LinkedIn Free Job Posting—How To Post and Manage Your Free Job Ad

Founded in 2005, LinkedIn is a professional network with over 850 million users from over 200 countries. Due to Linkedin’s social media component, you can use your company profile to build an employer brand so that employees know about you before applying. 

LinkedIn allows you to post a job ad for free for 30 days, after which it expires (to keep it up, you’ll need to promote the post for $5+ a day). This is highly suitable for startups or small businesses that don’t have the budget to pay hundreds of dollars for a paid job post that other job boards demand. 

And unlike other job boards used for job listings exclusively, where active jobseekers can come and apply for a position they like, your own employees can share the job post to reach the people in their network. According to LinkedIn, passive talent makes up 70% of the global workforce, and this platform allows you to tap into that talent pool.

The issue with free job posts on Linkedin is that they appear to anyone who searches for the same or similar position you’re offering. This means that you’ll often end up with hundreds, if not thousands, of applications from underqualified candidates who are trying their luck. Your hiring process needs to be optimized and swift, and you need to be able to quickly recognize the best candidates before they accept an offer from someone else.

In this article, we’ll show you how the LinkedIn free job posting process goes and how you can increase your post’s reach.

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How To Post Jobs on LinkedIn for Free

Here is a step-by-step guide on how to post a job on LinkedIn for free:

• Log in to your LinkedIn account (or sign up)
• Click on the Jobs tab in the top menu
• Click on the Post a free job button (if you have a Recruiter account, you’ll have different contract options to choose from. In that case, click Continue next to the LinkedIn Job Posting button)

• Add the following information about the job you’re offering:
  • Job title (pick one of the suggested titles, this is not the place to get creative)
  • Company name
  • Workplace type (on-site, remote, or hybrid)
  • Job location
  • Employment type

• Click Get started for free
• Add a job description—LinkedIn will provide a template, but if you want to attract the best candidates, you’ll need to have your own
• Add skills—This will help you reach the right candidates. You can add up to 10 skills
• You can Preview the job ad or press Continue when you’re ready

• In the following section, you’ll need to enter the following:
  • Email for receiving applications (alternatively, you can add an external website)
  • Add screening questions (you can go without any, but LinkedIn recommends at least three screening questions to help you find out about the applicant before you go through their CV)
  • Qualification setting (you can select to automatically filter out candidates that don’t meet the requirements from the screening questions)
• You can Preview the job ad or press Post job for free when you’re ready

• Choose your plan—you can post the job for free or choose a budget for promotion

How To Post a Job on LinkedIn Using Other Devices

LinkedIn also gives you the option to post a job listing using your mobile device, as shown below:

1. Tap the Jobs icon
2. Tap Post a Job (iOS) or Post job for free (Android)
3. Select the company name for which you’re posting the job
4. Tap Create new job
5. Enter:
   • Job title
   • Company name
   • Workplace type
   • Job location
   • Job type
   • Description
   • Screening questions (optional)
6. Tap Post job for free

If you’re reposting an older job post, instead of choosing Create new job, you can:

1. Select a previously posted job
2. Paste the job link in the What do you want to talk about? field

Sourcing More Candidates—Increase Views of a LinkedIn Job Posting

Besides getting your employees to share the job listing with their network, you can take further action to spread the word and reach more suitable candidates. You can post your ad at the most suitable time, but one of the best aspects of posting on LinkedIn is that you can create a target audience and ensure your job post only shows up to relevant candidates. This does come with a fee that varies depending on the location and industry.

Besides reaching more candidates, a promoted post is necessary if you want to keep it active after the first month when it expires and LinkedIn pauses it automatically. LinkedIn may also pause your job post if you receive a certain number of applications.

If you want to renew your expired job post (or avoid its expiry in the first place), you need to promote it. A LinkedIn promoted post also comes with many other advantages, as shown in the table below:

A promoted post will be on the top of search results for anyone who manually searches for the job title you’re offering. Your listing will also be promoted to passive candidates via the “Jobs You May Be Interested In” feature on their feed.

How To Create a Promoted Job Post

The process for creating a promoted job is the same as creating a free job post. You need to take the same steps and input the same information. The difference is in the final step. When you press the Post job for free button, you’ll be taken to the final screen where you can choose your plan—free or paid. If you decide to promote a job, you’ll need to select a daily or total budget for it.

A daily budget lets you determine a set amount you’ll get charged each day, while total allows LinkedIn to tweak the daily expenditure and promote your listing until it hits the limit.

Click the Promote job button, and you’ll be sent to the payment section, where you need to provide your billing information.

How To Promote a Free Job Post

If you have a free job post already active and you want to avoid its expiry or want to get all the benefits of a promoted job post, you don’t have to remove it and publish it from scratch. When you go to your Jobs dashboard (by clicking Manage job posts on the Jobs page), navigate to the job you want to promote and click Manage jobs from the drop-down menu.

If you don’t want to change any other details, press Continue until you reach the “Promote your job to get more applicants” section. The process for adding a budget and payment information is the same from there.

How To Make a Job Post Update on LinkedIn

If you want to make a change to your job post, you can do so by visiting the Job section and clicking the Manage job posts button.

When you get there, you’ll see a list of your postings separated into the following tabs:

• Draft
• Open
• Closed
• Expired

To update your existing job post, locate it in the list and open the settings—a drop-down menu will appear when you press the three dots.

When you click on the Manage job button, you’ll be able to edit:

• Basic info—Change job title, employment type, or workplace type
• Applicant options—Add or remove screening questions
• Job details—Edit the job description and add or remove skills
• Improvement of the job post—Provide info on salary, benefits, and company in general
• Job sharing—Share the job listing with your connections on LinkedIn
• Promotion options—Switch between free and paid listing and change your budget

Once you’re done with a particular section, you can move on to the next one by pressing Continue or save changes by pressing Finish.

How Do You Stop a Job Posting on LinkedIn?

Removing an active job post is straightforward. Go to the Jobs dashboard the same way you’d do for updating a job post (click on Jobs and then select Manage job posts). Once you navigate to the job posting you want to remove, click on the drop-down menu (three dots) and click on the Close job button. A pop-up will appear, and you need to press Close job post to confirm your decision.

Writing a Job Description—Best LinkedIn Job Posts

While LinkedIn has ready-made templates you can use, they are bland and don’t contain any actual information about the job you’re offering. You can go with one of those, but someone who reads it won’t have a clear idea of what is expected of them. Your job description is your only way to communicate with your potential employees, and you need to make sure they understand what the job you’re offering entails.

The best LinkedIn job post examples consist of a job description that lists all the requirements the candidate must meet to be considered and the responsibilities they’ll have on the job. When you write a job description, try to go into the tiny details about the role and everyday duties it comes with. While you’ll never have zero unwanted applications, a detailed job description will deter many unqualified candidates from applying. The more information you use, the more obvious it will be that they don’t cut it.

Do you want your candidates to be upfront and send a CV with all the essential information? You should respect them too—share your salary and any benefits that come with the job. This will also help you attract the top candidates to choose you over competitors.

If you’re struggling with writing a compelling job description, check out our job description template database with descriptions that go into detail about each role and require little editing on your part.

Free Places To Post a Job Besides LinkedIn

While LinkedIn may be the most popular job board out there, it certainly isn’t the only one, as there are many other free job boards you can use to source candidates.

Some, like LinkedIn, have a broader audience that will help you reach more people quickly, but you need to be wary of unwanted applications that will most likely go your way. Niche job boards don’t have as many users but focus on a particular industry, which you can take advantage of. If, for example, you’re seeking a lawyer, you don’t want applications from someone who has seen Boston Legal and liked the aesthetic of it.

While some job boards can charge hundreds of dollars per job post, the majority of them are free. Check out the table below to find information about other major free job boards you can use and how they compare to LinkedIn:

LinkedIn Free Job Posting—Frequently Asked Questions

We’ve compiled a list of the most frequently asked questions about free job posts on LinkedIn. Check out the answers below.

Can You Post Jobs on LinkedIn for Free?

Yes, LinkedIn is a free job board that allows companies to post their listings and source candidates without paying up. If you want your job post to reach more people and perform better, you can create a sponsored post. The minimum budget is $5 a day.

How Long Does a Free Job Posting Stay on LinkedIn?

Free job posts on LinkedIn expire within 30 days of the post date. If you want to keep it visible beyond the first month, you need to promote it.

What Year Was the Job Posting Feature Added to LinkedIn?

In 2005, two years after the website went public, LinkedIn introduced the option for companies to post job listings and search the network for potential employees. They also introduced the ability for companies to advertise, which made the company profitable and allowed them to rise to over 100 million users worldwide by 2011.

Is It Worth It To Promote a LinkedIn Job Posting?

A promoted LinkedIn job post attracts three times as many qualified candidates through targeted reach as free job ads, which will narrow the number of unwanted applications you receive. The success of your promotion depends on your job listing (i.e., the quality of your job description) and the promotional budget.

What Happens to a Promoted Job Post When You Hit the Budget Cap?

LinkedIn will promote your post until it hits the limit. When this happens, the promotion will stop, and your job posting will show up to candidates as a free job post. If you’ve exhausted the daily budget, the promotion will restart the next day automatically. If you’ve hit your total limit, you need to start the promotion from scratch.

What Are Some Alternatives to LinkedIn?

While LinkedIn is perhaps the most popular job-sourcing website, it attracts a broad candidate pool, and you may end up with thousands of applications from unqualified jobseekers. If you want to reach non-LinkedIn users or target a specific niche of applicants, check out the following job boards:

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

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