Hey, I'm Ben!
I build, buy, and invest in businesses.
I've had 2 successful exits. Way more failures.
I write about building Freedom Companies to achieve what I call the three freedoms:
A life of financial freedom.
A life of time freedom.
A life of creative freedom.
I send one action packed email a week called a 1x1x1 covering crazy cool businesses I spot, updates on what we're building and buying, and lessons from the journey of an entrepreneur.
I send one action packed email a week called a 1x1x1 covering crazy cool businesses I spot, updates on what we're building and buying, and lessons from the journey of an entrepreneur.
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So you want to start a job board? Great idea. I’ve built one myself, sold it, and can tell you firsthand—this business works. The beauty is in the simplicity. You become the bridge between companies looking for talent and the candidates hunting for jobs. When done right, companies will happily pay you to list their job openings, especially if you connect them with the right talent.
But here’s the kicker: You’re not trying to compete with behemoths like Indeed or ZipRecruiter. Instead, you’re going to focus on niche industries where there’s a talent shortage, and companies are willing to pay good money for every lead. With a well-defined industry focus, a bit of hustle, and the right tools, you can build a job board that prints money.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through the steps to start your job board, share some examples of niche job boards that are killing it, and show you how to overcome common challenges along the way. Let’s dive in!
If you’re thinking, “But isn’t the market already saturated with job boards?” I get it—there are a lot out there. But the magic lies in niche targeting. Instead of being everything to everyone, you’ll create a hyper-specific job board that caters to industries with hard-to-find talent.
For example - I started a job board called The Impact Job. The job board focused specifically on social impact professionals. We slowly built an audience via a newsletter and companies really appreciated our targeted approach.
Companies are desperate to find qualified candidates in certain fields. Let’s say you build a job board for underwater welders or veterinarians. Those employers aren't going to rely on just one platform to fill their positions—they’ll gladly post across multiple niche job boards.
If your audience has the right people, they’ll post on yours, even if competitors exist.
Here are a few job boards that focused on niche markets and are thriving:
The success of these boards boils down to focus. They zero in on an industry, build the right audience, and make it easy for companies to reach the talent they need.
I love that these businesses are low cost from the start. Here’s what you need:
Your first task is to pick an industry to focus on. Here’s what you want to look for:
Pro tip: Stick to industries you understand. We built The Impact Job because we knew the space. If you’ve worked in a sector or have connections in it, that’s even better. You’ll have insider knowledge and a network to get started faster.
Now that you’ve chosen an industry , it’s time to get your job board website up and running. The easiest way to do this is by using job board software. The good news? There are lots of options, ranging from ready-to-launch white label job boards to free, open-source software that gives you more control.
Here, we’ll compare the best job board software platforms available—covering costs, features, and pros/cons. Whether you’re working with a small budget or want to scale quickly with premium solutions, this guide will help you pick the right one.
White label job boards are perfect if you want a fast launch with minimal development. These platforms allow you to customize the branding and design, making them appear like your own product.
Niceboard is a solid choice for small businesses and niche job boards. I've used it twice. It’s easy to set up, requires little technical knowledge, and offers essential features like Stripe payment integration and SEO optimization. If you’re launching your job board fast and want to focus on growing your audience, Niceboard is highly recommended.
If you’re working with a tight budget or want more control over your site, there are free job board software options you can use. These platforms often require more technical knowledge but give you the freedom to build exactly what you want.
WP Job Manager is a simple and lightweight solution if you already have a WordPress website. It’s free to use and offers paid extensions for features like application tracking and resume uploads. If you’re just testing the waters or need a low-cost way to add a job board to your site, this is an excellent option.
When deciding which job board software to use, keep these factors in mind:
The biggest challenge when launching a job board is getting both jobs and applicants. Here’s a simple hack: Post jobs for free at the start.
Go on LinkedIn and find relevant job postings for your niche. Add them to your board as a free service for the companies. Having 20-30 jobs on your board makes it look active, even if you don’t have paying clients yet.
Some job board softwares like Niceboard also have an auto populate tool, scraping the web for relevant job postings and publishing them on your board.
Now that you have jobs on the board, it’s time to drive traffic. Where do your ideal candidates hang out online? You’ll need to experiment with different ad channels, such as:
I also think a newsletter can be really effective for building an audience of potential job applicants. We had a weekly newsletter for The Impact Job that was witty and kept a pulse on the industry. We also highlighted the top jobs every week in the newsletter. There are now 20,000 folks that read the newsletter (or in other words, 20,000 potential job applicants).
Alright, now we’re getting to the fun part—selling those job posts! If you've got some traffic rolling, it’s time to monetize. Here’s the game plan.
First, don't just sit back and hope recruiters find you—go get them. Start by building a list of companies that are already posting jobs on LinkedIn. How? Tools like Apollo and Smart Lead are your secret weapons. With Apollo, you can scrape and build a database of decision-makers in HR or talent acquisition. Smart Lead helps you scale personalized cold outreach so it doesn't feel spammy. Hit them with emails that speak to their pain points—"I see you're hiring XYZ, I run a job board that specializes in exactly that. Let's get your job in front of the right candidates."
Pro tip: Use LinkedIn to warm up these leads. Follow them, engage with their posts, comment, and share insights. When they start seeing your name, hit them with the message, “Hey, I noticed you're hiring for X role, I’ve got a perfect space for you to get that in front of the right crowd.”
Next level: Google Ads. Here's where you go from sniper to shotgun. Target recruiters searching for niche job boards like yours. You'll want to run Google search ads for keywords like "best job boards for [your niche]," "post jobs in [your niche]," or even "alternatives to LinkedIn for hiring." This captures recruiters actively searching for what you offer. It’s low-hanging fruit that’s already warm.
Needs some more help on how to properly setup Google Ads for your job board? Follow the steps below in the following video:
Keep optimizing and testing your approach. Cold outreach scales, and ads bring in inbound leads. The combo’s a killer.
High Margins: Once your audience is built, the costs to maintain the site are minimal. It’s not uncommon to see margins of 80-90%. This is one of the biggest reasons why I think this business fits my criteria for a Freedom Company.
B2B is Better: Working with businesses is much smoother than dealing with individual consumers. Plus, larger deals and recurring revenue are common.
Passive Income Potential: Once the board is running smoothly, you can automate most processes, spending just a few hours per week managing it.
Chicken and Egg Problem: You need jobs to attract applicants, and you need applicants to get companies to post jobs. Posting free jobs early on solves this. It can take time to build out your audience of job applicants. Remember that a newsletter can be a useful vehicle here. Patience and hustle are key!
Choosing the Right Niche: The wrong industry can mean small deal sizes and fewer job postings. Research is essential—choose an industry with high demand and deep pockets.
I love getting inspired by other founders that have successfully built Freedom Companies. Let me tell you about Pieter Levels. If you’re not familiar, this dude basically bootstrapped his way to millionaire status by building… wait for it… a job board. And not just any job board—he built multiple niche ones, but the crown jewel is Remote OK. This thing prints money, and it all started as a scrappy side project.
Here’s how it went down: Back in 2014, Pieter was already dabbling with remote work. He was traveling across Southeast Asia, working on various projects from cafes and Airbnbs, just doing the “digital nomad” thing before it became a lifestyle meme. But the problem? Finding remote jobs wasn’t easy. There wasn’t a centralized place where companies could post remote gigs, and Pieter figured, “If no one’s doing it right, why not me?”
So he built Remote OK in a few weeks. No big teams, no venture capital, no fancy marketing plans—just some clever coding and hustle. He scraped job listings, added Google Ads to the site, and started directing traffic toward it. Boom, suddenly companies were paying him to post their remote job listings. It wasn’t instant success—it took persistence, tweaking the product, and figuring out how to attract both talent and recruiters—but he stuck with it.
Fast forward to now: Remote OK makes over $100,000 a month. Let that sink in—a simple job board run by one guy brings in seven figures annually. Pieter did it all without an office, without employees, and without chasing investors for seed money. It’s a masterclass in build a Freedom Co.
The takeaway? You don’t need to reinvent the wheel to build a successful business. Find a pain point, solve it well, and keep tweaking until the money flows. Pieter's story is a testament that small ideas, executed right, can snowball into massive wins. Just start—because the thing you launch today might be your goldmine tomorrow.
Starting a job board might seem intimidating, but it’s one of the simplest and most profitable business models out there—especially if you stay niche. You’re not competing with the giants. Instead, you’re building a focused platform that caters to a specific talent pool.
With the right strategy, tools, and persistence, you’ll soon have companies lining up to post their jobs—and applicants flocking to find them.
Get out there, choose your niche, and start building! Time to make that job board dream a reality.
Hey, I'm Ben!
I build, buy, and invest in businesses.
I've had 2 successful exits. Way more failures.
I write about building Freedom Companies to achieve what I call the three freedoms:
A life of financial freedom.
A life of time freedom.
A life of creative freedom.
I send one action packed email a week called a 1x1x1 covering crazy cool businesses I spot, updates on what we're building and buying, and lessons from the journey of an entrepreneur.
