Monster

Site's statement

Jobboard Finder’s opinion

Summary:  In the world of job boards, Monster is, well, a monster of a job board, founded back in 1994. Monster was sold to Randstad, a huge international staffing company, in 2016, and it has seen new managers come and go. It continues to struggle with the recruitment media changes in some countries. Thanks to its reputation and willingness to adapt to the times, it still attracts 212 920 visits a month in Beligum. On social media, there are 741 123 followers on Facebook (for the UK), 1 407 on Twitter, 18 500 on Instagram (for all the Monster websites), 15 330 on YouTube (for all the Monster websites) and 118 555 on LinkedIn (the US page).

Design: Like most Monster job boards, the purple monster is features behind the search engine (keywords and location) above a list of job categories, article highlights and career advice. To use the search engine, you need a keyword. Once in the listing, a list of offers remains on the left-hand side and one opens automatically, displaying a standard layout for the job description, a logo and even a banner image and/or salary when this is provided. In the list, the publication dates are visible, but the logos aren’t. You can refine your search thanks to the filters (radius, location, date, type of hours). You can also access a company listing of company pages. A search engine (keywords and location) and other filters (company size, industry and whether there are jobs, videos, photos or benefits) help browse them. Each page has useful information at the top of the page, followed by a company description, job offers (if there are any) and multimedia content. Some also include benefits and a map.

The job board objective: Monster strives to remain relevant by being present all over the world and on a wide range of social media. It’s global presence and good reputation enables it to promote job offers to a large audience.

Recruiter observations: There is a CV database and the prices are online. You need a local phone number and a VAT number. If you already have an account with your e-mail address on a different Monster, you won’t be able to create a new one.

Jobseeker observations: It’s really easy to create an account on Monster. All you need is a Facebook account or an e-mail address.

The job offers: There are thousands of job offers on Monster Belgium. However, the absence of a category filter and the keyword requirement make it difficult to know which jobs are most in-demand.

Reactivity: The site tries to deter you from sending them an email.

Special features: The YouTube videos; the blog (in English, no dates, but many categories); CV templates.

Verdict: In Belgium, Monster remains a popular site, but not as popular as the local ones. It is available in a number of languages, which is a plus, but the same problems are present on this portal as on some of the others: keyword requirement, outdated pages, not enough branding.

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.