Every one from somebody whose identity we checked and whose reference we personally called. You owe each of them an answer within seven days. One price to run the role, however long it takes, and the only other number falls to zero if you hire within three weeks.
Up from about 100 in 2021. LinkedIn now takes 11,000 applications a minute, a 45% jump in a year.
Pindrop took 827 applications for one engineering role and about 100 used a fake or deepfake identity. Gartner projects one in four profiles worldwide will be fake by 2028.
Which is why the people you most want have stopped believing job boards. They are not on them.
The cost is already real, just mostly invisible: about $3,500 a hire for companies under fifty people, and thirty-nine days to fill at the median, most of it time spent reading applications an AI wrote in four seconds. Smaller companies run longer on both.
Every candidate here gets seven applications a week and can never hold more than fourteen. That is the whole trick. Nobody can spray, so an application means somebody chose to spend something scarce on your company.
They arrive scored against criteria you set before the role went live, in a random order, with no names, photos or schools until you decide to unlock somebody. You assess the work first.
Up to three hard requirements. Everything else ranks rather than blocks, so you still see those people, sorted, instead of losing them. The count moves as you go, so you always know what a requirement costs you before you commit to it.
Applications blocked by a hard requirement never count against the candidate’s weekly limit, and they are told which one they missed. Nobody wastes anything.
2 more allowed. Everything else ranks instead of blocking.
Comfortable. You will see a full shortlist.
Everybody charges up front. So do we. The difference: our cost is flat. $600 a role, or your annual plan, and it never grows. After that there is only the placement fee, and it only falls: $0 if you hire inside three weeks, never more than $1,000. Ask the others where their number stops.
| Days to accepted offer | You get back | Placement fee |
|---|---|---|
| 21 days or fewer | 100% | $0 |
| 22 to 30 days | 60% | $400 |
| 31 to 45 days | 25% | $750 |
| 46 days or more | — | $1,000 |
Fewer than five candidates who meet your must-haves: the role runs again free, or we refund it. Your choice.
Applications close at 25, or at day 7. By then everyone in the pool has had a full week to spend on you.
No form, no argument. We see the shortlist as clearly as you do, and the count is the count.
Five qualified candidates you choose not to hire is a hiring decision, not a refund.
All-in, filling one role costs a company under fifty people about $3,500, and most of that is time spent reading. Their price buys you the flood. Ours buys the reading already done.
| Where you post it | What it costs | What you read |
|---|---|---|
| Indeed Sponsored | $190–$1,540 a role, spent hire or not | 300+ unverified applications |
| ZipRecruiter Standard | $389–$519 a month it stays open | The same flood |
| Callback, per hire | $600 flat, plus a fee only on a hire: $0 by day 21 | Your 25 best matches at a time, verified. Clear them, more arrive |
| Callback, annual | $150/mo, every role covered, plus the same fee on a hire | The same |
Ad prices are their best case; ZipRecruiter’s own filings average $1,669 a quarter. Our fee tops out at $1,000. First role free on either.
| 7 days | Respond to each applicant. This is the obligation. |
| 21 days | Hire this fast and the placement fee is free. A reward, not a requirement. |
| Never | There is no deadline to hire. Take six months if you need to. The price does not go up while you do. |
Too busy this month? Answer the people waiting, then pause. Free, unlimited, no penalty. Most companies find this is a week of adjustment and then a better process. Some will not want to be measured, and that is fine. They are the reason the candidates are here.
Tell us what you are hiring for and we will find people for it. No payment, no card, no contract, and no obligation to hire anybody we send you. We are starting with New York City roles. Elsewhere? Send it anyway and you are first in line when we open your city.
Fair. Leave your email and a person will get back to you. No role required, nothing to commit to.