The verdict in three sentences
A Manchester IT recruitment agency making 40 placements a year loses candidates every time a job is retyped by hand on its website and on job boards. A site connected to Bullhorn with JobPosting markup for Google for Jobs and multiposting costs a 2026 order of magnitude of £7,000 to £17,000 excluding VAT, of which £1,300 to £3,500 goes to the connector, and ships in 8 to 10 weeks. Return on investment comes down to two or three extra placements from direct applicants, at roughly £12,000 in fees each.
Why an IT recruitment site is not a standard brochure
Greater Manchester has a dense tech employer base (fintech, digital agencies, e-commerce, MediaCityUK broadcasters) and scarce profiles: senior .NET developers, cloud engineers, data engineers. These candidates do not fill in a 15-field form. They search for a job on Google, read the ad and apply in under 2 minutes with a CV or LinkedIn profile.
The site has three jobs: publish vacancies automatically from the ATS, capture qualified CVs and reassure client employers (specialism, time to hire, rebate terms).
| Function | Without ATS connector | With ATS connector |
|---|---|---|
| Publishing a job | Manual retyping, 15 to 20 min | Automatic once approved in the ATS |
| Updating or closing | Often forgotten, expired jobs left online | Synced within 1 hour |
| Application | Email with CV, filed by hand | Candidate record created in the ATS, CV parsed |
| Google for Jobs visibility | Low or none | JobPosting markup generated for each job |
| Multiposting | Board by board | From the ATS or a multiposting tool |
| Source tracking | Approximate | Source tracked per job and per channel |
What the project costs
| Item | 2026 range (order of magnitude) | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Scoping and sitemap | £700 to £1,300 | Candidate journey, client journey, specialism pages |
| Design and build (12 to 25 pages) | £3,000 to £7,000 | Specialism pages, client page, content |
| ATS connector (Bullhorn or other) | £1,300 to £3,500 | Job import, application push, error handling |
| JobPosting markup and job pages | £700 to £1,700 | Salary, location, hybrid policy, valid-through date |
| Quick apply form | £500 to £1,300 | CV, LinkedIn, UK GDPR consent, anti-spam |
| Multiposting | £0 to £1,700 | Often included in the ATS, otherwise a third-party tool |
| Testing and go-live | £400 to £900 | Tests on 20 live jobs, redirects |
The 8 to 10 week timeline breaks down into 2 weeks of scoping, 4 weeks of design and build, 2 weeks for the connector and 1 to 2 weeks of testing. Bullhorn offers a full REST API, which keeps connector work predictable. Other ATS tools may only expose an XML feed to poll.
Recurring costs to plan for:
| Recurring cost | 2026 order of magnitude |
|---|---|
| Hosting and maintenance | £70 to £220 per month |
| ATS subscription (already in place) | £80 to £150 per user per month |
| Dedicated multiposting tool | £130 to £450 per month |
| Sponsored job board ads | £250 to £1,300 per premium ad |
| Expertise content (articles, salary guides) | £250 to £700 per month if outsourced |
Mini case study
James, managing director of an IT recruitment agency in Manchester (illustrative scenario), places 40 candidates a year. His average fee is 20 % of a £60,000 salary, or £12,000 per placement and £480,000 of revenue. His consultants spend about 4 hours a week reposting and closing jobs.
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He invests £12,000 in the site and £2,600 in the Bullhorn connector, £14,600 in total. If direct applications from Google for Jobs bring 2 extra placements a year, the gain is £24,000. The 4 weekly hours freed up add roughly 190 hours a year of headhunting. In this scenario the project pays back in under 8 months.
FAQ
Is Google for Jobs free?
Yes, appearing in Google for Jobs costs nothing. Each job needs valid JobPosting markup (title, description, location, date posted, valid-through date), and expired jobs must be removed or flagged.
Should we show salaries?
It is not mandatory in the UK, but jobs with a salary band (for example £55,000 to £65,000) get noticeably more clicks, and many UK job boards now push for it.
What if we switch ATS?
The site is built with a separate import layer. Switching ATS then means a new connector at £1,300 to £3,500, without rebuilding the site.
How long can we keep CVs?
UK GDPR requires a defined and justified retention period; many agencies set 2 years after last contact. The connector can store consent in the ATS, which then handles automated purges.
Can we publish confidential roles?
Yes: the ad can hide the client's name and exact location while keeping valid JobPosting markup with the city and contract type.
Let's scope your project. Tell us your ATS, your number of live jobs and your current job boards: we will price the site and the connector with an 8 to 10 week plan. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
