Monster.com Review | Job Search Sites
If you’re hunting for a new job, Monster.com is a resource well worth considering. Founded in 1995, the company is one of the first online job search services to hit the market and attracts some 35 million unique visits per month. The site offers a wide range of features for both job seekers and employers, including customizable search options and alerts, a salary estimator, career advice, and more. Have questions about Monster.com? Want to compare Monster to other job boards? Read what we have to say in our Best Job Search Sites overview.
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Monster.com Overview
By search volume, Monster.com is one of the largest job listing sites in the world, with millions of job postings and resumes uploaded to the site every year. Job seekers are presented with a vast array of choices, which attracts them in huge numbers. In turn, employers are guaranteed broad exposure to their job listings. Monster.com is optimized for mobile.
The company also offers an app for job seekers, which gets high marks on the Apple App Store and Google Play. That’s a benefit for both job candidates and employers since it makes Monster’s services more convenient to use and caters to a world that’s increasingly glued to smartphones.
- Free to use for job candidates
- Search for entry level to executive jobs
- Free resume review and assistance
- No set-up fees for employers
- Pay-per-performance option for employers
- Optimized for mobile
- Fewer search filters than other sites
- Salaries not listed in most cases
- No free job listings for employers
- Average ratings from consumers
What Monster.com Offers
Features for Job Hunters
- Wide variety of job listings: Whether you’re an entry level candidate or seasoned executive, you’ll find suitable job listings on Monster.com
- Multiple ways to filter jobs: You can enter as many relevant keywords as you wish to filter jobs using customizable keywords. You can also search for jobs by location.
- More ways to narrow your choices: At Monster.com, you can filter jobs by popular industry. You can also search exclusively for full-time, part-time, and remote jobs
- Read industry overviews: For many large industries, Monster.com provides analysis to keep you up to date on market trends
- Library of educational content: Monster publishes a comprehensive blog that offers career advice for job seekers.
- Resume assistance available: Monster encourages job candidates to take advantage of its free resume review service. The site also offers, for an additional fee, professional resume writing.
- Polish your professional profile: Monster can help you manage your social media presence, assisting you with creating a LinkedIn profile, for example.
With its wide variety of features, Monster.com has all the tools to make it one of the best job search sites on the web.
Features and Fees for Employers
- Pricing for small businesses: The company has three plans that range in price from $279 for one job listing to $649 for five job listings per month. The number of resume views you can request on the site also varies with each plan.
- Pricing for enterprise employers: Monster offers customized plans that accommodate larger businesses’ broader recruiting needs. The company also allows you to craft a payment plan to better suit your business by choosing the Pay-For-Performance options. Charges are based on the number of times a candidate clicks on your listing.
- Unlimited Services: Monthly service fees cover processing an unlimited number of job applications and job alerts sent to job seekers. The company offers employers a four-day free trial to help them decide which plan best suits their recruiting needs.
- Extending Employers’ Reach: In addition to posting your job listing on its own site, Monster promotes your job opportunity on affiliated sites to increase its reach. These job search sites may be more specialized than Monster: niche job boards that cater to individual industries like healthcare and tech.
- Building Your Brand: For an additional fee, Monster will assist employers in creating a brand-right presence on its site. For those companies that want to go the extra mile, Monster offers the opportunity to post a company profile on the site. Studies show that candidates are looking for employers whose values align with their own.
These services that Monster.com offers to small, medium, and large-sized businesses are what make it one of the best job posting sites for employers.
What Monster.com Doesn’t Offer
Monster.com doesn’t boast as many job search filters as some other sites we’ve reviewed. Candidates can’t filter jobs by salary range, for example. Unlike some job search sites, Monster doesn’t offer free job listings. Some sites, like Indeed and ZipRecruiter, do let you post jobs for free. However, you’ll gain greater visibility on each of those sites if you “sponsor” your listing. That’s not a freebie.
Monster’s Credentials
Monster was one of the first job aggregators. The company was founded nearly 30 years ago and the site has continued to evolve with the job market and technology.
The Monster.com domain name is owned by Monster Worldwide, Inc. and was registered in 1994. The company’s website is hosted by TMP worldwide, which is owned by Monster.
Licenses and Registrations
The job search industry isn’t regulated and no special licenses or registrations are required.
Awards and Certifications
Monster.com has been honored or nominated in awards competitions in several categories including Employment Websites and Mobile Apps and Best Career Advice.
Third-Party Ratings
The company earns an A- rating from the Better Business Bureau, but just 1.5 out of 5 stars from consumers who review the company on the BBB site. Monster earns an average, 2.9-star rating from users on Trustpilot.
Legal Actions Against Monster
In 2008, Monster Worldwide settled a lawsuit filed against it that accused the company of illegally backdating employee stock option grants. Other legal actions dealt with tax matters, particularly concerning the estate of Monster.com’s founder.
Neither of these suits has any serious implications for job seekers or employers. There have been no complaints filed against Monster.com through the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is a good indicator that it deals with customers fairly.
Monster’s Accessibility
Availability
The job search engine operates globally and serves 40 countries. It publishes websites in about a dozen different languages to make finding a job or finding an employee easier. The company also partners with US newspapers in major US markets to expand its reach and, in turn, its customers’.
Contact information
Employers and job seekers can contact Monster:
- Online via the company’s website
- By mail
- Via iOS or Android mobile app
- Through its social media pages
User Experience
When it comes to user experience, Monster is second to none. Monster.com’s streamlined platform is highly praised by both job seekers and employers as user-friendly. Even with an abundance of tools and features, users can navigate the site with ease and find what they’re looking for. Its mobile apps are also highly rated.
Limitations
Overall, Monster is a pretty competitive site, offering many of the same features other leading job portals do. Users may find they can’t fine-tune their searches to return a narrower number of jobs or qualified candidates.
Monster’s Customer Satisfaction
Given the large number of users Monster attracts and its longevity in the marketplace, it’s safe to assume that the company is doing some things very well. The company makes it easy for beginning job seekers to access its services through its intuitive interface and step-by-step resume-building tool. You can also choose to upload an existing resume if you prefer.
Customer Complaints
Monster’s online reputation isn’t uniformly stellar. While the company earns an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau (BBB), it earns an average 2.9 out of 5-star rating on Trustpilot. That figure Is based on over 3,000 reviews.
Most negative reviews come from employers who are unhappy with their Monster contracts and results. Other reviewers complain about possible scam job offers on the site, an unfortunate occurrence on most job boards.
On the other hand, there have been no complaints filed against the company through the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). That’s a positive indication that Monster conducts business ethically.
Third-Party Ratings
As mentioned above, Monster.com has an A+ rating from the BBB, although it’s not an accredited business. It’s also rated as “Average” with its 2.9 out of 5 score on Trustpilot.
Monster.com FAQs
Is Monster a better job search site for candidates or employers?
Is Monster.com a good value?
For job seekers, Monster.com is a great value since they can use the site for free. For employers, Monster offers a flexible pricing structure that allows you to choose a plan that supports your recruiting goals and meets your budget requirements. You can choose from three standard plans or customize your own.
The company also lets you decide how you pay for services: your costs can be based on the number of listings you post on the site and the number of resume views you request. Or you can pay by the click and align your payment with how well the site performs for you.
Is Monster.com an easy-to-use job search site?
Monster offers several ways for candidates to submit their resumes. You can use the company's guided template and walk through creating your resume step by step or simply upload a resume you have on hand. You can post multiple resumes on the site, as well, which is useful if you want to customize your resume to match different job requirements or jobs in various industries. The site features a filtering function that helps you search for jobs by job title, required skills, and more.
As an employer, when you open a Monster.com account, you're presented with an intuitive dashboard that allows you to edit and otherwise manage your job postings, view your inventory of views, and more. Monster.com staff are available to walk you through how to use the dashboard.
How We Evaluated Monster.com
We consider several factors when we review job search engines. We looked at a site’s total reach—how many job seekers and employers were active on the site. We examined the types of job openings advertised on the site and how easy the site is to use. In addition, we checked how easy it is to submit a resume, set up job notifications, and customize the site’s services.
Summary of Money’s Monster.com Review
Monster.com is one of the most established online job search websites. It attracts a large number of users every day with resumes and job listings numbering in the thousands. Job listings on the site ranged from entry to executive levels.
Monster makes job hunting a pretty simple affair. Job seekers have the opportunity to submit resumes in two ways. The site also allows both job seekers and employers to customize job notifications by setting up keywords to suit their needs. The same is true of pricing for employers posting job descriptions—payment options are flexible. Overall, Monster.com offers the features that candidates and employers alike value most.