Hiring new talent for your company shouldn’t feel like a chore, and ZipRecruiter makes the process easier in many ways. From integrating with other recruiting tools and job boards to offering mobile-friendly application management, ZipRecruiter simplifies digital recruitment. Its ability to cast a wide net into the candidate pool inevitably catches many applicants. That’s a great feature, but it can also prove challenging for recruiters left without enough filtering from ZipRecruiter to organize candidates easily. This guide walks through the good and bad of ZipRecruiter to help you decide if it’s the right job posting tool for your business.
Comparing ZipRecruiter to The Best Job Posting Sites
ZipRecruiter offers a comprehensive database of resumes from candidates who could be the next best fit for your job. Its smart algorithm and syndication with more than 100 popular job boards help recruiters find the best applicants with the skills you require. With that said, its high pricing and need for better applicant sorting keep it from being one of the top job posting sites on our list.
We know how crucial it is for businesses of all sizes to find quality candidates. That’s why we’ve tested several job board sites like ZipRecruiter with job postings of our own to learn the ins and outs of each and what types of businesses they’re best for. See all of our top picks to help you decide if another option is a better match.
ZipRecruiter: The Good and The Bad
The Good
Recruiting Integrations: Whatever tools you use to assist your recruiting process, ZipRecruiter probably has integration for that tool ready to go. Application tracking systems like Greenhouse, Bullhorn, and JazzHR, connect seamlessly to the platform to streamline your hiring process. Organize candidates, move them through onboarding, and start training new hires using the tools your team already feels comfortable with.
Simple Navigation: Searching applications and narrowing the pool of candidates can feel clunky on some platforms, but ZipRecruiter’s simplified interface makes it easy to move around the site. To save time, ZipRecruiter even offers templates that walk you through the process of creating job postings. Once you begin receiving applications, the applicant dashboard gives you everything you need to rate or label candidates, move them through your workflow, send follow-ups, and more. You don’t need to be an expert in recruiting tools to learn the ropes.
Job Posting Optimization: Make the most out of job postings with ZipRecruiter’s optimization features. Recruiters can add screening questions to jobs to ensure that only the right candidates with the best qualifications apply and move to the top of the candidate list. Customizable templates serve as a helpful springboard to tweak according to your business’s needs, and they come ready with key terms and layouts that appeal to search engines. If you need a boost, you can send your job over to LinkedIn via the ZipRecruiter platform or create an ad for additional reach.
Mobile-Friendly: In 2020, 60.7% of job applications occurred on a mobile device. In 2021, the number rose to 67%. ZipRecruiter caters to on-the-go job-seekers who rely on their mobile device for quick and convenient job searching with its easy-to-use mobile app for Android and Apple devices. More importantly for recruiters, the app also allows you to search and filter candidates just like you would using the website on your desktop.
Application Invitations: After posting your job, ZipRecruiter gets to work on marketing it for you. Unlike other job boards that might require you to do a lot of the heavy lifting yourself, ZipRecruiter fires job postings off to more than 100 other job boards it partners with. It also uses its algorithm to search resumes within its database and invite qualified candidates to apply for jobs. You also can manually invite stand-out candidates to apply.
Candidate Ratings: ZipRecruiter has a complex algorithm that helps recruiters find ideal candidates. To perfect the algorithm, ZipRecruiter gives recruiters the ability to rate candidates based on how well they match with job postings. Not only does the feature assist the overall algorithm, but it also helps ZipRecruiter match the right potential applicants to your business’s needs.
The Bad
Challenging to Sort Applicants: Although the ZipRecruiter dashboard and its navigation are simple to figure out, sorting applicants isn’t so smooth. When you receive applicants from multiple job postings, they all end up in your dashboard, waiting for you to sort them. Depending on how many jobs you have on the platform, this can quickly overwhelm your dashboard. Another filtering caveat: There’s currently no way to filter out unqualified candidates, leaving you sifting through them manually.
No Free Plan: Small businesses or those that don’t plan to hire frequently might not want to commit to a costly monthly plan. Unfortunately, ZipRecruiter doesn’t have a free plan to use until a company needs to scale. A four-day trial is available, but after that, you’ll need to choose a paid plan.
Pricey for Short-Term Use: Businesses that look for an occasional new hire probably won’t use ZipRecruiter enough to warrant the monthly cost, which starts at $299 per month. Other job posting sites might suit smaller businesses without extensive hiring needs better. We dive deeper into ZipRecruiter’s pricing below.
No Candidate Assessments: ZipRecruiter may not stack up as well as some other job posting sites when it comes to screening candidates. Although it allows recruiters to add screening questions to applications, it doesn’t offer specific skill assessments to gauge whether a candidate’s skill set fits the bill. This seems to be one of the most talked-about pain points recruiters mention about ZipRecruiter.
ZipRecruiter Pricing and Options
ZipRecruiter Pricing
ZipRecruiter offers three plans for small and medium businesses: Standard, Premium, and Pro. Additionally, an Enterprise plan caters to businesses with 5,000 or more employees. Here’s a quick overview of plans for businesses with up to 5,000 employees:
ZipRecruiter’s monthly plans start at $299 per month, and unlike similar services, there’s no free plan. Users can try Standard or Premium for four days before being charged, however.
Before choosing ZipRecruiter, one obstacle you might want to consider is that pricing isn’t transparent. You’ll need to contact the company to get a quote for your business.
The exact price of your plan might differ from another company using the same plan. That’s because ZipRecruiter tailors its pricing to match your company’s needs. You won’t pay any less than $299 per month, but you could stay relatively close to that price if you have minimal hiring needs.
Companies with continuous hiring needs that list multiple job postings at a time could end up paying more with ZipRecruiter.
All monthly plans include syndication for job postings with ZipRecruiter’s 100+ partners and the streamlined dashboard to organize applicants and move them through the hiring process. Premium adds access to over 36 million resumes, while Pro allows integrations and TrafficBoost for sponsored jobs.
It’s worth noting that ZipRecruiter has usage plans for businesses that may only want to fill one or two positions over a week or two. These start at $16 per day, though, so it’s good to make sure this works out at a cheaper rate than a monthly plan.
ZipRecruiter probably won’t meet your needs if you plan to post jobs sporadically or only list a few per month. In that case, stick to a more affordable job posting service with a free or low-priced plan.
Of course, free plans usually don’t offer the same in-depth candidate-searching algorithm, integration options, and job board syndication as ZipRecruiter. For those features, ZipRecruiter could be well worth its cost to your business.
ZipRecruiter Usage Plans
A ZipRecruiter usage plan lets recruiters pay by the day for however many days they use the service.
ZipRecruiter offers its Standard and Premium plans, described in more detail below, as usage plans and monthly plans. As a usage plan, Standard costs $16 per day, and Premium costs $24 per day.
A usage plan is best if you plan to hire short-term. For instance, with a Standard plan, a 10-day recruiting spree will only cost $160 compared with the monthly cost of $299 minimum.
However, you’ll get charged another $16 for an additional post per day. Example: Two posts under the Standard usage plan will cost $320 for 10 days.
ZipRecruiter includes your accrued charges in a monthly bill. However, if you cancel your plan or reach $500 in your account before then, you’ll receive a bill at that time.
ZipRecruiter Standard
Standard is ZipRecruiter’s basic tier for small to medium businesses. It starts at $299 as a monthly plan and moves up in price depending on your company’s hiring needs.
This plan gives access to the easy-navigation dashboard where you’ll organize candidates and your recruiting pipeline. ZipRecruiter will also send your listings out to its 100+ job board partners to get more potential candidates your way.
One user can use Standard at a time, which can be somewhat limiting if you have a recruitment team. However, you can list as many jobs as you’d like and have an unlimited number of candidates apply.
Standard plans can also browse the resume database to find potential candidates and invite them to apply.
ZipRecruiter Premium
ZipRecruiter Premium is the middle-tier plan for small to medium businesses. With this plan, you’ll get everything included in Standard plus access to the resume database and the ability to add multiple users from your team to your account.
Premium also includes Premium Distribution, which takes care of some job marketing for you. ZipRecruiter places your job postings in emails and in premium ad spots, giving you more reach to cast a wider net for potential candidates.
ZipRecruiter Premium starts at $419 per month. It’s best for teams that need to fill positions fast and wants more than one person working on recruitment.
ZipRecruiter Pro
ZipRecruiter Pro includes everything from Standard and Premium but is designed to handle the most significant recruiting needs. Businesses with several openings—some of which might be challenging to fill—should consider using Pro for the best results.
With Pro, you’ll access TrafficBoost, which is ZipRecruiter’s advertising feature.
When you apply TrafficBoost to a job posting, ZipRecruiter promotes that job via its email newsletters, partner sites, and priority placement in listings. TrafficBoost remains in effect until your job gets 100 views or has been posted for 30 days, whichever comes first.
TrafficBoost works on a credit system, with each credit allowing one boost. With other plans, you’ll need to buy credits to use TrafficBoost, but Pro comes with a monthly allowance to use the feature for free.
Pro subscribers can also send candidates who want to apply to their jobs to their ATS using an external URL rather than keeping everything in the ZipRecruiter system.
ZipRecruiter Pro starts at $899/month.
ZipRecruiter Enterprise
ZipRecruiter Enterprise is best for large companies with continual hiring needs that need 50 or more job postings open at any time.
Enterprise plans can include promotional methods that reach millions of job searchers monthly.
Plus, ZipRecruiter provides you with a dedicated team of specialists who can help you manage your job post ad spending based on your data.
ZipRecruiter completely tailors Enterprise to your business’s needs, so contact ZipRecruiter to get pricing details.
How ZipRecruiter Ranks
ZipRecruiter didn’t make our list of the top job posting sites mostly because its pricing and features are more targeted toward larger teams with several positions to fill at a time. However, for the average small to medium-sized business with just a few open jobs at a time, there are more affordable options with just the right amount of features and benefits.
Check out our list of the best job posting sites to discover a few ZipRecruiter alternatives:
- Indeed – Best for Most
- LinkedIn – Best for Attracting Passive Candidates
- Scouted – Best for Hiring Recent Graduates
- FlexJobs – Best for Hiring Remote and Flexible Workers
- Snagajob – Best for Filling Hourly Roles
Summary
ZipRecruiter is likely a better option for larger businesses than it is for smaller ones with infrequent hiring needs. With its robust artificial intelligence matching system and resume database, it can certainly help any business get their jobs filled quickly. However, its pricing could deter businesses with only a few positions open at a time. If that’s your business, consider one of the other options in our list above.
