FlexJobs is a flexible and remote job board helping job seekers "have a faster, easier, and safer job search". Founded in 2007 by Sara Sutton (founder of remote.co), they're well-established and possibly the oldest remote-focused job board in the world.
Because they've been around since 2007, they're well-established and have one of the largest remote job databases on the internet, with 20,000+ jobs across 5,000+ companies! However, most of the jobs posted on FlexJobs are also available online for free from other sources — the difference is that FlexJobs aggregates them in one place, which can make it easier for job seekers.
The site is relatively easy-to-use, but is starting to look very outdated and confusing to navigate for both job seekers and employers. For job seekers, the search functionality has some great filters, but the layout of the site is messy and confusing to navigate. It's also not free to use for employers or job seekers (we'll get into that).
The pricing structure for FlexJobs is based on a subscription model rather than per individual posts. This doesn't just apply to employers — job seekers also have to sign up for a paid subscription to access all the jobs and features on the site. For example, job seekers can't see which company has posted a job until they pay for an account.
For employers, their lowest-cost membership starts at $399 per month which includes unlimited job postings. However, like other remote job boards such as Remote OK and We Work Remotely, any additional add-ons cost extra and this initial subscription cost can just be the tip of the iceberg. Add-ons such as social media promotions costs extra.
While this might sounds like great value — $399 per month for unlimited job posts — keep in mind that they don't have a one-off job posting option. It's only good value if you're a large company and are hiring for several roles. For startups and small businesses, this is pretty steep.
For job seekers, it's a similar experience. Job seekers have to sign up for an auto-renewing subscription ($24.95 per month) to access basic features, but are required to share their address and credit card details before they can create an account. This seems like an unnecessary barrier for remote job seekers, especially when the employers posting the jobs are also paying to share them on the site.
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FlexJobs have been around since 2007, making them potentially the oldest remote and flexible focused job board on the internet. Over that time, they have built a large Twitter audience (@flexjobs) of 26k followers and an impressive 61k followers on TikTok (@flexjobs).
We couldn't find any reliable information regarding their email subscriber numbers, but job seekers need to pay a monthly subscription fee to receive emails with relevant job listings. This means regular visitors to the site cannot sign up to be notified when new job listings are posted unless they create a paid account.
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FlexJobs has been around for 15 years now and in that time, they've layered in many different features into the website.
It's important to note that not all jobs listed on FlexJobs are remote. The site also includes jobs that have "no remote work". In general though, most of the jobs on FlexJobs offer some level of flexibility.
One of the interesting things about FlexJobs is that they aggregate thousands of jobs from other free websites and platforms. To have full access to these jobs, job seekers need to create a paid account. While this volume can be great for job seekers, it can potentially create too many job postings (30,000+) on the site and make it harder to use and filter.
The job search functionality has some great filters, but the layout of the site is messy and confusing to navigate. Job seekers can search for keywords, categories, and even career level (entry level, experienced, manager or senior manager). While job seekers can search by specific countries, they aren't able to filter jobs by their time zone which we found surprising considering the depth of their other filters.
When job seekers pay for a subscription ($24.95 per month), they also have access to other features and content such as email alerts and job search checklists. This doesn't include everything though — additional services are available, but cost extra. For example, resume assistance/review ($129) and 1 hour one-on-one career coaching ($64).
For employers, memberships start at $399 per a month to post jobs on FlexJobs. Hiring managers can create company profiles and manage their job listings from an admin dashboard, plus have access to extra features such as resume searches in FlexJobs' candidate database, ATS integration, and activity + data reporting. There are other features available for employers, such as targeted emails and social media promotion, but these are not includes in the monthly subscription and cost extra.
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FlexJobs is a flexible and remote job board helping job seekers "have a faster, easier, and safer job search". The company prides itself on its enormous database and "pre-vetted" and "hand-vetted" companies and jobs featured on the site. It's important to note that most of the jobs posted on FlexJobs are also available online for free from other sources. FlexJobs aggregates these job listings into one place, which can make it easier for job seekers.
This pre-vetting process, coupled with the fact that both job seekers and employers need to pay a subscription to use the site, helps to weed out scams and non-remote jobs, but at what cost? In our experience, using the site or searching for jobs was not an easy process... especially when important information like the company posting the job is hidden behind a paywall.
For employers, the sign up process to create an account is a convoluted process. While the site used to allow employers to post up to 5 job posts "for consideration", they now require you to "request" a demo to preview how everything works. To sign up right away, they request a lot of information that doesn't feel necessary (e.g. phone number) and employers are required to begin paying for the account immediately.
However, what really makes it a bad experience is employers have to choose a membership tier upfront before you can even get started. There is no free trial period and it's a little difficult to see or understand what you're signing up for. Their "low-cost" membership for employers starts from $399 per month. While this includes unlimited job postings, any additional add-ons cost extra.
For job seekers, it's a similar experience. Job seekers have to sign up for an auto-renewing subscription ($24.95 per month) and share their address and credit card details before they can create an account. This means they can't really use the site until they create an account and can't see which company is posting the job. This seems like an unnecessary barrier for remote job seekers, especially when the employers posting the jobs are already paying to share them on the site.
During our experience, the sign up process failed several times with an error message "Oops! Invalid data" and we were not able to create a job seeker account at all. We tried several different cards, different email addresses, and even tried using a VPN and incognito mode.
The job search functionality has some great filters, but the layout of the site is messy and confusing to navigate. There is very little attention to user experience across the site, and a lack of information hierarchy which tends to make each page feel like it blends together.
When filtering jobs, job seekers can search for keywords, categories, and even career level (entry level, experienced, manager or senior manager). While job seekers can search by specific countries, they aren't able to filter jobs by their time zone which we found surprising considering the depth of their other filters.
Highlights:
- Well-established site and possibly the oldest remote-friendly job board on the internet
- Unlimited job postings for a recurring monthly subscription
- $399 for unlimited postings is good value comparatively (if you're a large employer)
- ATS integration
- Activity and data reporting
- Basic customizable company profile
- Employer access to FlexJobs' resume database
- More advanced search and filtering functionality
- Additional services available for job seekers with paid memberships, such as resume reviews ($129)
- Job posting include add-on options, like "premium" placements and social media promotion
- Partner discounts available for job seekers with paid memberships
Shortcomings:
- Basic information, such as which company posted the job, is hidden behind a paywall
- FlexJobs not only charges employers to post jobs, but job seekers are required to pay to use the site
- No one-off cost to post jobs
- $399 minimum membership costs is expensive for smaller startups and teams
- Basic features, such as social media promotion are an additional cost on top of your membership
- All higher-visibility add-ons and email placements are charged extra
- Jobs are only sent to job seekers with FlexJobs memberships
- Job seeker search functionality is hard to use and doesn't include timezone filters
- The search algorithm returns unexpected results (e.g. "design" only returned 5/50 design-related jobs on the first page)
- It appears the majority of job listings are posted elsewhere and scraped by FlexJobs
- Not all job listings are remote or flexible
- Expired or filled jobs are still included in search results and the "total number" of jobs on the site
- Website is incredibly hard to navigate for job seekers
- Sheer volume of jobs scraped from other site coupled with poor search algorithm is not a great experience
- Paid access to the site auto-renews by default for job seekers and employers
- Expensive job postings
- Company profiles (a paid feature) aren't visible to regular site visitors
- No information on company tech stacks
- No information on company perks and benefits
Reputation:
FlexJobs have been around since 2007, making them potentially the oldest remote and flexible focused job board on the internet. It's clear that the company pride themselves on their vetting system to maintain their reputation for being "scam-free".
The talent pool and resume database that FlexJobs has built over the years has helped them attract large companies, including Salesforce, SAP, Xerox, and Dell. Their Trustpilot reviews are generally positive as well, with many citing the access to a talent pool as one of the standout features.
We think the user experience really lets FlexJobs down and tarnishes
The site clearly receives a lot of traffic and posts a lot of jobs, but it's hard-to-use and inaccessible for many job seekers. Basic features are hidden behind a paywall. This is especially concerning because employers are already paying to post jobs on the site and FlexJobs isn't allowing potential job seekers to apply for them unless they also pay up.
With so many great alternatives for remote jobs today, we believe this disregard for UX and "double-dipping" to boost revenue tarnishes FlexJob' reputation a little.
