In the professional world, staffing is a pillar of success. One of the core foundations of any organization is a solid team with good talent. Likewise, for the worker eager to showcase their talents and make a good living in return, being able to find job openings is vital in that process. It’s a two-way street, in every sense of the term. Employers need to be able to post their positions where the best and brightest of the industry will see them. Workers also need to know when opportunities are available - so they can pursue them to the fullest degree.

The digital age has changed the way people do everything – including work, communicate, and shop. It should come as no surprise that there are new options out there for staffing thanks to the internet. We’ve all heard about some of the top names in the online job board marketplace. Monster, indeed, snag a job – and of course, ZipRecruiter.

It’s got “recruiter” right in the name, so that tells you all you need to know, at least for an introduction. ZipRecruiter boasts a powerful search engine that sees millions of jobs posted every day. The system is tailored toward both recruiters and those looking to be recruited, with features for each.

Here we’ll take an in-depth look at ZipRecruiter and what makes it unique. How does it stand out from the dozens of other similar platforms that offer staffing services? What are the features, how easy are they to use, and how much can you expect to spend on this type of site?

What Makes ZipRecruiter Different Than Other Similar Services?

We’ve all had the experience of visiting a job board at one time or another. Whether we were visiting it in hopes of finding the perfect job to showcase our skills or we were posting an opening in hopes of finding the perfect fit, it can be a struggle.

ZipRecruiter was built to think like someone who is in the job search – whether searching for an open position or searching for someone to fill one of those positions. Think of the issues a person may have when using one of these sites.

Let’s explore a few of the more common ones.

Simplifying the Application Process

Fill out this form with your name, address, phone number, previous work experience, academic qualifications, GPA from your highest completed educational institution, hobbies and interest, strengths and weaknesses – what was the title of the job you were applying for, again?

Cumbersome application processes can take the wind out of your proverbial sails when you’re searching for a new job. You may have your resume, cover letter, and portfolio all ready to go – but having to reenter that information into a separate portal (over and over again for each job) can be a drag. This is especially true if you’re trying to apply for multiple jobs in a single sitting.

The Awkward Follow-Up (or Don’t) Period

Don’t call us, we’ll call you – that old adage is often a tongue-in-cheek way for a company to tell someone they’re not interested. Even if it is taken in the sense that the aspiring employee should wait for the employer to contact them after receiving an application, ​it simply isn’t true – at least not in all cases.

But, you don’t want to seem like the nagging person who constantly bombards a hiring manager’s inbox when they’re trying to sort through thousands of emails a day. Then again, you don’t want a forgetful mind to be the reason you miss out on a position you’re qualified for, either.

The Issue of Knowing Where to Start

Let’s say you’re a company executive who is tasked with finding some new talent to help build up the team. That sounds easy enough – but where do you start? It helps to know what people are looking for. But how do you do that without being able to read minds?

The same can be said for a person who is seeking a job. Let’s say a person has a bachelor’s degree in business administration. This may qualify them for entry-level positions in finance, accounting, marketing, or even management. Being able to see which jobs are most frequently posted can help a person improve their odds, which helps them save time and increase their chances of success.

As we can see, there are plenty of complications when it comes to the staffing process. This is true on both sides of the equation, whether you’re the one looking for a job or the one trying to fill a position. Now let’s explore the features ZipRecruiter has, and how these features can help make the process of staffing easier for everyone.

You Can Apply for Jobs with a Single Click (Usually)

We mentioned how cumbersome and disheartening it can be when you have to fill out tons of information in a unique portal for every job you want to apply for. Sure, we all get that your prospective new employer wants to know about you. That is understandable – but most people would prefer to just be able to send their resume and be done.

Unfortunately for those people, many companies have their own dedicated hiring portals that all applications have to come through. This is done so the company can keep records on file and search applicants based on location, work experience, and educational credentials. But ZipRecruiter offers a way to bridge the gap between simplifying the application process and playing by the hiring company’s rules.

On most of the job postings you’ll see on ZipRecruiter, you can apply with a single click. Once you set up your profile and upload your resume, you can either send it off to a hiring company with a single click or upload the information from it to the hiring company’s portal.

This isn’t always a perfect science, however. While it works most of the time, sometimes the system gets a bit glitchy when it is trying to figure out what goes where. Let’s say you notate your phone number with periods rather than dashes in between the groups of numbers. The system may have trouble putting the data in the right place.

Luckily, the worst that happens is that you may have to fix a few of the entries manually. But you can get around having to enter all the data in every box every single time. That’s a lot of time saved, and can in turn make it easier for you to apply for a larger number of jobs in a single session.

ZipRecruiter Keeps You in the Loop When You Apply

If you’re tired of sitting by your phone or computer like an anxious, lovestruck teen waiting to hear back from the person who has your interest, you aren’t alone. Job seekers around the world have longed for a more communicative platform that helps them see how the application process is progressing – and ZipRecruiter has delivered.

The site has built-in features that let you know when your application has been viewed by a company you’ve applied to on their site. That means you don’t have to wonder whether your application got lost in a jumbled inbox or tumbled into the dark confines of a spam folder never to be seen again.

You can also get instant alerts when the hiring manager sends you a message. That’s right, this site functions as more than just a job matching platform. It is a great way to stay in touch and in the loop, letting prospective employees and hiring managers communicate with one another via a single system that both can use.

This site even takes things one step further, letting you know when your salary request was received. This is one of the most curious parts of the application process. Sometimes hiring managers will ask this question on the initial application. But, in other cases, they may wait until they’ve found candidates they’re actually considering before they bring money into the conversation.

ZipRecruiter’s platform will inform you when a salary request is received. It’s another one of those steps in the process you want to have confirmation of. No one likes to think they got to the point where money was being discussed and their email failed to go through. With this site, you’ll know everything was sent through successfully.

Let’s put the hiring hat back on and look at things once more from the perspective of the staffing manager. There is a huge demand for new talent in the workforce, but this is only applicable in certain fields. Or, perhaps more accurately, it is more prevalent in some areas than others.

Should you be promoting your part-time jobs over your full-time jobs? Should you be placing more of an emphasis on telecommuting positions than in-house positions? With ZipRecruiter’s platform, you can see what is trending, so you know what people on the site are looking for. It makes it much easier to coordinate your efforts toward the areas where you’re more likely to find success.

If you’re looking for jobs, you can also see which ones are trending at any given point. For example, let’s say you have a degree in the engineering field and you see that, while hands-on engineering positions are what you have your heart set on, there are plenty of consulting positions being offered. This can help you know where to shift your focus, or at least give you the knowledge needed to broaden your perspective.

You can also see trending data based on locations, fields, and even companies. No matter where you want to work, in any sense of the term, this site offers real-time data you can use to make better decisions. Landing a better job and excelling in your field sometimes requires a little luck – but with ZipRecruiter, you can take luck out of the equation and base your efforts on the options that are readily available.

​Pricing for Job Seekers and Talent Seekers

While this site offers a lot of great features for people on both sides of the staffing platform, there’s one question that always comes up when we find a great product – cost. Nothing is free, and you’ll find this site is no exception to that general principle.

Let’s start with the job seeker – what can they expect to pay when they want access to new job posts? Many sites out there will actually charge a person if they’re seeking a position on their site. The irony is astounding – especially since most people seeking a job may not have money to spare.

Luckily, these models are usually just reserved for niche industries where jobs are hard to come by. For a site that focuses on all types of jobs, there is usually no cost for the job seeker. That is the case with ZipRecruiter. You can sign up, post your resume, and apply for all the jobs you want at no cost.

Things are a little different when you want to post jobs, however. The current tier system works as follows:

As we can see, there are quite a few different options available. This makes ZipRecruiter suitable for startups, small businesses, and enterprise companies in search of new hires. It’s a versatile model that offers a lot for your money.

ZipRecruiter is one of the most innovative and advanced hiring platforms out there. While it isn’t the only one of its kind, it offers some great features you’d be hard pressed to find elsewhere.