of the options.
Right after you post your job, you’ll see a small note encouraging you to optimize your job listing. One of the options includes a “TrafficBoost,” which is an additional advertising service that keeps your job post at the top of the job boards and promotes it to job seekers via daily email alerts.
Note that you only get “TrafficBoost” credits if you subscribe to a Monthly Pro plan. You can also buy credits if you select the Monthly Premium plan.
ZipRecruiter supports these screening question formats:
- Free-form text
- Multiple choice
- Date-specific
- Number-specific
- Yes/No
- File upload answers
While it offers a list of common screening questions that you can choose from, ZipRecruiter also allows you to create your own. You can even input possible answers that you can mark as deal-breaker choices. This helps you screen out unqualified applicants so you aren’t looking through resumes of job seekers unlikely to be a good fit.
Looking for and contacting passive job seekers with active resumes is a great way to encourage qualified applicants to apply. With ZipRecruiter, you can search through its database of over 43 million resumes as many times as you want (except for Standard subscribers who don’t have access to this feature). However, you’re granted a specific number of resume views per month, depending on your plan.
To help narrow search results, ZipRecruiter lets you screen thousands of resumes in several ways, such as looking for candidates with the specific skill keywords that you added to a job description. You can also search for qualified candidates by:
- Location: You can choose to find candidates within commuting distance from your office.
- Prior job title: This is helpful if you want someone who has already held a specific job.
- Prior company: Use this option if you’re actively recruiting from a specific company that you know has great talent.
- Freshness: You can select only those with recently updated resumes so that you get job seekers who are more likely to respond.
ZipRecruiter earned the top spot in both our Best Job Posting Sites for Employers and Indeed Alternatives buyer’s guides.
What to Do After You Post Your Job on ZipRecruiter
After you have successfully posted your open position on ZipRecruiter, interested applicants can start applying to your job ad. The system also sends you candidate emails for the job post, though you can view applicant details on your ZipRecruiter dashboard through the “Candidates” menu. You can even see candidates who are applying in real time.
Here’s what you need to do after posting your job on ZipRecruiter to ensure that potential candidates don’t fall through the cracks.
Responding to each applicant via email (even the ones you reject) is a great way to promote your employer brand. It also feels more personal than a standard applicant rejection letter. With ZipRecruiter, you can create custom email messages or use its template for replying to those who applied to your job post. It also has an auto-reply feature that sends automated emails to candidates.
If you opt for a paid ZipRecruiter plan, then you get features similar to a full-blown applicant tracking system (ATS) that lets you rate, sort, and track candidates throughout the hiring process. You can monitor the status of applicants by using drop-down options (i.e., reviewed, rejected, phone screen, interview, offer extended, and hired). In addition to adding custom labels and notes, you can rate applicants to distinguish between the ones you’re interested in, not interested in, and unsure about.
However, if you have an existing ATS, ZipRecruiter supports integration with third-party software. Its ATS partners include:
- ApplicantPro
- Avature
- Breezy HR
- Bullhorn
- ClearCompany
- Everhire
- Greenhouse
- JazzHR
- JobScore
- MightyRecruiter
- Zoho Recruit
If you are looking for a stand-alone applicant tracking system software, consider one from our Best Applicant Tracking Software buyer’s guide.
Monitor Your Job Posting Results
ZipRecruiter has a comprehensive job performance report. If your job posting doesn’t get many results, then you may need to modify your job description to make it more specific or pay extra to boost traffic to your job ad.
How to Manage Your Job Posting on ZipRecruiter
Once you have posted your job on ZipRecruiter, you can manage all active listings, draft posts, and even closed positions.
Active Listings
You can preview your active listings from your jobs dashboard. Select “preview’ across the top to see what your posting looks like live. From there, you can make changes by editing the job listing or adding or editing screening questions. Additionally, if your job does not meet ZipRecruiter’s optimization criteria, you will be notified and can make adjustments by following the prompts.
Draft Posts
From your jobs dashboard, you can review posts that are drafted but not yet posted live. You can elect to edit, add screening questions, preview, duplicate, or delete it. If you are planning to delete the post, simply locate the jobs tab on the left side of your dashboard and select “Draft Jobs.” For each individual post you would like to delete, select “Manage” and click “Permanently Delete.”
Closed Positions
You can easily review and update your closed positions directly from your jobs dashboard. Go to “All Filters” and you have the option to change the status to all jobs, active jobs, draft jobs, and closed jobs. Additionally, you can manage your archived jobs by unarchiving or deleting.
Tips for Posting Jobs on ZipRecruiter
When posting a job on ZipRecruiter, there are a few tips to consider. Be sure you are telling candidates about your company and the culture of the people you hire. Additionally, you should make sure you clearly explain the duties of the position.
- Job Description: Make sure your job descriptions are detailed and include information about the job, qualifications needed, benefits, and company culture. Although you should be as detailed as possible, try to keep your job description under 500 characters for mobile readability.
- Location: For a better reach, it is recommended that you put your location as the closest metropolitan area to your business.
- Job Title: Your job title should be reflected in the position. For instance, you would not want to put Writer as the job title. Instead, use something like Human Resources Staff Writer to ensure you receive resumes from qualified candidates.
- Screening Questions: ZipRecruiter allows you to set up screening questions to qualify candidates. In addition, you can make screening questions as deal-breakers. If the question is not answered to your specifications it will eliminate the candidate.
Learn more about how to hire employees in our ultimate guide.
Bottom Line
When you post a job on ZipRecruiter your job is posted to 100+ job boards, giving you a larger pool of candidates to fill your open positions. You can take advantage of ZipRecruiter’s free trial and post your open positions for free for up to four days. From there you can choose a daily usage plan or monthly subscription, depending on your hiring needs.