Free Job Posting on Monster—The Complete Guide

Monster is one of the world’s oldest online job boards, with the first version going online in 1995. The company is one of the pioneers of commercial websites, and they’ve come a long way from their humble beginnings of collecting job ads from newspapers and posting them online. 

Today, Monster is a NASDAQ-traded company and still one of the biggest job boards. Its monthly traffic of over 35 million hits means that Monster is still a valuable resource to employers and jobseekers. 

While that’s an impressive figure, Monster has been outpaced by competitors like Indeed and LinkedIn, thanks to their extensive options for companies that want to advertise via free job postings. 

Small businesses are the pillar of any modern economy, but many of them can’t afford expensive online job ads in the search for reliable job candidates. That’s why recruiters opt for free job boards. 

So, how does Monster fare in that regard, and how can you post a job on Monster for free? We’ll cover all that in our extensive guide to free job posting on Monster.

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How To Post a Job on Monster for Free

While often advertised differently, you can’t really post a job ad on Monster for free. 

The platform technically offers free job postings, but the overall cost of posting a job on Monster is not zero. You only get access to the free job postings if you sign up for an account on Monster, and you can’t do that free of charge. There is a 4-day free trial, though, but it is pretty short, considering you get less than one work week of free use.

When registering on Monster, you’ve got three different packages to choose from: 

1. Starter
2. Standard
3. Premium

We’ll go over Monster’s pricing and the features you get with each package in more detail below (the process of creating a free job posting is the same regardless of the plan you choose). Here’s a step-by-step guide to writing a job ad on Monster:

• Create an account and choose your subscription package by clicking the appropriate Start Free Trial button—note that even though Monster requires you to enter your payment info, you won’t be charged before the end of the 4-day free trial

• Choose whether you’ll post a free job or a promoted one
• Fill out your job description—this section contains info like:
  • The job title for the open position
  • A short job summary (250 characters max)
  • Job details, such as required skills, job responsibilities, travel arrangements, team size, etc.

• Fill out the Matching Criteria section—the information you include in this part will be used to match relevant candidates on Monster with your job ad. There’s also a Use as a filter toggle next to all the options, which allows you to automatically reject any candidates who don’t fulfill those criteria. These fields include candidate info like:
  • Skill keywords
  • Years of experience (represented as a range)
  • Job location
  • Education
  • Industry
  • Nationality

• Write down any optional information you’d like to include, such as:
  • Job type
  • Salary range
• Choose from several toggleable settings related to the job ad itself
• Hit the Submit button to place your job listing for review

Once your job posting goes through the platform’s review process, it’ll be published and visible to all relevant applicants. 

While some forms we’ve described above aren’t mandatory, Monster encourages employers to provide as much information as possible and fill them all out—according to Monster’s algorithm, this leads to better search rankings.

Cost of Monster Job Posting

As mentioned above, you can’t really post a job posting on Monster for free. The posting itself is free, but it’s locked behind a subscription-based paywall. 

That being said, there are a couple of reasons why paying for a Monster subscription might make sense even for a smaller company. Namely, the fact that Monster job ads are highly flexible. They give you, as an employer, more leeway regarding what info you want to include in any job posting. 

For instance, you can:

1. Hide the salary range you offer for any position
2. Withhold company contact details from applicants
3. Make your company name confidential until a specific step in the recruitment process

Even though Monster doesn’t offer free accounts, you still have some flexibility in the form of different monthly plans. Which subscription plan you’ll opt for depends on various factors, such as your specific hiring needs and your budget for the recruitment process. 

For instance, smaller companies with a one-off opening choose the Starter plan most often. This package gives you access to 50 resumes in Monster’s database and a single free job post.

On the other hand, a small business looking to expand will probably be better served with the Standard plan, which provides more resumes and 3 concurrent job postings. 

A large, rapidly-growing team will probably find the Premium plan a better fit. With this plan, you can post 5 job ads simultaneously and browse through 250 resumes in Monster’s database. On top of that, Premium-level job ads rank better in Monster’s search rankings.

Here’s an overview of the different Monster price levels:

There are also some features all Monster price packages have in common—any subscription on this job board gets you:

• Automatic job alerts sent to relevant candidates
• Unlimited applicants on any live job
• A database of over 2,000 job description templates
• Multi-user access, useful for larger HR departments

How Can I Enhance My Job Posting on Monster?

If you decide to pay for any Monster subscription, you want to get the most out of your money. In practice, that means reaching the biggest number of qualified candidates and sparking engagement. 

Here are some guidelines for writing a stellar job ad on Monster.

Include All Relevant Information

Monster’s search ranking algorithm rewards job ads with more detailed information. So, if you want to reach more top-tier professionals than your competition, you should include all the information relevant to the candidates you want to attract. 

Write a High-Quality Copy

When looking for the best candidates, your job ad is also an ad for your company in general. To put it in real estate terms, it’s a buyer’s market, and you need to “sell” the idea of working for your company to the finest professionals out there. 

For starters, you’ll need some excellent writing, which, in this case, means being concise and clear. You should include anything you believe is relevant, but don’t expect a time-poor candidate to read a novel about your open position. 

You should also try to view the ad from the candidates’ perspective and sell your value proposition to them. Do you offer great perks, remote-first work, exciting projects, or personal growth opportunities? Mention all the benefits in the job posting! 

While your tone shouldn’t be overly informal, keeping things inviting and friendly will probably increase your response rates. 

Use Your Company Branding

The best way to make your Monster job posting stand out is to infuse it with your company branding, such as your logo, company videos, and other impactful visuals. Any signs of the company’s visual identity will instantly make your job ad more memorable in a sea of countless walls of text. 

Videos are especially effective here because they provide insight into your company’s culture and office environment. Note that video content drives the most engagement compared to any other form of media. 

Posting Jobs on Monster—Frequently Asked Questions

Understanding the ins and outs of the job board you choose can help you reach and hire top candidates. Check out the answers to some of the most commonly asked questions users have about posting on Monster.

How Much Does It Cost To Put a Job Posting on Monster?

When it comes to basic free postings, the ad itself costs nothing, but you can’t do it without a paid Monster account ($279, $399, or $649). 

You can also opt for a premium Promoted Job ad. On Monster, promoted job postings work on a pay-for-performance (PFP) model. 

That means that you can set individual budgets for each job ad. Your funds will be deducted every time a candidate clicks on your promoted ad on the platform—a larger ad budget directly translates to more views.

Can I Edit My Job Listing on Monster?

You can make changes to your job ad on Monster—follow these steps to complete the process:

1. Select Jobs at the top of the home page
2. Choose the ad you want to edit
3. Click on the Actions menu
4. Hit Edit
5. Make the changes
6. Click the Submit button

How To Remove Free Ads From Monster

To remove your free listing from Monster, all you need to do is change the status from Open to Closed. The process is the same for promoted ads as well.

What Are Some Alternatives to Monster?

As mentioned above, Monster was the first job board on the Internet, but it’s far from a monopolistic position these days. There are plenty of other job boards that you can use—and if you want maximum engagement, you can post the same job ad on multiple job boards too. 

Here are some alternatives to Monster:

• Indeed
• Mashable
• LinkedIn
• Juju
• Ladders
• Craigslist
• Google for Jobs
• Careerjet
• Snagajob
• Facebook
• ZipRecruiter
• Dice
• CareerBuilder

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