First, you should understand that the crux of a successful job board is satisfying both of your audiences, job seekers and employers because job boards are a two-sided marketplace.
Second, you need to chose one of your audiences to charge on your job board to generate revenue—usually this will be employers because they have a concrete problem you can solve and the capacity to pay for it.
We’ll explore four different revenue models that can help your job board be successful and generate money for you. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to refine your existing setup, these insights will help you choose a suitable business strategy for your niche job board.
1. Fixed fee or subscription pricing
One of the more traditional and straightforward ways to monetize a job board is by charging employers to post job listings. This model has been used for decades by the first types of job boards, newspapers, and bulletin boards. And it functions just as well for the modern, digital job boards.
How it works
Employers pay a set fee to have their job listing displayed on your job board for a specific time period, such as 30 or 60 days. You can also offer different pricing tiers based on the visibility and features of the job listing. For example, a basic listing might be $100, while a premium listing with additional features costs $250.
If this model is working out well, you should consider offering additional services as upsells:
- Featured listing: the job listing will stand out with bold font, colors or priority placement on your job board.
- Company profiles: employers have the option to create detailed company profiles with images, videos, and context about their company culture. Much like the “Life” tab of LinkedIn company profiles where employee content, testimonials, and team photos are posted to give applicants an idea of what working at the company could look like.
- Enhanced distribution: your job board account posts employers’ jobs to additional locations such as a your newsletter or social media channels.
Benefits and considerations
Charging for job listings provides a steady stream of income and leverages your job board's brand value. Employers will be willing to pay a premium if your platform has a strong reputation and job seeker audience. The amount you can charge will depend on the level of competition in your niche and the number of applicants they can expect from your job board.
2. Talent pool or sourcing site
Another effective revenue model leveraging your employers is creating a talent pool, where employers pay for access to a database of qualified candidates. This model provides the recruiting employers with direct access to potential hires, making it easier for them to find the right candidates.
This is part of what LinkedIn offers to recruiters with arguably the largest network of professional profiles.
How it works
Your job board needs to collect detailed profiles and resumes from job seekers within your niche. Employers then pay a subscription or one-time fee to access your candidate database. This database can either stand as a self-serve tool for employers to filter candidates and contact them directly. Or you can offer a matching service that recommends suitable candidates based on job requirements; manually or automatically.
The key here is encouraging candidates to create a complete profile on your platform, including skills, experience, CV, and job preferences.
Benefits and considerations
Subscription-based models provide ongoing revenue and work well in specialized niches where specific skills and experiences are in high demand. This will also bring in good revenue if the companies you’re targeting are larger, and have specialized recruiters doing the sourcing. You must, however, ensure that your database is up-to-date and contains high-quality candidates to actually provide value to employers.
3. Pay-per-click or application
Job aggregators compile job listings from various sources, such as other job boards and company career pages, and monetize through a pay-per-click (PPC) or aay-per-application (PPA) model. This approach can be very profitable for large job boards with high traffic volumes. Indeed is one of the biggest and most popular ones using this business model.
With AI however, low-quality applications are becoming more and more common making a PPC or PPA model less desirable. There might be an alternative: a model where employers only pay per qualified application.
What qualified means is often arbitrary, but introducing objective questions could make this model more realistic. For example, only candidates that have specific certifications, are eligible to work in the respective country, or have a proven amount of work experience in the field can even submit an application.
And of course, jobs boards could charge a much higher cost per application if the candidate is of guaranteed quality.
How it works
Aggregate job listings from multiple sources and display them on your job board. Employers are charged every time a candidate clicks on a job listing (PPC) or submits/starts an application (PPA).
The key here is to attract the maximum amount of traffic, for example by optimizing your job board for SEO, and using search ads. With a lot of competition in the market, you also need to set competitive prices for clicks or applications.
Benefits and considerations
For employers, this model can be beneficial because they are only paying for real engagement with their job ad, instead of a fixed fee without guaranteed return.
For large job boards with automated processes, this can be a profitable strategy. However regional or niche job boards may struggle with this model due to lower traffic volumes.
Consider the example of the cost per application being $1; you would need 1,000 applicants to generate $1,000 in revenue per month. While you could earn the same by getting only 4 employers to post a $250-priced job ad on your board.
4. Charging applicants for access
In some niches, particularly those with an oversupply of talent, it may be viable to charge job seekers a fee to access job listings. This model shifts the cost burden from employers to applicants and can be effective in certain high-demand sectors with limited employers.
How it works
Job seekers pay a fee to access job listings or currently hiring employers on your board. You can monetize your applicants in a few different ways:
- Access fee: a monthly subscription or annual fee to access job listings and employer contacts, such as the hiring manager.
- Increased visibility: similar to featured job listing for employers, you can highlight a job seeker’s resume to get more employer to see and contact them with relevant job opportunities.
- Job seeker services: depending on your niche this could be resume writing services, career coaching or mini-courses on building additional skills in your field.
Benefits and considerations
Charging applicants can add another revenue stream beyond employer fees and help filter out less serious candidates, ensuring that employers receive high-quality applications.
However, this model only works in fields with a large number of job seekers, such as tech or executive-level positions and only if you can provide access to high-quality, possibly exclusive job listings.
Bonus: hybrid models
Whichever of these revenue models are suitable to your niche, you can also combine a few. A common one is charging for job listings while also offering subscription access to a candidate database.
Additionally to the business models outlined above, you can also consider selling ad space on your job board to relevant businesses or via Google’s AdSense. Earning affiliate commission can also be a good add-on tactic.
When choosing a business model, we recommend always starting out with understanding the demand and supply forces in your niche and its current and future hiring market conditions.