Best Job Board Sites for Employers
The best job board site depends on the role you are recruiting for, the candidates you want to reach and how widely you need to advertise. This guide compares leading UK job boards and recruitment platforms, including general job sites, professional networks and job-search platforms.
Is there one best job board for every vacancy?
Large general job boards can provide broad reach, while specialist platforms can help target a narrower profession or industry. Professional networks and job-search platforms provide additional ways for candidates to discover vacancies.
An employer recruiting an entry-level administrator may need a very different advertising mix from an employer looking for a senior software engineer, healthcare professional or construction specialist.
Rather than asking only which website has the largest audience, consider where suitable candidates for that particular job are most likely to search.
A job board with a smaller but highly relevant audience can sometimes be more useful than a larger platform whose audience is less closely matched to your vacancy.
8 of the best job board sites and recruitment platforms in the UK
These are among the main platforms UK employers may consider when building an online recruitment campaign. They are not ranked from best to worst because their usefulness varies by vacancy.
Indeed
Indeed is a broad job-search and hiring platform covering roles across a wide range of industries, locations and experience levels.
LinkedIn Jobs
LinkedIn combines job advertising with a professional networking platform, allowing vacancies to sit alongside candidate profiles, company pages and professional connections.
Totaljobs
Totaljobs is a major UK recruitment platform covering jobs across industries, locations and seniority levels, from entry-level vacancies through to experienced hires.
Reed.co.uk
Reed combines job advertising with candidate CV search, careers content and other recruitment services, covering roles across a broad range of sectors.
CV-Library
CV-Library is a UK job board combining vacancy advertising with a large searchable candidate CV database and recruitment tools.
Adzuna
Adzuna is a job-search platform that brings vacancies from different sources together and provides candidates with search, matching and labour-market information.
Glassdoor
Glassdoor combines job search with company reviews, salary information and workplace insights, allowing candidates to research employers while considering vacancies.
Google for Jobs
Google's job-search experience can surface vacancies from employers, careers websites and job platforms directly within relevant Google searches.
Which job board is best for different recruitment needs?
There is significant overlap between platforms, but this simplified comparison shows why an employer might include each one within a wider recruitment strategy.
| Platform | Platform type | Often useful for |
|---|---|---|
| Indeed | General recruitment platform | Broad vacancy reach |
| LinkedIn Jobs | Professional network | Professional and experienced hires |
| Totaljobs | General job board | UK-wide multi-sector recruitment |
| Reed | Jobs and careers platform | General recruitment and CV search |
| CV-Library | Job board and CV database | Advertising plus candidate search |
| Adzuna | Job search engine | Additional vacancy discovery |
| Glassdoor | Jobs and employer research | Employer-brand-aware candidates |
| Google for Jobs | Job search experience | Organic job discovery in Google |
This is not a universal ranking. Candidate behaviour varies by profession, location and seniority, so the strongest platform for one vacancy may perform very differently for another.
How do you choose the best job board site for a vacancy?
Start with the role and candidate profile rather than selecting a job board purely because it is well known.
Job type
Consider the occupation, experience level and skills required.
Industry
Decide whether a broad platform or sector-focused audience is more appropriate.
Location
Think about the local candidate market, commuting area and remote-working options.
Past performance
Review which channels have previously produced suitable applications or hires.
Budget
Compare advertising cost with expected reach, application quality and included features.
Candidate audience
Ask where people with the required skills are most likely to search or maintain profiles.
How to Choose the Right Job Boards
Match your vacancy to the right recruitment channels based on role, industry, location and candidate audience.
Are general or specialist job boards better?
Many recruitment campaigns benefit from combining the two.
Broader candidate exposure
General job sites cover many industries and occupations and can expose the vacancy to a large range of active job seekers.
- Wide range of occupations
- Large candidate audiences
- Useful for many mainstream roles
- Broad geographical coverage
More focused candidate targeting
Specialist job boards focus on a particular industry, profession, skill set or candidate community.
- More concentrated audiences
- Industry-specific recruitment
- Useful for harder-to-fill roles
- Can complement broad platforms
A campaign might use a large general job board for reach and one or more specialist sites to increase visibility among candidates working in the relevant profession.
Should you advertise on one job board or multiple job sites?
Advertising on several relevant platforms can increase the number of places where suitable candidates can discover the vacancy.
More concentrated campaign
Using one platform may make sense where you already know it performs strongly for the role or you are testing a particular candidate source.
Wider candidate coverage
Using several relevant platforms can broaden visibility and reduce dependence on a single source of applications.
The important word is relevant. Posting the vacancy everywhere possible does not necessarily improve the quality of the recruitment campaign.
Want to distribute a vacancy across several platforms? Read How to Post Jobs on Multiple Sites .
What should employers compare when choosing job board sites?
Website popularity is only one factor. A useful comparison should also consider the quality of candidate reach and how easily you can manage the resulting campaign.
Relevant candidate audience
Does the platform reach people with the skills, location and experience you need?
Application quality
Are applications genuinely relevant to the essential requirements?
Vacancy visibility
How easily can candidates discover the advert through search, filters and alerts?
Advert duration
Understand how long the vacancy remains live and what happens when it expires.
Reporting
Can you understand how the campaign performed and where applications came from?
Cost per useful applicant
Consider recruitment value rather than judging a platform only by its posting price.
Does choosing the best job board guarantee good applications?
Even strong advertising coverage can underperform if candidates cannot quickly understand the job, salary, location, requirements or reasons to apply.
Use the right job title
Use terminology candidates are likely to recognise and search for.
Include salary information
Give candidates enough information to judge whether the opportunity is relevant.
Explain location clearly
State office, hybrid, remote and travel expectations accurately.
Focus on essential requirements
Avoid unnecessarily long requirement lists that may discourage suitable candidates.
How can different recruitment platforms work together?
Different platforms can play different roles within the same recruitment campaign. A general job board can create broad visibility, a professional network can provide additional professional reach, specialist platforms can target a particular candidate community and Google can provide another discovery route.
New to the concept? Start with What Is Job Board Advertising? for a complete explanation of how online job advertising works.
Reach candidates across multiple recruitment platforms
Instead of purchasing and managing individual postings separately, Career Poster lets employers submit a vacancy once and advertise it across multiple job boards, with applications managed through one employer dashboard.
Best job board sites FAQs
What are the best job board sites in the UK?
Major UK recruitment platforms include Indeed, LinkedIn Jobs, Totaljobs, Reed and CV-Library, with platforms such as Adzuna, Glassdoor and Google's job-search experience providing additional routes for candidates to discover vacancies. The best platform depends on the role being advertised.
Which job board is best for employers?
There is no single best job board for every employer. Consider the occupation, industry, location, seniority, candidate audience and previous recruitment results before deciding where to advertise.
What is the best UK job site for general recruitment?
Large platforms such as Indeed, Totaljobs, Reed and CV-Library cover vacancies across many industries and locations. Which performs best will vary according to the role and candidate market.
Is LinkedIn a job board?
LinkedIn includes a major job-search and advertising service, but it is broader than a traditional job board because vacancies sit within a professional networking platform containing profiles, company pages and professional connections.
Is Google for Jobs a job board?
Google for Jobs is better described as a job-search or discovery experience rather than a traditional job board. Google can surface eligible vacancies from employer websites, careers sites and other job sources within search results.
Are specialist job boards better than general job boards?
Specialist job boards can provide a more focused audience, while general job boards offer broader exposure. Many employers use both as part of the same campaign.
Should employers advertise on several job boards?
Advertising on several relevant job boards can broaden candidate visibility and reduce dependence on one source. The aim should be to use suitable platforms rather than simply posting on the largest possible number of websites.
How do you measure which job board is best?
Track the number of applications, relevant applicants, shortlisted candidates, interviews and hires generated by each source. Application quality is usually more useful than judging performance on application volume alone.
