The digital revolution forever changed the recruitment process. Modern online job search websites replaced old-fashioned newspaper ads. For 51% of applicants, they are the primary source for finding a relevant vacancy.
To prove the effectiveness of these platforms, we have collected data about the most famous job board websites. If you have ever wondered how to build a job search website, these figures will encourage you to proceed to action.
As for LinkedIn, here are some interesting facts about this platform.
Syndicode is a software development company located in Ukraine. We have dozens of profitable job board websites under our belt. Such expertise suggests that we know how to build a job search website the right way.
Today we are eager to tell you about our project Fuzu, the #1 career platform in Africa.
Initially, the customer had a legacy code that was too difficult to maintain. So the client wondered how to build a job search website that will replace this low-tech solution.
Here, we should mention the tight timeline that came with this project as a challenge for our team. The key question for our team was how to build a job search website within only one year.
By meeting this requirement, the customer would fulfill the obligations to investors and raise a new round of funding.
Looking ahead, we are proud to say that we delivered the project within the specified timeline. This way, the customer raised a $6.6 million Series A round of financing.
Now let’s take a closer look at the solution built and value delivered.
Our team decided to create a job board website from scratch. We made the platform fast-loading and SEO-friendly to help Fuzu rank higher in search results.
Each African country got its separate version. Now users can view personalized content based on the country specified in the profile.
For users’ convenience, we have created a separate portal for applicants and employers.
Thus, we built a customizable CV builder with free and paid templates. The latter allows users to choose the background color or page layout and define the information they want to show.
Another benefit for applicants is a reward system. Users get Fuzu Points and use them to purchase the Fuzu Premium product at a discount.
Finally, there are different courses that help applicants learn new skills to advance their careers.
As for the functionality for employers, we should mention a machine learning algorithm that finds candidates best suited for a particular job role and the ability to select a status for each candidate (applied, scheduled, interviewed, offer sent, or rejected).
Also, we applied new UX and UI approaches to create a job board website with user-friendly web and mobile versions. This way, we made sure that the solution offered users a seamless experience regardless of the device.
How to create a job search website? We know that for entrepreneurs who have nothing to do with software development, this question can become a challenging task.
So analyzing the challenges we faced while working on the project Fuzu and the solutions we have found to overcome them, we decided to create a step-by-step guide explaining how to build a job search website. We hope that it will shed some light on this topic issue.
Follow the steps below to find out how to build a job search website that will bring value to both companies and applicants:
1. Conduct market research and choose the most suitable business model.
2. Select the must-have functionality.
3. Add some killing features that will distinguish your platform from the competitors.
4. Build an MVP of a job site aggregator
5. Develop a fully-fledged job search website.
6. Choose the right development team.
7. Define the cost of starting a job board website.
Let our experts bring it to life! Share your vision and requirements with us, and we’ll return with a proposal just for you.
Get in touchWithout market research, even a potentially brilliant business idea is doomed to failure. You may invest a lot of money only to discover that nobody actually wants your product or service.
Market research will help you avoid such a mishap. You will get crucial data about the target market, potential customers, and competitors. By analyzing this information, you will be able to create more than a clone of Indeed or GlassDoor. You will find out how to build a job search website that will bring exceptional value to your customers.
To start with, define what type of job board website you are going to build. For this reason, take a look at the existing job search solutions. Are they local or international? General or specialized?
At first sight, the idea of building a general job search website seems very tempting. This way, you can reach out to a broad audience and get more customers.
However, we would recommend that you narrow your focus and choose a less crowded niche. For example, consider starting a job board website for healthcare workers or insurance specialists. Thus, you get a better chance to stand out from the competitors.
For your convenience, the main types of job search websites are summarised in the table below:
| Classification | Types of job search websites | Examples |
| By location | Local International | WNYJobs (the first regional employment website in Western New York), Totaljobs (UK) JobisJob, Indeed |
| By skill level | Senior level skills Any | Ladders GlassDoor |
| By specialization | General Specialized | Jooble, CareerBuilder CareerBank (finance), Health eCareers (healthcare), K12JobSpot (education) |
You want to launch a profitable job search website, not a charity project. Right? In this case, choosing the most suitable business model becomes your top priority. To put it simply, if you wonder how to build a job search website that will bring you stable profit, decide how to charge users for accessing your platform.
So how do job boards make money? Let’s find out.
This revenue model supposes charging employers for publishing their job offerings on your platform. For example, Dice takes $495 for a single post that will be displayed for 30 days.
You can allow companies to post their vacancies for free and charge them when a potential employee shows some interest in the vacancy.
By paying a monthly fee, employers get the chance to publish an unlimited number of job offerings during the month.
You can offer users different packages that differ based on the functionality included. By providing them with several options, you give users the flexibility to choose the solution the most suited to their budget and business goals.
Below you can see the packages offered by the job board website Fuzu:
If employers need a better display for their vacancy post, you can highlight their job offering for an additional fee. Also, you can charge them for promoting their vacancy on social media or partner websites.
If you wonder how to create a job search website that will stand out from the competitors, you may offer additional career services at extra cost. They can include writing a CV or providing some useful tips on passing the interview successfully.
Finally, you can charge employers for giving them access to job seekers’ CVs. This business model can be very profitable provided that there are a great number of applicants on your job board website.
So you have defined how to monetize your job search website. Your next step is to decide what functionality you will offer to users.
Traditionally, job search websites are oriented on both employers and job seekers. So choose features that will help you find out how to build a job search website that will satisfy the demands of both parties.
Let’s discuss each feature set separately. It should be noted that the features mentioned below are required for building both a fully-fledged job search website and its MVP version.
Enable applicants to create a personal account on your job search website. Make sure that they can fill in their basic info. It includes personal details, education, skills, work experience, and languages. Also, provide job seekers with an opportunity to upload or build their CVs.
A broad system of filters will help candidates specify their job requests more accurately.
For example, the job search platform Fuzu created by our team, allows job seekers to filter results by publishing date, profession, industry, and seniority.
Job seekers can check the basic company information here. Also, they can view a list of their vacancies, view photos, and check the links to social media. However, the most important thing is the ability to read honest reviews from employees and other applicants.
Both applicants looking for their first job and seasoned professionals wanting to save their time will benefit from this feature. Here they will have a questionnaire where they will enter the main information related to their education, job experience, and skills to create a professional resume.
When an applicant has finally chosen a specific company or employer, this functionality allows the job seeker to attach a CV or cover letter and send it to their potential employer.
Companies should be able to create a job post in mere seconds. For this reason, provide them with a wizard form where employers can specify the key details related to a job offering. They include the position name, requirements, responsibilities, and working conditions.
This functionality allows employers to specify the basic information about their company. The key data include the industry, location, and company size. Here organizations can also offer the link to their website or social media accounts.
The company profile on the job search website Fuzu looks the following way:
This functionality allows recruiters or human resource managers to view the statistics related to the job offering, such as views, clicks, or applications. Also, the employers can make notes about each candidate and set a specific status (rejected, screened, or hired).
Employers can also benefit from an advanced filtering system. By specifying the education level or professional skills of the future employee, they increase their chances of finding the most relevant candidate.
To sum up, the table below highlights the functionality for both employers and job seekers you should consider in the first place:
| Functionality for employers | Functionality for applicants |
| Company profile | Personal profile |
| Analytical dashboard | Employer’s profile |
| Job posting functionality | CV builder |
| Resume search and filters | Search and filters |
Today, you will not succeed with a standard job search website. To make it big, you need to think outside the box, and create new ways to satisfy customers’ demands.
The sure-fire way to reach this goal is to implement extra features which your competitors do not have. By offering users a unique, non-conventional way to address their issues, you will win the customers’ recognition. As a result, your website for job seekers and employers will get the boost it needs to bring your stable income.
So let’s take a look at some killing features you may implement on your job board website to make it different from dozens of similar platforms.
The outbreak of Covid-19 forced many companies to switch to remote work. In these new circumstances, a video interviewing feature can become a silver bullet for recruiters.
With this feature, recruiters can easily track the progress of the candidates on the way to employment. To be more specific, recruiters can check whether the applicant passed screening or provided the required documents.
Assessments can increase the efficiency of the hiring process. By checking the skill assessment results provided by a candidate, recruiters can define whether this person is suitable for the specific vacancy.
This instrument can save recruiters a lot of time. With CV scraping they automatically go through dozens of CVS to match skills mentioned there with skills required for a particular job opening.
While working on building a job search website Fuzu, we aimed to make it unique, and different from other solutions available on the market. The killer feature of this project is a machine learning-based system that finds candidates best suited for a specific job offer.
This way, we significantly simplified the recruitment process for the customer.
Check out our featured projects to discover the full scope of our capabilities.
See casesYou have chosen the revenue model and the functionality for your future job search website. Here comes the most exciting part: the development approach. We recommend that you choose it wisely since it will impact the project timeline and the final cost of a completed job search website.
So let’s take a look at three available options:
There are several popular content management systems you can use if you wonder how to build a job search website as quickly as possible. These are Drupal, Joomla, Magento, and WordPress.
Speaking about WordPress, we have gained vast experience in building websites with this CMS. We will build you a successful and cost-effective solution.
The key advantage of content management systems is a large number of templates, themes, and plugins that give you enough freedom of action.
However, this option is not flawless. First, if there is a crush or a bug, you will require at least a minimum technical background to fix it. Besides, you will not be able to use plugins or themes from other platforms.
Finally, you may face scalability issues. Based on our experience, we can say for sure that this is the biggest issue for customers using a CMS for website development purposes.
Alternatively, you can choose SaaS job board software such as Recooty or Smartjobboard. As with the previous option, ready-made software will work for you if you are wondering how to start a job board within a few days.
Technical skills are not required for these products. Besides, you do not have to worry about crashes, bugs, or performance falls. Your software provider will take care of any technical issues.
As for the drawbacks of SaaS job board software, we should mention the lack of control and zero customization. You will not be able to use a custom template or add new functionality.
Finally, we have come to the top range of solutions, which is custom software development. It is also the most expensive solution, but if you want to find out how to create a job board tailored to your specific business needs, you should definitely try it.
By choosing this approach, you will get a unique scalable solution. It will take into account all your specific requirements. Besides, you can always add new features to provide users with the best experience. The product delivered will have a distinctive design that will help you stand out from the competitors.
If you have chosen a custom software development approach, we recommend that you start with a minimum viable product.
There are several reasons to launch an MVP of a job search website before building a fully-featured software solution.
The first one is cost-effectiveness. With the minimum viable product concept, you can test the market demand for your solution without investing too much money. There is no need to build some complex functionality. The basic feature set showing how your product will address the issues of your target audience will be enough.
When building an MVP of a website for job seekers with Syndicode, you can be sure that the basic functionality will be defined from the very beginning. This way, you can avoid paying extra money for rework.
The second reason is the fast launch. It will not take long to create a software product with limited functionality. Consequently, you can release it to the market pretty quickly.
So what does this fast launch give you? First, you will get valuable feedback faster. As a result, you can improve your offering in no time. You can also test your marketing strategies earlier. As a result, you will be able to promote your business wisely.
As soon as you get feedback from pioneer users, you can improve the existing solution.
So you have decided that custom software development is the most suitable approach for your business. Now you are a step closer to getting a unique solution that will help you beat your market rivals. All that is left to do is to find a reliable software development company.
So what should you focus on when choosing the right outsource development partner? Let’s find out!
Experienced software development companies have vast industry knowledge. To be more specific, specialists there know all rules, policies, and main regulations related to a specific domain, in our case, job search websites. So you can be absolutely sure that they know how to build a job board website complaint with them.
If you consider starting a job board website that will operate in countries of the European Union, they should be compliant with GDPR (General Data Processing Regulation). This legal rule protects users’ personal data. To follow this rule, software developers can integrate anti-scrappers. They will prevent other job board websites from copying sensitive information from your platform.
Another thing that deserves your attention is the technologies used by software development companies. Their technology stack should include mature programming languages, frameworks, libraries, and testing tools. These technologies have already proved themselves. They do not have any bugs or vulnerabilities and have an extensive community.
At Syndicode, we can use any programming language or framework. Still, Ruby on Rails is our preferred option for writing the back end of the apps we develop.
The great number of ready-made solutions called gems speeds up the web development process. So if you decide to create a job board website with the Ruby on Rails framework, the cost of a completed web solution will be lower compared to other programming languages and frameworks.
When it comes to front-end technologies, we opt for React.js, Angular.js, and Vue.js. The most beneficial option here is React since it has the best ratio of cost/quality/development speed.
To start with, the final team composition may vary based on the project’s complexity or timeline. However, it is safe to say usually the software development team you will need to create a job board website consists of 5 specialists as in:
Based on our experience, we can say for sure that you will need at least $150,000 to create a job board website with limited features, the so-called MVP version. As for the timeline, our development team will require 2000 hours minimum to complete your project.
During this time, we create a job board website with the following functionality
As for the cost of creating a job board website with extensive functionality, it will be twice as much as the MVP development cost, $300,000, to be more specific. As for the timeline, it will be doubled as well.
Apart from the functionality mentioned above, the extra features we will build include but are not limited to:
The job search niche is very big, and you can easily get the upper hand there. All you have to do is have a brilliant business idea and knowledge of how to build a job search website properly.
Several strategies can be used to generate revenue from a job board website. You could charge employers for posting job vacancies or for accessing the CVs of potential candidates. Another option is offering premium features to employers for a fee. Pay-per-click models, where employers pay each time a job seeker clicks on their listing, are also popular. Additionally, subscriptions and sponsored job postings are effective monetization methods for a typical platform.
If you wonder how to build a job search website, start by choosing your niche. Decide whether you want to create a general or niche-specific platform and whether it should cater to a local or international audience. Then, select a revenue model. Consider various revenue streams such as subscriptions, premium features, pay-per-click, and sponsored job posts. Your next step is to define functionality. Outline the features and services you will offer to both employers and job seekers. After that, think about innovative features that will set your platform apart from competitors. Proceed by partnering with a software development company and begin implementing your idea with an MVP to test your business concept. Based on initial feedback, you can then expand to a full-scale website and launch it to the public.
Choosing Syndicode for job board development offers numerous advantages. Firstly, our extensive experience in building such platforms ensures they are built to succeed, with all our projects achieving break-even within the first year and therefore providing stable revenue for their owners. Secondly, as a full-cycle development company, we support our clients through every phase of product development, from initial idea validation to post-launch maintenance. Lastly, our team comprises only the most talented and skilled professionals, guaranteeing the highest quality service. With Syndicode, you can be confident that your project is in expert hands.