Guardian Jobs

Site's statement

Jobboard Finder’s opinion

Summary: Created in 2009 according to Twitter (even if there are a couple of blog articles dating back to 2007), the Guardian Jobs is a subsidiary of The Guardian. To access it from The Guardian website, you have to press on “more” to reveal “jobs” under the Guardian logo. Its popularity has been slipping but it still gets 1.61 million views a month. The social media is updated regularly for the followers 78 100 on Twitter and 105 640 on Facebook, but Linkedin (and the 30 000 something followers) seems to have been forgotten (no updates for the last 4 months). The blog focuses on the job search and recruiting. Like the IrishTimes, the job board is powered by Madgex software so it’s not surprising to see some similarities between the two.

Design: The logo is slightly different to the main website, like most job sections, which are part of a much bigger website. The search engine (keywords, location, distance) appears over the image of a smiling young woman who appears to be looking at her phone. Recommended jobs are featured just below that (and you can even flip through them without accessing the job listing). There are five different subsections to help find the right job: the sector, the location, trending, part-time and graduate. The featured companies really are hiring and the career advice is a big focus for the website as well. Once in the job listing, the publication date is not actually visible for most job offers (only relatively new job offers say how long ago it was published, and old ones say how long until the offer expires). The filters include the industry, the job function, the job level, the salary, the hours, the contract, the listing type, the education level, the recruiter type and the job title. If you include a location, you are no longer browsing, but searching. Each job offer has visible information for each filter category (and for the start and close date) on the left-hand side (and the salary information is visible without opening the job offers – even if it just says “available on request” or “competitive”). There is a recruiter listing (in alphabetical order) including a description and logo (if they have one).

The job board objective: Since the Guardian is a well-known newspaper in the UK, it makes sense to utilize that visibility in the labour market.

Recruiter observations: The pricing information is available on the website, but you cannot just create an account. To advertise, you must contact the team (and they have sector specific sales teams). The advantage of using a media website is the additional exposure on their newspaper website. The promotion of the Guardian as a job board is relatively repetitive without being particularly informative.

Jobseeker observations: You can create an account using Facebook or an e-mail address. If you cannot apply through the job board, you are directed to the website. Otherwise, it’s relatively easy to apply to vacancies.

The job offers: Technology, marketing and finance are the most popular categories for the 9 586 job offers.

Reactivity: You can request a call back or they answer very quickly on chat support.

Special features: JobMatch; the expiry date; the career advice (with various sections); the news articles; job alerts; SMS updates; the video preview; chat support.

Verdict: The first time you use the website, there are too many pop-ups to explain things around the screen but otherwise, it has an easy-to-use design. Expiry dates ensure updated job offers. If you are looking for work or advice, try the Guardian Jobs.

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.