How to Start Posting Jobs on Job Bank in Canada

Job Bank is the federal government's national employment service, run by Employment and Social Development Canada, and Job Bank for Employers is the employer side of it: the place where a Canadian employer advertises a vacancy, is matched with job seekers, and receives applications. This guide walks through posting a job as an employer, from the employer file to the close-out survey. It covers general hiring only. It is not a guide to hiring a temporary foreign worker, which carries extra recruitment and Labour Market Impact Assessment rules, and it gives no hiring advice beyond the portal process. Posting is free, but the employer file must be approved before any posting can be advertised, so start the file before you need the vacancy live.

1. Confirm the business can post

Two eligibility tests come before anything else, and both are stated in the employer Terms of Use. First, the person using Job Bank for Employers must be a Canadian citizen, a temporary resident, or a permanent resident, and must provide a valid Social Insurance Number (SIN) to show eligibility, according to Terms of Use for Employers. You may be asked to provide the SIN again later to confirm it is still valid, because maintaining a valid SIN is a condition of using the service. Second, Job Bank only accepts postings from employers registered with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) with an open payroll account, on the same Terms of Use page. Job Bank may use data from other federal departments, including the CRA, to confirm what you submit, and may also verify whether the employer has a registered GST/HST account and has issued records of employment.

If either test fails, fix it before creating an account. A business without an open payroll account cannot post, and a private household hiring a caregiver must register the business with the CRA and create an employer file like any other business, as set out in the FAQ above. Representatives must also use Job Bank in their own name: create an individual user account with your own personal information before creating or accessing an employer file, and obtain the business owner's permission first if you are acting on the employer's behalf, on the same Terms of Use page. If you are a third-party representative, check whether your jurisdiction requires you to hold a licence in good standing with the applicable regulatory body, which the Terms of Use page also flags.

2. Create your individual account and the employer file

Create an individual user account first, then the employer file. To access services such as Job Match and Direct Apply you must be a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident, or a temporary resident, and you must provide your date of birth, your mother's maiden name or parent's last name at birth, and your valid SIN, according to Create a Job Bank account. The SIN is verified automatically to confirm eligibility. If you cannot or prefer not to provide that information, you can still sign up by opting out of those services, but opting out leaves you without the matching and direct-application tools this guide relies on, so provide it if you can. Express Entry candidates are also eligible for these services using an Express Entry profile number and job seeker validation code instead of a SIN, on the same page.

Every employer file must include the business owner or director registered with the CRA, identified on the file as the Primary Officer. That requirement appears both on the Terms of Use page and in the posting instructions: a Job Bank officer reviews the posting, and once approved its status changes to Advertised, but the employer file must be approved first, according to Job Bank employer help. Job Bank's service standards aim to process employer files within 5 business days and to review and post jobs within 2 business days, on the same help page. Treat those as aims, not guarantees: an officer may ask for additional documentation, which delays approval. The primary user on a file may authorize other Job Bank users to access the file, and each authorized user must follow the Terms of Use, according to the Terms of Use page. Do not share sign-in information, including passwords and security questions, with anyone; the Terms of Use require each user to be the only user of their account.

3. Check the posting rules before you draft anything

Every posting must respect the Terms of Use, and the rules page restates the load-bearing ones. Provincial or territorial minimum wage standards must be met, tax deductions must be made by the employer, and workers must not arrange their own contributions to income tax, the Canada Pension Plan, employment insurance, or workers' compensation, according to Job Bank employer help. There must be a real job vacancy, and the rules page states the vacancy test bluntly: the employer cannot have someone in mind for the position. Any training that is a condition of employment must be paid, employment must be insurable in Canada, and no fees can be charged to applicants.

Some opportunities are not permitted at all: self-employment opportunities with or without a monetary investment, volunteer or unpaid internship opportunities, hiring replacement workers during a labour dispute, a duplicate of a job currently advertised, and any job Job Bank considers inappropriate, on the same rules page. The Terms of Use add the wider list: no posting that does not conform to an employer-employee relationship, no posting with no immediate vacancy, no inaccurate or deceptive information about the job or wages, no unpaid training as a condition of employment, no posting located outside Canada that is not insurable in Canada, and no posting Job Bank deems offensive, discriminatory, or otherwise inappropriate, according to Terms of Use for Employers. Failing to consider applications from Canadian workers can lead to suspension of the posting and restrictions on the employer file. Read the rules page and the Terms of Use before building the posting, because a posting that breaks them will be declined or suspended, and rework after a decline costs the review cycle twice.

4. Build the posting in the dashboard, step by step

You must register the employer first, then create the posting in Job Bank for Employers. The help page gives the sequence in ten steps, and the dashboard follows it in order: sign in, open Job postings from the left-hand menu and choose Create a new job posting, select the employer and proceed to the job title, enter a title and search for the best match, proceed to the target audience, then job details, then requirements, then how to apply, then preview, then submit, according to Job Bank employer help. Work through the steps in that order, and use the buttons at the top and bottom of each page to move between steps and make changes before submitting.

The job title step is where most first postings stall. Job titles on Job Bank are based on the National Occupational Classification (NOC), a directory of more than 30,000 job titles, according to the same help page. Search the title, and if the exact title you want is not there, browse by occupation and choose the title that best describes the tasks and duties. You can change the job title later, but not the occupation, so settle the occupation before moving on. At the target-audience step, select the type of job and the category of applicants you want to hire. At the job-details and requirements steps, add the details, skills, experience, and education the job requires, using the pre-defined options Job Bank provides. You cannot write your own job description: Job Bank does not allow free text, as set out in the FAQ above, so use the Additional job requirements search and, if needed, a Job link to an external page with more information.

At the how-to-apply step, choose how candidates can apply. The Direct Apply option is automatically selected, and you can unselect it if needed, according to the same help page. Direct Apply lets job seekers with an active Plus account apply directly through the posting. Keep it selected unless you have a reason not to: it is the route that feeds applications into the dashboard for review. Preview the whole posting, check the title, the requirements, and the application methods against the rules in step 3, and then submit. Once submitted, the posting goes to a Job Bank officer for review; it is not advertised the moment you click Submit.

5. Wait for review, then watch the status

A Pending status means the posting will be reviewed by a Job Bank officer, and the current service standard to advertise job postings is two business days, according to Job Bank employer help. Once approved, the status changes to Advertised and you are notified by email. An officer might contact you and request additional documentation to confirm information on the posting, which can delay approval, on the same help page. If approval takes longer than the service standard, verify the employer file status first: the file must be approved before the posting can be advertised, and a file showing No decision or Incomplete means some information still needs to be confirmed.

If the posting is declined, read the reason before doing anything else. The help page lists a duplicate of another posting already advertised, follow-up requested by an officer that was not done, and any other reason the officer identifies. A declined posting is not a cue to resubmit the identical posting: that creates a duplicate, which is itself a ground to decline. Correct the stated problem, or copy the posting and fix it before resubmitting. Copying is available at any status, pending approval, drafted, approved, expired, cancelled, or declined, and it saves starting from the beginning, according to the same help page. Editing works the same way: open Job postings on the dashboard, click Edit under Action, make the changes, and proceed to preview, remembering that the title can change but the occupation cannot.

This guide does not cover the Temporary Foreign Worker Program or the Labour Market Impact Assessment, which impose their own posting and recruitment requirements on top of the general process here. Job Bank officers cannot provide information on those programs; the help page directs employers to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program website or the Employer Contact Centre at 1-800-367-5693, according to Job Bank employer help. If there is any chance the role will be filled through that route, check those requirements before posting, because the recruitment record must match the program that is eventually filed. The LMIA guide in Related guides below covers the employer side of that process.

6. Work the matches and applications, extend or close out

Once the posting is advertised, Job Match works automatically. The feature matches the posting with job seeker profiles and lets you view the profiles and invite candidates to apply, according to Job Bank employer help. Matches appear under Matches and reports, and the Summary of current matches table splits them by the first 30 days and by 31 days and over, for Canadians and for Express Entry candidates, as set out in the FAQ above. Invite the candidates who meet the requirements, and answer the applications that arrive. Before the posting runs out, check the Available Workers Dashboard, which shows where Canadian workers currently looking for work are located, on the same help page; it is a check on whether the role, location, and requirements as posted are reaching anyone, not a substitute for reviewing the applications themselves.

A posting can be advertised for up to 21 days at creation, for a maximum of 120 days in total. Extend it manually before it expires, in blocks of up to 14 calendar days at a time, counting any days remaining in the current period, according to the same help page. If Direct Apply applications arrived, review each one and set its status to retained or rejected before extending. If the posting has expired or has reached 120 days, create a new posting or copy and resubmit the existing one. When a posting expires or is cancelled, complete the close-out report: a short survey for every expired and cancelled posting, completed from the Surveys and reports page after signing in to Job Bank for Employers, according to the same help page. The answers inform job seekers of posting statuses and give Job Bank insight into the labour market. Close the loop on every posting, including the ones that filled quickly, so the record behind the employer file stays clean for the next vacancy.

Related guides:

• How to Start Job Hunting in Canada — the job seeker side of Job Bank, including the Plus account and Job Match from the applicant's view; this guide covers the employer posting process
• How to Start Hiring a Foreign Worker in Canada — the employer-side LMIA process, including the extra Job Bank recruitment requirements that apply when a temporary foreign worker may be hired
• How to Set Up Payroll in Canada — opening the CRA payroll account and running payroll, the account Job Bank requires before an employer file can post jobs
• How to Get a Business Number in Canada — the CRA business number behind the payroll account, for a business that has not registered with the CRA yet
• How to Start Applying for Employment Insurance Benefits in Canada — the employment insurance side of the payroll deductions every Job Bank posting must reflect; a different process from posting a vacancy
• How to Start Using Job Bank to Look for Work in Canada — the job seeker side of Job Bank: searching, Plus accounts, Job Alerts, and the Resume Builder; this guide covers posting as an employer

Sources

• Employment and Social Development Canada, Job Bank employer help — the employer help topics used throughout: creating a posting, the posting rules, free service, the Pending review and two-business-day service standard, extending a posting, Job Match and the first-30-days matching rule, Direct Apply, copying and editing, close-out reports, and the Available Workers Dashboard
• Employment and Social Development Canada, Terms of Use for Employers — eligibility and the valid SIN requirement, the CRA registration and open payroll account requirement, the Primary Officer and representative rules, the list of postings Job Bank will not advertise, and the suspension consequences for not considering Canadian applicants
• Employment and Social Development Canada, Create a Job Bank account — who can access Job Match and Direct Apply, the date of birth, parent's last name at birth, and SIN eligibility check, automatic SIN verification, the opt-out route, and Express Entry eligibility

No wage figure, fee, or benefit amount is stated in this guide, because none was needed to explain the posting process and Job Bank itself charges no posting fee. Where a number appears, it is a portal rule from an opened Job Bank page named beside it, such as the 21-day posting period, the 120-day maximum, the 14-day extension block, or the two- and five-business-day service standards. Check the Job Bank page linked beside any rule before relying on it for a hiring decision, since service standards are aims and an officer's documentation request can extend any timeline in this guide.