The Top 12 Job Search Engines For 2022 (2023)

The top 12 job search engines include Indeed, CareerBuilder, LinkedIn, Glassdoor, SimplyHired, and more.

In this article, I’ll walk you through the pros and cons of each so you can decide which job search engines YOU should use to get the most interviews.

After that, we’ll also cover niche job boards, which can help you find job postings in your specific industry with much less competition than the big job search engines.

By the time you’re finished, you’ll know where to post your resume online to get the best results.

Let’s get started…

The 12 Best Online Job Search Engines

1. Indeed

Indeed features millions of job listings from thousands of different websites.

They’re going to have more job opportunities listed than any other site we know, and job seekers usually report that it’s the fastest and easiest application process among the online job search engines.

For these reasons, it’s the #1 recommended job board on our list, and the place we’d recommend starting in terms of job boards.

Along with applying for jobs on Indeed, you can also set up job alerts to be notified when new jobs that match your criteria are posted, research and compare salaries, and much more.

(NOTE: We recommend only using job search engines and job portals for 20% of your overall job search effort. So we are not saying to go out and spend your entire job search on sites like Indeed. That’s not the best approach, and you’re better off also networking and applying directly to companies that interest you!)

But for the time you do spend on job boards (and again – we recommend 20%), Indeed is where we’d start!

2. CareerBuilder

CareerBuilder has been online for more than 20 years and offers highly customizable search features so you can quickly see job postings that match exactly what you’re looking for.

Unlike Indeed, CareerBuilder gathers job postings directly from employers (they post their jobs directly to the site). CareerBuilder also partners with many local news organizations to be able to list their local job ads from their “classifieds” section.

This is why it’s a good idea to check a few job boards out – they gather data in very different ways, so you’ll see different jobs posted on different job search engines/sites.

Someone in one industry might find that Indeed works great for them, but CareerBuilder doesn’t.

Someone in another industry might find the complete opposite to be true.

So it’s all about testing and seeing which of these top 5 online job search engines get YOU the best results.

3. LinkedIn

LinkedIn offers a lot – networking, a great online course platform called LinkedIn learning, and yes – job searching!

In fact, LinkedIn has one of the best online job search engines.

Around 50% of jobs posted on LinkedIn offer “EasyApply” where you can submit your information with just a few clicks (and without needing a cover letter!)

You can also customize your searches to see the exact type of jobs you want.

Note that LinkedIn’s effectiveness for you will depend on the industry/field you’re searching in.

We’ve spoken with a lot of job seekers and people in tech jobs, engineering, etc., and they seem to report that LinkedIn works great for them as a job search website.

Unfortunately, people from a few other industries have said LinkedIn was not the best job search engine for them, so that’s why we recommend trying a few to see for yourself.

4. Glassdoor

Glassdoor started as a ratings/review site where employees could leave anonymous reviews for employers.

Since then, they’ve grown substantially and now offer a great salary research tool, and a job search engine that we’ve tested and definitely recommend.

You do need to register to begin searching, though.

But we feel it’s worth setting up a free account.

Glassdoor has millions of job listings that you can search for and apply to directly via their site, so it’s definitely worth the time to browse their site.

5. SimplyHired

SimplyHired has great search functionality and customization and allows you to save your specific searches as well so you can check back each week and quickly repeat your custom searches.

You can narrow employers down by all sorts of things including eco-friendly company culture, companies that promote diversity, employers that tend to hire veterans, and more.

6. GetWork

GetWork, formerly LinkUp, is a sleek, modern job search engine featuring verified, up-to-date job listings directly from employer websites. This means you’re a lot less likely to waste time applying for jobs that are already filled or on hold.

(Sometimes an employer will fill a position but forget to remove it from job boards, and other job search sites may continue showing those listings for weeks or months).

Along with their verified listings, the site offers an easy-to-use design and solid search features. You can search by job title, company name, or keyword, and you can narrow your results by city, state, or zipcode.

7. Snag a Job

SnagaJob is another large, popular job search engine.

They say you’ll get best results if you create a profile, but you can start to browse positions prior to doing this.

They’re worth a look for sure. Like most job boards/search engines, you can filter by location and keywords.

8. Facebook Job Search

This is one that not a lot of people are aware of, despite using Facebook each day.

Facebook Jobs will show you opportunities in your area and provides a button to apply right from your Facebook profile.

This could be good or bad depending on what’s on your profile.

You may not want to put a ton of professional details on Facebook, given the recent privacy concerns. So we actually prefer LinkedIn’s job search engine (mentioned at #3 on this list), since your profile is likely to already contain the info you need to apply for a job.

9. Zip Recruiter

ZipRecruiter lets you search jobs by keyword and location, and they also recently came out with a new “Get Recruited” option where they claim companies will reach out to you (after you enter your name and email address).

We haven’t had a chance to test this out yet, but in our experience, it’s rare for a recruiter to have the perfect position for you and think to reach out (since they probably have 1,000 other resumes/CVs in their computer, too).

10. Robert Half

Finally, Robert Half is another massive job search website with thousands of listings that you can filter through.

You can filter the search results by location, industry, job type, and job title.

Many jobs shown via the search engine display the starting pay range, too, which we think is great. (Nobody wants to apply for a bunch of jobs without knowing if they even pay enough, right?)

11. Idealist

Idealist.org is a non-profit based on New York, offering internships, volunteer opportunities, and of course full-time job listings.

While they’re better-known for their volunteering and internship opportunities in some circles, they’re still one of the best job search sites to use.

You’ll find a great interface that’s easy for job seekers to navigate, plenty of job search filters to refine the job postings you see, and quality job results that are on par with all of the other job search websites we’ve looked at above.

Idealist is certainly a job website worth visiting, and you’re likely to find job openings from quality companies in high-paying, growing industries.

12. Angel.co

Angel.co has a job board specifically for startup jobs. It’s one of the best job search engines, if not the best, for people trying to break into a tech startup or other growth-stage company with high upside potential.

And in general, growth-stage companies are my favorite type of company for people in their 20s and 30s.

They offer more opportunities to be promoted, try new responsibilities/areas, earn stock/equity, and more.

So if you’ve been wanting a startup job but have seen mostly larger corporations on the job search websites above, then Angel.co will provide you with a different type of job opportunity that may be more interesting.

Download Our Best Job Search Engines Infographic or Save It To Pinterest For Later:

Now that we’ve looked at 12 big job search engines, let’s talk about niche job boards…

These are another good way to find relevant job postings with much less competition than the big job boards.

Niche Job Boards

It’s also worth looking into niche job boards or industry-specific job boards/job search engines.

For example, Dice is a large job board specifically for tech jobs. We have a list of 55 tech job boards here if you’re in this field.

Many job seekers are realizing that niche job boards or industry-specific job boards are very valuable to use.

You’ll have less competition because fewer people are browsing these sites, and you’ll see more relevant job postings with less “junk” to sift through.

To get started, we’d recommend searching Google for job boards relevant to your specific industry or niche.

You could search for things like:

• Creative job boards
• Sales job boards
• Healthcare job boards
• Etc.

You should be able to find job search engines dedicated to specific industries (like tech, pharma, etc.), and specific types of work (like writing, design, sales).

There are even job boards dedicated to specific types of work, like remote jobs.

Best Job Search Engine for Government Jobs

If you’re specifically looking for job search sites for government jobs, we recommend USAJobs.gov, the official job site of the US Government.

Job seekers can view thousands of positions, save job alerts and job listings, and upload your resume and make it searchable by government agencies who are hiring.

You can still use other sites to try to find government jobs, too, but this is the first job search site to try when job hunting for government roles.

Best Job Search Engine for UK Jobs

While most of the above job search sites are US-focused, we recommend reed.co.uk for our UK readers, or those looking for job search websites with UK-based listings.

Reed is one of the largest, and best job search websites in the world, but focuses on UK positions mainly.

Their job board allows you to search by job type (such as “software engineer”) and also location (town, postal code, etc.)

You’ll find it comparable to other large job sites, but with a UK focus.

Best Job Search Engine for Freelance Jobs

If you’re job searching for freelance positions in particular, and simply trying to find new clients as a freelancer, we recommend Upwork.com.

It’s not perfect, and it’s not without its flaws/complaints, but in our experience, it has the greatest number of high-quality, high-paying clients. The job search interface is also easy to use, allowing you to set and save search criteria and quickly apply to relevant job openings as you find them.

Upwork is one of the best job search websites for freelancers, and in fact, it may be the only freelance job portal you need to launch your freelance business.

This Upwork review explains more, but by splitting your time across multiple job search engines, you may simply take longer to master any, and you’ll also be splitting your reviews across the platforms, which isn’t idea.

Warning: Don’t Rely Too Much On Job Search Engines

We mentioned this earlier, but you should really only be spending 20% of your time on job boards (this includes the top 12 job search engines we mentioned at the beginning of this page, as well as niche job websites).

The rest of your time will be much better-spent networking, and applying directly to jobs that interest you (find employers on LinkedIn, via searching Google, via your network, etc.)

This is how you get more interviews quickly.

But as long as you’re spending most of your time using those methods, it can be beneficial to spend 20% of your time on online job portals, using the steps above.

Additional resources:

• The best tech job boards
• Remote job boards