RPO or job boards
Posting a vacancy is not the same as recruiting. Here you'll see honestly what job boards do well, where they stop and when you need more than reach alone.
Are job boards enough to find staff?
For common roles with many active job seekers, often yes. But job boards only reach people who are already searching, on average a small share of your target audience. For scarce or hard-to-fill roles you also need content, campaigns, sourcing and fast follow-up to get passive talent moving.
How to reach passive talentJob boards and RPO side by side
The comparison| Job boards | SocialFind RPO | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Pay per posting, credit or click, even without results | Fixed monthly fee for the complete approach including media budget |
| Reach | Active job seekers who check the board themselves | Active and passive talent through media, content and sourcing |
| Applicant follow-up | Not included, that remains your job | Screening and fast follow-up are part of the funnel |
| Employer branding | A standard vacancy page in the board's house style | Campaigns and content under your own name |
| Differentiation | You sit among all your competitors in the same layout | Your own story and proposition per audience |
| Data and optimization | Statistics per job posting | Funnel data per step, continuously optimized |
| Suitable for | Common roles with many active job seekers | Structural and hard-to-fill hiring needs |
Active job seekers find you, passive talent you have to go get
The difference in one sentence
Job boards catch people who are searching today. The rest of the labor market, often the best candidates, is meanwhile scrolling through social media or simply at work. You reach them with targeted campaigns, content and a personal approach, not with a vacancy text.
See how we determine what worksWhen are job boards a perfectly good choice?
Do you have a recognizable role, a market-rate offer and an audience that's actively searching? Then a good vacancy text on the right board may be enough. For many administrative, logistics and entry-level roles, that simply works. Fair is fair: you don't need us for that.
Why vacancies on job boards stay open anyway
Things go wrong as soon as the audience becomes scarce. Then too few applicants respond, or lots of people who don't fit. A job board does nothing for your visibility among people who aren't searching, and it doesn't fix slow follow-up or a stuttering application flow. You end up paying for reach that doesn't convert.
What does RPO do that a job board doesn't?
In our way of working, a job board is at most one of the channels. For each role we determine where your audience is, build the proposition and content, deploy media and sourcing and follow up with every candidate fast. The difference isn't the channel but the system around it: from first impression to signed contract.
How do you combine both smartly?
For some vacancies, job boards stay in the mix, but with your own story, fully measured funnels and follow-up within a day. That's how you get more out of the same channel. Curious which mix your vacancies need? Start with the recruitment diagnosis.
Need more than reach?
Tell us which vacancies are open. You'll hear which channels fit your audience and what else it takes to get them filled.
Frequently asked questions about posting vacancies and RPO
Yes, when the channel fits the role and the target group. The difference is that with us, a board is never the whole plan: there is always a proposition, funnel and follow-up around it, and we measure per channel what it actually delivers in qualified candidates.
Usually a combination: the target group is not actively searching, the copy does not stand out from competitors, or the offer is not sharp enough. Sometimes the problem sits further along, for example in a lengthy application flow. A diagnosis of the whole funnel points to the real cause.
Per month, you pay more than for a single posting. But the comparison does not hold: with RPO you pay for complete recruitment including content, media, sourcing and follow-up. If you calculate per hired candidate, and your vacancy costs money every month it stays open, the math often looks very different.
For scarce target groups, often yes: there, the results come from campaigns on social channels, sourcing and a personal approach. For common roles, boards remain a useful channel. We decide that per role based on target group and data, not out of habit.
They get the same treatment as every candidate in the funnel: fast screening, personal follow-up and a proper candidate experience under your name. Speed makes the difference precisely with job board traffic, because the same candidate is often applying with your competitor too.
That depends on the job board's model. With pay per posting you buy a fixed duration at a fixed price, with sponsored vacancies you set a daily budget and pay per click, and a basic listing is sometimes free with limited reach. The amount differs per board, per duration and per role, because for scarce profiles more employers bid on the same clicks. So do not just look at the price per posting, but at what a posting costs you per hired candidate.
On your own careers page, via Google for Jobs if your vacancy is marked up with structured data, and on job boards that offer a free basic listing. Sharing via your own social channels and those of colleagues costs nothing either. Keep in mind that free reach is limited: without budget, your vacancy sits below the paid listings and is mainly seen by people who are already actively looking. For common roles that can be enough, for scarce target groups usually not.