What is a job post?

A job post is an advertisement for an open role. It’s also a job seeker’s first impression of your company.

It often includes a summary of the role and company, an overview of duties and responsibilities, required qualifications (e.g. skills, education, years of experience), benefits/perks, whether it’s a full-time, part-time or contract position, and other important job details.

How to post a job on Indeed

Ready to get started? Here’s a quick step-by-step overview of how to post a job on Indeed:

Step 1: Click the “Post a Job” button to get started

You can start your first job post by clicking the button at indeed.com/hire or by clicking here.

If you’ve already posted a job before, you can always click the “Post a Job” button in your Employer Dashboard.

Step 2: Enter your job details

Next, you’ll be prompted to add in some basics that job seekers are looking for. You might be tempted to skip certain job details, but you may reach great candidates by providing more info about the job.

Did you know that job seekers typically look for jobs during breaks at work or after they get home? According to our research, job seekers told us they search using preferences like skills, WFH/remote and commute to decide if they will apply. When you provide all the info a job seeker needs, you can have a better chance of capturing the right person’s attention.

Some of the most important info to include is:

• Pay range
• Benefits
• Shift details
• Location
• Required qualifications and skills
• Type of job: Full-time or part-time
• Work from home/remote

The more information you provide, the better. All the details you include are used to show quality candidates your job post in the search results.

Step 3: Add your job description

Need help writing your job description? Get started with our job description templates as a foundation for a job post of your own. We have job description templates available across hundreds of job titles, so you never have to start from scratch.

Once your job description is ready, we’ll prompt you to add it to the job description section when you post your job.

We’ve done a lot of research and found that these qualities make a job description more successful:

• Starts with required qualifications
• Has small, easy-to-read paragraphs (not big blocks of text)
• Uses bullet points to break up text
• Has an accessible vocabulary anyone can understand
• Is written in an upbeat, conversational tone

Step 4: Include applicant qualifications

Indeed’s applicant qualifications tools can help you zero in on great applicants and decide who to contact for an interview.

On the Applicant qualifications page, you can ask questions that immediately qualify or disqualify your applicants. Indeed has a number of pre-made questions to choose from based on your job title to get the information you need from applicants upfront, but you can also create your own questions and include as many as you need on the application. Learn more about How to Use Applicant Qualifications on Indeed.

Sending auto-rejections when an applicant does not meet your requirements helps you earn the Responsive Employer Badge, an icon that lets job seekers know you’re more likely to respond as they decide which jobs to apply to.

Step 5: Choose to sponsor or post for free*

Most jobs on Indeed can be posted for free*. But if you want to boost your visibility and attract more qualified candidates, consider sponsoring your job post.

Sponsored Jobs come in two tiers—Standard and Premium—so you can choose the level of visibility and tools that fit your hiring needs.

Here’s how they work:

• Standard Sponsored Jobs give your post increased visibility in search results compared to free listings. You can set your own budget, pause or stop your post anytime and only pay when someone engages with your job.
• Premium Sponsored Jobs include everything from the Standard tier, plus enhanced features like Instant Match and the Urgently Hiring label to help you reach candidates faster. They also support stronger branding with options to include your company logo and visuals in search results.

There are no long-term contracts with either tier—you’re always in control of your budget and schedule. And because Sponsored Jobs appear more prominently in search results, they tend to deliver better results.

To learn more about how budgeting and billing work, visit How Pricing Works on Indeed.

*Terms, conditions, quality standards and usage limits apply. Feature availability may be limited and is subject to change at Indeed’s discretion.

Free v. Sponsored Jobs

Sponsoring your job might be the right move if:

• You need to fill the role quickly
• You’re hiring in a competitive market
• You’re looking for candidates with specialized skills or certifications
• You’ve got a clear job title and description but aren’t seeing enough quality applicants

With Standard and Premium options, you can scale your sponsorship to match your hiring goals.

*Terms, conditions, quality standards and usage limits apply. Feature availability may be limited and is subject to change at Indeed’s discretion.

Step 6: Get feedback on your job description

Before posting your job, get it reviewed by your colleagues and hiring team. Consider getting feedback from people who will be working directly with the new employee or those who have worked in the role before. If you need help fine-tuning your job description, we share insights from an Indeed survey on what makes a job description great here.

Considerations before posting a job

Before you post your next job, it’s also worth having conversations with your hiring team and preparing a few things beforehand.

Align on required vs nice-to-have qualifications

When multiple people are responsible for determining if a candidate is a good match for a given role, it’s important to be on the same page about which skills and qualifications are “deal-breakers” and which are just nice-to-have.

In your job description, clearly label which qualifications are required and which are preferred. Doing so can encourage the right people to apply. 

Confirm a pay range for the job

Job seekers look for opportunities that meet their salary needs. Make sure you and your hiring team are aligned on salary or a salary range before adding it to your job post. You can come up with a fair salary range with the salary recommendation tool on the Job details page when posting a job. You can also check out Indeed Salaries to see average pay for a given job title based on your location and data collected from Indeed users.

Read more on how to offer a competitive salary.

Decide who will be receiving applications

When applications start rolling in, you’ll get an email of all the people who’ve applied to your job each day. This email will be sent to the Indeed account owner’s email address by default, but you can enter your colleague’s email if you’d prefer them to receive applications.

You can also specify different email addresses for different jobs depending on who the hiring manager or recruiter is for that particular role.

If you want to receive a separate email for each individual candidate who applies, click Company settings in your Employer Dashboard and select Email preferences.

Decide on cover letter requirements

If you’d like applicants to submit a cover letter with their application, mention this requirement in the body of your job posting.

Job posting language requirements

To create the best possible experience for job seekers, it’s important to adhere to Indeed’s job posting language requirements. Here are some guidelines to keep in mind as you write your job posting:

• Don’t use offensive language
• Avoid using “clickbait” or misleading language in job titles
• Use your own original content (i.e. no plagiarizing)
• Don’t discriminate; jobs on Indeed must be made available to qualified candidates regardless of age, race, gender, and sexual orientation
• Adhere to all state and federal laws

Read more about Indeed’s job posting guidelines here.

Our top takeaways for posting your job on Indeed are:

• Write your job post so it’s simple and easy to understand
• Include a pay range and location in your job description
• Answer as many of Indeed’s prompts as you can when posting
• Start your job post with must-have skills and qualifications
• Add screener questions and skills tests to find responsive, quality candidates
• Sponsor your job to increase your odds of making a hire
• Reach out to our Client Success team if you ever need help

Indeed job posting FAQs

Can I post a job for free?

Yes, most jobs on Indeed can be posted for free.* Free postings lose visibility over time, but they can be a great option if you’re on a budget.

*Terms, conditions, quality standards, and usage limits apply. Feature availability may be limited, and is subject to change at Indeed’s discretion.

Can I post a job without listing the salary?

Yes. It’s completely optional to post a job with salary details on Indeed. However, almost one out of every four job seekers (24%) say that compensation is the most important part of a job description.[5] Including salary or a salary range upfront can help you stand out to the right candidates.

How long does it take for Indeed to post a job?

In most cases, our review process takes between 24 and 48 hours.

How long do Indeed job postings stay up?

Job postings on Indeed will remain active until you pause, close, or remove the job yourself. However, if you post your job for free, it will be most visible to job seekers for the first few days after posting. After that, it will start to fall back in the search results.

How do I cancel my job posting?

You can pause, close, or remove your job posting at any time. Just click Edit job in the Employer Dashboard. From there, you have the ability to change your budget, pause your job, or close it. We know that hiring needs can quickly change, which is why Indeed gives you complete control of your spend.

Does Indeed remove job postings?

According to our job posting guidelines, Indeed may reject or remove any job and may disable any company’s account for any or no reason. We cannot give every reason why a job or a company may be removed, and we always retain the right to undertake the removal of any job, organic or sponsored, if we feel it is in our interest or our users’ interest.

Why do I see my job posting when I didn’t post it on Indeed?

You may see your job post on Indeed even though you didn’t directly post it. That’s because Indeed aggregates job posts from places like career sites and other job boards.

Back to Hiring with Indeed

1. Terms, conditions, quality standards, and usage limits apply↩
2. Indeed data (worldwide)↩
3. Indeed data (Canada)↩
4. Indeed survey, n=2,091↩