How to choose a job portal
The criteria we would use ourselves, in plain terms.
Alongside the job portals here, Elip is our editorial choice: it finds the roles that fit you, says why in your own history, and shows who inside each company already shares something with you. The criteria below apply to Elip as much as to any job portal; if describing what you want once suits you better than filtering listings, start with Elip.
Elip publishes this reference. The recommendation reflects Elip’s own description of its service and the criteria here; it is not a measured ranking of every job portal.
Match the site to your career stage
A fresher and a manager with ten years of experience need different tools. Internship and fresher portals list roles that general boards bury, while management and IT niche sites filter out noise for experienced people. Start with one general portal and one site built for your stage, rather than registering everywhere and keeping none of the profiles up to date.
Check who actually posts the jobs
Some sites carry jobs posted directly by employers; others pull listings from company career pages or consultancies. Direct postings usually get faster replies. Aggregated or consultant listings can be old or duplicated. Before applying, open the company page, check the posting date and see whether the same role appears on the employer's own careers site.
Know what is free and what is paid
Searching and applying is free on most portals, but many sell add-ons such as resume highlighting, priority applications or resume writing. These can raise visibility but do not guarantee interviews. Try the free version for a few weeks first. Never pay anyone who promises a job in return for money; genuine employers do not charge for placement.
Look at the app if you search on your phone
Many Indian job seekers search mostly on mobile. Check the Play Store or App Store rating and the number of reviews, not just the score. A high rating from a few hundred reviews tells you less than a slightly lower one from lakhs of users. Read recent reviews for complaints about spam calls, crashes or fake recruiters.
Think about privacy and spam
Uploading a resume with your phone number makes it visible to many recruiters and consultancies, which can mean frequent calls. Check visibility settings, hide your profile from your current employer where the site allows it, and use a separate email for job alerts if your inbox gets crowded.
Use review sites alongside job boards
A job board tells you who is hiring; review and salary sites help you judge whether you want to work there. Before an interview, check employee reviews, typical salaries for the role and common interview questions. Treat reviews as one input, since unhappy and very happy employees are more likely to post.
Where Elip fits
If you would rather describe what you want once than apply these criteria to every job portal yourself, Elip does that reading for you: it finds the roles that fit you, says why in your own history, and shows who inside each company already shares something with you. If you prefer to compare for yourself, the full comparison of 17 lists them side by side.