Jobboard Finder’s opinion
Summary: Founded by Sir Alec Reed in the 1960s, the REED employment agency has since expanded to provide its expertise to Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. The job board was created in 1995 and quickly became the #1 job board in the U.K. In addition to helping jobseekers and recruiters, REED contributes quite generously to charities and other philanthropic activities. Clearly 148 537 Facebook followers (the number has tripled in 3 years) and 83 100 on Twitter (this number has actually gone down) trust REED for their work needs and studies show that they are indeed the number one choice for English candidates. There are also 20 997 followers on LinkedIn. They probably don’t need it, but REED has also invested in video advertising (with 100s of videos available on youtube). They receive around 8 830 000 visits per month and they are one of the top 3 career websites in the UK! James Reed has also created his own part of the website with a completely different blog and the ReedGlobal website for recruiting.
Design: Like many job boards, the dominant colour is blue. Aesthetically, the design is particularly clear (large font, a lot of information, easy to find sections). They also indicate the number of jobs per location on the homepage (with appealing photos for the cities) and per industry. Once on the job listing, you can filter the offers by the salary, the industry, the publication date, who posted the offer (agency, employer, reed) and you can look more specifically for jobs that are suitable for graduates. Each job offer displays the job title (featured), the publication date, the salary, the company name, the location, if it’s a quick apply and if it’s featured or promoted. The job offer itself varies in length from offer to offer. Company pages include logos but they are mostly informative. They emphasise number and figures as proof of their success. They list some brands they work with and feature testimonials from satisfied customers.
The job board objective: REED started out as an employment agency. As technology evolved, so did they. They continue to do what they do best: connect jobseekers and recruiters.
Recruiter observations: Before even registering, you can check the number of registered candidates per city and industry. Creating an account is simple and package deals are available online (and special offers for new customers).
Jobseeker observations: Very easy to create an account. A preferred location and job are required. You usually need a CV to apply to job offers, but they can help you create one.
The job offers: There are currently 205 816 job offers and 67 574 courses. On the homepage, a variety of categories are listed (with the number of job offers in brackets): temporary jobs and £50K+ jobs are popular, as are IT & Telecom jobs, jobs in the public sector, education jobs, secretarial jobs and sales jobs. Every category has thousands of job offers.
Reactivity: They answer very quickly on chat support.
Special features: Youtube videos; the number of candidates per industry and location tool; The Big Give initiative; The Reed Foundation; Reed Restart; the blog (no dates but many articles); “Be one of the first to apply”; job and salary evolution since last year per industry; the “this page has lost the will to work” error page; CV Builder. "Love Mondays"; salary checker; tempzone; career guide.
Verdict: REED is so much more than just a job board. Just a few minutes on REED leaves no doubt about their competence. We strongly recommend the job board and we recommend reading up about the founder for your own edification. It hasn't changed much so you know you'll always be able to navigate this site.
