Jobboard Finder’s opinion
Summary: In 2005, J.C. Butler and Sim Whatley created Dubizzle. Little did they know it would one day become the largest classifieds website in the Midlde East. In fact, it is the 12th most visited website in Saudi Arabia, with 8.43 million views a month. Today, the website belongs to the OLX company, which is one of the world's leading classifieds brand (along with Schibsted). The website is available in English and Arabic, but they have no number and the e-mail address is difficult to find. Other information (like the prices) is also hidden or non-existent. That hasn’t stopped 49 400 people on Twitter and 691 709 on Facebook from following Dubizzle. They also have a extensive Youtube page.
Design: The logo is a flame behind a person’s head for this “sizzling” job board. There are a few pop-ups around the screen, but they don’t obstruct the job search. On the homepage, you can select the category that interests you (so, jobs) which brings you to the job page. You can access the job listing through the search engine in one part (keywords), the featured companies (most of which are not hiring), the featured jobs (which appear in a grid, instead of a list and include the following information: the job title, the salary and a photo) or through the categories. The homepage also shows the most recent blog articles (but they are all a few months old) in a square design. Once in the job listing, you can see all the sectors (with the number of job offers per sector) and you can view the offers from newest to oldest and vice versa (In theory). If you click on a sector, the website then suggests a more specific classification. You can also us the filters (the job role, the publication date, the salary, the career level, the minimum experience, the minimum education and the employment type). Since it is a classifieds website, you can create adverts to hire or to be hired.
The job board objective: Dubizzle is on fire with its hot new job offers (in theory).
Recruiter observations: To create an account, you need a trade licence and a phone number from the Middle East. You can look through CVs (in theory) but when you click on “Select Your Plan”, nothing happens.
Jobseeker observations: Dubizzle tells you how many other people have applied to the job offer. To apply to an offer, you need an account (with all the necessary fields filled out) and a CV.
The job offers: 19 580 job offers (all the categories are listed on the homepage). They have lost about 1 000 job offers compared to last year. Hospitality & restauration is by far the most popular job category, followed by business development and engineering. However, they have job offers that are sometimes a year old!
Reactivity: It took them a few days to get back to us.
Special features: The blog (various categories, because it is a classifieds website but there is an entire career section, with month old articles); the great name; the number of applicants for a given offer; the Youtube videos; the icons.
Verdict: Dubizzle has done a good job when it comes to filters and clarity. Clearer contact and pricing information and more updated offers would be appreciated though. It is still worth giving Dubizzle a go.
Written by Ali Neill
As the job board tester and blog editor for the Jobboard Finder, Ali works on job boards from all around the world and keeps a close eye on the recruitment trends thanks to a number of sources, including the website's social media pages.