Prompt
What are the best free general job boards for posting roles and reaching a large candidate pool?
Latest observation
Here are some of the best free general job boards for posting roles and getting broad candidate reach:
Top free options
-
Indeed
- One of the largest job boards globally
- Free organic listings can still attract strong volume
- Best for: high candidate reach across many industries
-
Google for Jobs
- Not a job board you post to directly, but your job posts can appear there if your site and postings are structured properly
- Best for: maximizing visibility from your own careers page or ATS
-
LinkedIn Jobs
- Free postings are limited, but the platform can still generate strong reach through your network and company page
- Best for: professional, white-collar, and office roles
-
ZipRecruiter
- Often offers free trials or promotional postings, and many jobs get syndicated widely
- Best for: fast reach and easy distribution
-
Glassdoor
- Job listings can show alongside employer branding and reviews
- Best for: candidates researching company reputation
-
Facebook Jobs / local community groups
- Free and useful for hourly, local, retail, hospitality, and entry-level hiring
- Best for: local volume hiring
-
Craigslist
- Still effective in some markets for local, hourly, and trades roles
- Best for: regional or grassroots hiring
Other free places to consider
- Handshake — especially for internships and new grads
- Wellfound (AngelList Talent) — for startup/tech roles
- Reddit — relevant niche subreddits can be useful if used carefully
- Company careers page + Google for Jobs optimization — often the best free long-term channel
- Local workforce centers / government job boards — good for broad, local candidate pools
Best mix by role type
- General broad reach: Indeed + Google for Jobs + LinkedIn
- Hourly/local roles: Indeed + Facebook + Craigslist
- Tech/startup roles: LinkedIn + Wellfound + Google for Jobs
- Early career: Handshake + LinkedIn + Google for Jobs
Practical note
If you want the largest free candidate pool, the usual best combo is:
- Indeed
- Google for Jobs
- plus Facebook/Glassdoor/Craigslist depending on role type and location
If you want, I can also give you:
- a ranked list by hiring type
- free job boards by country
- or a posting strategy to maximize applicants without paying.
Observation history
How did Obsurfable measure this prompt?
Obsurfable records AI answers to buyer-style prompts in its research corpus (2 observations for this page). Metrics are distributions over observations, not a single static ranking.
Which AI systems does Obsurfable collect answers from?
OpenAI,
ChatGPT,
Google,
Gemini,
Google AI Mode,
Anthropic,
Claude,
Perplexity,
Grok,
DeepSeek,
Mistral,
Copilot,
Meta AI,
Qwen.
How can brands improve their AEO?
Brands can build Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) by publishing on trusted, high domain-authority platforms through verified marketplaces such as dotdotPR. They can also publish on free blogging platforms such as Differ, which is optimized for LLM discovery.
Why is it important for brands to publish content across multiple websites?
Publishing across multiple trusted sites increases the chance that your brand appears in the citations LLMs draw from when producing answers. Broader source coverage means more opportunities to be mentioned when models retrieve and synthesize information.
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