Job boards remain significant in the job-seeking landscape in France. While company websites and social media continue to be crucial, job boards hold a greater significance. Intelligence Group conducted research with 16,147 job seekers in 2022-2023 in France and Pôle-emploi topped the list with 40% preference. Pôle-emploi is the most popular job board in France, its seemingly little flaws may make it lose its position to the big tech-giant job boards Indeed and LinkedIn which are closing in.
Pôle-emploi boasts over 29 million monthly visits and 6,000,000 job offers but it lacks two essential features — ATS integration and social media distribution. Additionally, its exclusivity to the French language may limit its appeal in an era of global remote hiring; the French people may desire other opportunities in other languages.
Pôle-emploi lacks ATS integration and social media distribution
Unfortunately, the French Government isn’t focusing on these issues. Instead, they intend on having a complete overhaul of the site by introducing a brand-new job seeker service called France Travail, which will replace the existing board. The new service mandates 15 to 20 hours of weekly activity to unemployed, which will include workshops, CV writing sessions, and skill development. Additionally, noncompliance with its new rules might result in benefit suspension or even withdrawal from social security benefit.
Coming in second, and almost surpassing Pôle-emploi is Indeed. The job board has topped the list of numerous countries in Europe, including the UK, Germany, and more. Indeed now has a 38% preference and maintains its second position. Following is LinkedIn, which is very popular globally with 1 billion users. The job board and social media platform increased in popularity and now has a 25% preference to job seekers. After the top three job board, there’s a noticeable distance in preference and popularity. Monster leads the pact with as the fourth preferred board with 7%.
According to Geert-Jan, CEO Intelligence Group, job board preferences in Europe are leaning towards the American giants.
“Although countries like France and Belgium still favour their government job boards, the trends are showing Indeed and LinkedIn as giant job boards in all of Europe.
Now the national markets are more changing towards multilingual, bi-cultural, gigs, remote work and more and more European and non-European migrants are on the national labour markets, the international brands are winning market share.”
| Job boards | 2023 % | 2023 rank | 2022 % | 2022 rank |
| pole-emploi.fr | 40 | 1 | 41 | 1 |
| fr.indeed.com | 38 | 2 | 39 | 2 |
| fr.linkedin.com | 25 | 3 | 20 | 3 |
| monster.fr | 7 | 4 | 8 | 4 |
| cadremploi.fr | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| hellowork.com | 3 | 6 | 2 | 7 |
| emploi-territorial.fr | 2 | 7 | 2 | 6 |
| welcometothejungle.com | 1 | 8 | 1 | 10 |
| meteojob.fr | 1 | 9 | 1 | 8 |
| emploipublic.fr | 1 | 10 | 1 | 12 |
National job boards in France take over the fifth to tenth popular boards for job seekers. Cadremploi stayed put as the fifth most popular board in both 2022 and 2023. Notably, Hellowork moved up from seventh to sixth place, while Emploi-territorial slipped down to seventh. The eighth spot goes to the American job board Welcometothejungle, which gained more popularity and moved up from tenth place in the previous year. Meteojob dropped to ninth, and Emploipublic moved up to the tenth position, completing the top ten most popular job boards in France.
Young French talent already prefer Indeed
There’s a change in the top three job boards, especially for younger job seekers under 30 years old (Gen Z and some millennials). It seems the shift of Indeed overtaking Pôle-emploi job board has started with those under 30 years.
Indeed continues to ranks as number one in preference for young job seekers.
It grew in popularity by 5% compared to the previous year, now having 52% preference, showing that young people are more interested in this job board. Although Pôle-emploi job follows Indeed as the second most preferred board for them, it had a 5% decline in popularity and now shares the same level of preference (31%) as LinkedIn. On the other hand, LinkedIn, which came in third moved up from having 25% popularity for young French job seekers in 2022 to having 31% popularity this year — an increase on 6%.
| Job boards <30 years | 2023 rank | 2023% | 2022 rank | 2022 % |
| Indeed | 1 | 52 | 1 | 47 |
| Pole-emploi | 2 | 31 | 2 | 36 |
| 3 | 31 | 3 | 25 |
LinkedIn’s increasing popularity among those under 30, particularly Generation Z. Young French talent is more interesting in connecting and accessing international opportunities and LinkedIn is leading in this opportunity. Moreover, the learning opportunities the platform provides could be interesting for youngsters. The LinkedIn learning initiative is likely drawing in more young users, as acquiring new skills has become a key priority for them.
Since skill-based hiring is becoming more popular, it will seem easier for them to use a platform that offers, online courses and certification while still searching for a job that suits their career goals. It isn’t far-fetched to see Indeed and LinkedIn becoming the top two boards in the coming years for the young French.
About the Intelligence Group
Intelligence Group is an international data and technology company specializing in the collection and analysis of European labour market and hiring data. Intelligence Group strives to bridge the gap between supply and demand in the labour market. With our information, we ensure that HR managers, recruiters, and career and communication experts have the right data at their disposal to solve all types of labour market issues.
Further information can be found at: https://intelligence-group.nl/
Contact:
+31 88 730 2800
