We recently did a hiring campaign for one of our clients for security guards, and we used both Indeed and Zip Recruiter.

Of the two, we preferred Zip Recruiter, because it turned out to be cheaper for the client, and we found Indeed a little deceptive in their claims.

First, both sites do offer free periods, and we were able to find enough qualified candidates inside the free period.

However, there was a qualifier: Indeed tried to charge us for each resume submitted, regardless of qualifications, which they didn’t disclose on their website, and $99 per resume passed through to the client. These two charges make Indeed quite pricey relative to Zip. Indeed did, however, refund the per resume charges when questioned, because they agreed they didn’t disclose them

Zip said straight away that their cost was $16 per day, regardless of how many resumes the site found for us. And they stuck to that. Using the same ad on Zip, results weren’t quite as good as Indeed, but there wasn’t enough difference to justify Indeed’s higher price.

As it turned out, our client also recruited from his existing employees, which produced as many applicants as either Zip or Indeed.

So, if you’re using one of the recruiting sites, read the fine print!